How to Have a Routine When Your Life is Anything But Routine
/How to Have a Routine When Your Life is Anything But Routine
This week I want to take a shift back to a running focus, but it can definitely be applied to other areas of your life. Also, I am going to have my first, of many more to come, runner highlights. This will be when I take a moment to highlight one of my running friend’s accomplishments and pick their brain for advice on an issue I think they are knowledgeable about. This week I am going to do a little Q and A with my man Zach Vogt, but before we get into that I want to lay some ground work for the subject of this week’s post.
My senior year of college I took a class called Civil War Field Experience. Now to some of you that may sound like a drag, but for me it was literally the coolest thing for 3 reasons.
- You completed an entire trimester (my university did trimesters not semesters) of work over the course of a weekend.
- You got to see some of the coolest and most historically important places of Mississippi while getting some personal time with your professors (my professors were awesome, sorry if yours weren’t).
- Best of all, the food was free. And it wasn’t just regular food, it was the best most secret restaurants of Mississippi. We ate like kings!
HOWEVER, one of the major downfalls was how close the trip fell to our Track and Field conference championship. It was a solid 3 days of training that I would miss out on. Luckily for me, not, another guy from the team was going on this trip, but he was a distance runner and I fell more into the middle distance category (my coach was trying to gradually add more and more distance aspects to my training). So, regularly we would wake up at 6:00 for morning practice then hit it again in the evening around 4:00. This was not regularly, we spent the entire first day engorging ourselves in restaurant after gas station after restaurant. The place we went to before the hotel only served things in 3 courses, so you basically had to get a dessert. I remember a moment when I looked at the professor for approval before I ordered one of each desserts for our table (you’ve gotta try em all), and he just gave me this grin of swelling pride like he was saying, “by golly he’s got it!” We get back to the hotel, shoes come off and the room immediately fills with the stench of traveling all day, just when I was starting to accept that as my reality I hear a “KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.” I answer the door with a chuckle because I was so content with everything at the moment, it was my teammate standing there, with a fairly serious look on his face. He didn’t even ask me anything he just said, “I’ll meet you downstairs in 15 minutes for our 6 mile steady state” then walks away. I looked at my watch, 10:30pm. I did some quick math to figure out how long it will take us, then I see my running shoes in my bag, my gps watch strapped to the handle. UGH, I’m going running. We ran all 6 miles of that steady state through the Vicksburg National Cemetery in pitch black. I wanted to throw up all of about 5.99 miles during it. My teammate threw up around mile 3.1, smiled and said, “You’ve never thrown up while you run?” Then proceeded to do it again, like I was the odd man out.
Anyways, moral of the story is how many times have you been in such a good routine with working out then something upsets that routine? Fortunately for me I had a maniac of a teammate that wouldn’t have let me live if I didn’t run with him. Not all of us have that person every time. Fast forward about 4 years later, I was taking students of my own on a very similar trip. This was during my second race to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Basically the same exact situation (we actually stayed at the same hotel just across from the Vicksburg National Cemetery) except no maniac, do you think I ran? Of course not, out of the 3 days I was suppose to run during that trip I ran 0! We have all been there, no shame, no judgement, but hopefully my friend Zach and I can give you a couple tips to help stick to your routine on your own (maniac not included).
So I will describe my friend Zach then we will get into some Q and A, that way you can get to know him a little better. I have known Zach for coming up on 3 years now. We first met at this halloween 4k in our city. I remember looking at him and not thinking much about his running prowess, he has a muscular build and is somewhat short. I say that not to highlight any short comings but to emphasize how hard of a worker he is. He was not blessed with the body of a Kenyan, but boy does he have the heart. This guy has 2 Boston Marathons under his belt, and trained for them solo. He holds the current half marathon PR of the WolfPack (you’re welcome). And is one of the types of guys who can throw up some nasty mileage and paces on any given week. In the course of knowing him he has changed jobs, bought a house, bought a car, got married, had some serious ups and some serious downs. This is the man that selflessly helped me and our other friend, Arrmon Abedikichi, on for 12 hours during our 50 miler, a guy who goes and runs a 50k in the blistering heat of Baton Rouge for the heck of it, and a guy who passed me not for one but for two of my Boston Qualifying marathons. He does all this while being an incredible father and a loving husband and working out of town (WAY more than he would like). Which is why he is the perfect guy to go to for advice on sticking to a routine when you have no routine.
