Monday Wednesday Friday<\/p>\n
That’s when I go to the gym. But sometimes i don’t. I miss a day. But that’s the plan.<\/p>\n
And when I go, I start with running. Running is important to me.<\/p>\n
I was reading about how I might run better and faster, and learning about the maximum heart rate.<\/p>\n
there is a formula: 220 minus your age and then you are supposed to keep your heart rate lower than 85% of the maximum<\/p>\n
That formula says that my maximum heart rate is 175<\/p>\n
But when I run, sometimes I have run so that my heart rate goes above 170.<\/p>\n
Looking over these numbers, I am wondering what this all means.<\/p>\n
What happens if I hit my maximum heart rate? That sounds like some kind of scary zone.<\/p>\n
My watch monitors my heart rate while I’m running or I wouldn’t even know about this. I keep looking at it to see where I am in my exertion level.<\/p>\n
In my mind, I imagine that I can run like the god Mercury, I can stride across the ground, with 7 league strides. Each step pushes my body off the ground and I bound forward weightlessly.<\/p>\n
In my mind.<\/p>\n
When I actually run, reality is involved. I think about my strides, wondering if they should be longer or quicker or both. I know that I am not weightless. I tilt my watch face up to catch how fast my heart is going. Slow down.<\/p>\n
Stay moderate. Stay moving. Let the distance fall behind.<\/p>\n
Once, on my run, I was caught behind a fast walker on the left and a slow runner on the right. I was not that much faster than the fast walkers, but I had to duck around and inbetween then and the slow running to travel and my pace.<\/p>\n
I saw it coming. Remember? I’m not that fast. I had several paces to decide what to do.<\/p>\n
I knew I’d been wanted to keep a moderately fast pace, but I had to get through this bottleneck.<\/p>\n
I push down the balls of my feet and sped through. Doubling my pace and swooped around the walkers and past the runner and back into my usual groove.<\/p>\n
That right there? that was a push. That was a reach deep for a bit more.<\/p>\n
In that instant, I had the more.<\/p>\n
I think the maximum heart rate is to tell me that there is a limit to the more. I cannot always burn the candle on both ends. There are times when there is not more to give.<\/p>\n
And if I want to have that push in reserve, I better not run at 100%. Both running and other parts of my life.<\/p>\n
There will always be that circumstance that take an extra something. I want to keep the extra in reserve, and know when to let it go when I don’t have it. There is a limit and it’s good to know what it is.<\/p>\n
Not all of life has the metronome\u00a0like my heart. But\u00a0my wisdom and intuition can give that information, if I stay aware that it’s there.<\/p>\n
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Monday Wednesday Friday That’s when I go to the gym. But sometimes i don’t. I miss a day. But that