Me: So Zach, tell us about yourself, when did you start running?
Zach: I started running randomly my senior year of high school. Me and a couple buddies had the great idea of trying something random we’ve never done. I ended up finishing 7th overall in the last race of the season to make the last place of the all district team (in XC your team runs 1-5 but your 6 and 7 hurt the other teams score). I loved the sense of competition and the direct correlation of getting what you put in. I think I’m the only one who took it half way serious and it’s stuck with me ever since.
Me: I definitely agree that running is a get out what you put in, unlike most other sports out there. What is the biggest race you’ve done?
Zach: Biggest by number of runners and spectators was the 2013 Chicago Marathon. I couldn’t help but think of the phrase “misery loves company.” They said 1.6 million people were on the course watching the race of 45,000 runners. Biggest in the sense of personal achievement and satisfaction was the 2014 Boston Marathon- the year after the bombings.
Me: WOW! Two incredible races that I couldn’t even wrap my mind around. I wasn’t even distance running at that time. What is your Most proud running moment?
Zach: Proudest running moment was crossing the line of the Santa Rosa Marathon in under 3 hours and comfortably qualifying for Boston The ups and downs of training, injuries, set backs and a DNF at mile 20 on my first attempt at qualifying made it pretty sweet. I had at least a good 2 week runner’s high after that one.
Me: AHHH yeah, I can relate on the feeling of hitting that sub 3 after a set back or two. I think the level of self satisfaction we get from an event has a lot to do with the circumstances we overcome to get there. So, very well put my man. What is your most embarrassing?
Zach: Although I’ve come close a handful of times, I’ve never fallen off the treadmill and those “almosts” can be embarrassing enough. My most embarrassing was also one of the coolest. It was a cool morning around 5:45. The sun hadn’t come up yet but the glare before was just starting to shine. On this particular morning there was no nutrition or caffeine had pre-run. This was a true rise and run. Needless to say I was a walking, or should I say running zombie. Not a mile into the run I remember toe kicking and ninja rolling into a ditch only to recover into a perfect running stride. It was seamless and if we get to see a YouTube highlight of our lives when we die I hope that makes the cut.
Me: HAHAHA! I’m dying over here man. I think anyone who puts some serious time on a treadmill has had that happen on a few occasions but that doesn’t change the fact that when you slip up and it makes that gut wrenching noise and look around only to find everyone looking back at you. HA, I can almost picture you doing that in my head, I feel like you never took your eyes off the horizon, like you were looking straight forward through the midst of the trip and roll. In any given month how often are you on the road?
Zach: I probably average around 10 days on the road a month, up to 15 days worst case scenario.
Me: Geez, thats a large portion of training time lost if you were to lose the routine when you are out of a routine. What are some of the biggest obstacles to staying on a schedule?
Zach: The biggest obstacle to staying on a schedule by far, especially when traveling, is time management. Setting a hard lien goal and being intentional are your best allies. “Not enough time in the day” and “something came up unexpectedly” are simply excuses. Last time I checked we all had the same amount of time in a day.
Me: Man, so true. It all boils down to time and what you decide to do in the time you have. What are your best tips for someone on the road trying to stick to a running schedule?
Zach: I think it’s actually easier to stick to a schedule on the road or I at least tell myself that anyways. Set a schedule, lay stuff out the night before, give yourself plenty of time for the unexpected. I also recommend downloading a running app such as Strava (I think this is Zach targeting me). The Strava apps of the world will help keep you accountable at your weakest moments. For further motivation, you’ll be able to add to your heat map when your out on the road! Lastly, I’m pro running in the morning when on the road if at all possible. This nullifies those excuses from the last answer and makes you proactive to choosing when you run, not reactive to stuff that comes up throughout the day.
Me: WOW! Well put brother, I think those are some great tips and I hope to talk about them more here in a minute, but thank you for your time, your expertise, and your wisdom. Ladies and Gentlemen, Zach Vogt!!!
Alright, so let’s break down some of Zach’s tips a little bit and then I hope to add a few of my own.
1. Be organized (schedule, lay stuff out, give yourself time).
- If you are unorganized and rushing to get things done or stressing about what time you have to be somewhere or you can’t find your other running sock, you won’t run. This is what Zach referred to as being proactive. You need to think of the possible gone wrong scenarios before you are in one of the gone wrong scenarios. Take the 5 minutes before you go to bed to get your shoes, socks, watch, and other running gear in one spot. It is a lot easier to do it just before bed when you’re cognitive than when you wake up at 5:30am and you are trying to remember if you left the toaster on when you don’t even have a toaster.
2. Have accountability (whether it is an app or a person).
- This is super AAish, you need a running sponsor. This can come in the form of an App (Strava) or a person(s). The goal is to have people know if you didn’t do your run, and actually not just any people. Have people that will give you a really hard time about not doing your run. For me accountability is the best motivator. I just tell a lot of people I am going to do something, and for me it is easier to just do that thing than having to shamefully tell those people I didn’t do it when they ask me if I did. To further elaborate on Strava, it works like social media for runners (and other sports). You have friends follow you, there are segments where you can compete against other runners, and it tracks and records a plethora of data each time you use it.
3. Running in the morning.
- I think I am the biggest proponent and worst adherer to this rule. Running in the morning is the best way to start the day. It leaves you vitalized to take on whatever comes your way. Also, if time is an issue you can always wake up earlier. We’ve been known to do some 5:15am Saturday runs when marathon training. But you finish and it’s barely light out and you’re like wow, I’ve already done so much and most people won’t be awake for a few hours. Running in the morning gives your body all day to recover, and if you’re in heavy training it gives the opportunity for two-a-days.
So those are Zach’s 3 big tips here are 2 of mine.
1. Create a habit of always doing what you say.
- I’ve spoken about this a little before, but I’ll expound again. Habits can be harmful but they can also be really helpful. Every time you say you are going to do something, do it. This take regulation in two forms to develop into a habit. First, be careful about saying you will do something. Definitely do not throw it around haphazardly. Only say you will do it, when you fully plan on doing it. Second, start small work to big. If you say you will finish replying to all your Emails before leaving the office, do it. If you say you will cook your significant other dinner, do it. Don’t forget then last minute order Chinese. If you say you will stop eating dairy for a week, do it. These are small steps that create a habit of doing what you say, I call it speaking something into existence. Once you have created a habit, then just say to yourself or someone else that you will run while you are on the road or traveling or whatever, and you will. Just remember for every 1 time you say you will and you don’t, you cancel out 100 times you said you will and you did.
2. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
- Don’t just go running, if you’re in a new city or new place or even if you’re in the same old place, use running as a means to another end. For example, I was in Paris in the summer of 2016 and I did not have a lot of time to see the city. So, I went for a run. When you start running from statue to statue, monument to monument, museum to museum; you make even the biggest cities feel small. Use your morning run as an opportunity to sight see in a new city, to explore where you will travel later in the day, use it to run up that hill side in the distance that has the best overlook of the city. I’ve used runs and bike rides as a reason to go eat somewhere I usually wouldn’t. One time I road like 18 miles down the Long Leaf Trace to grab some tacos at a Mexican restaurant in Sumrall. I’ve ran downtown to Biancis to grab a slice or two, only to turn around and start running back. Even better, use running as a means to meet new people. There are running groups in almost every city you go to, get on Facebook and look them up. Most groups will meet at least twice during the week and once on the weekend. Try to line your schedule up to run with them one of the days. Be intentional to strike up conversation, try to get some tips from the locals. Who knows they might even invite you out for a beverage or food!
In Summary, whatever you do whether it is running, cycling, weight lifting, pilates, zumba, or yoga being in a routine is a must. However, sometimes for vacation, job relocation, changes in life, or if you’re a teacher and it is summer, your routine gets broken or upset temporarily. If it is just a day or two it might not be a big deal but when it happens 10 times a month or for a week or two at a time it puts a dent in your progress. These are 5 tips my friend Zach and I have come up with to help you avoid that disappointed feeling of not training when you break out of your routine. These tips still mostly apply to more than just physical fitness though, if you work remotely these tips still help, if you are taking online classes and your routine is upset these tips still apply. Remember:
Be Organized
Have Accountability
Run in the Morning
Create a Habit
Kill 2 birds with 1 stone
Now go get it,
Josh Moore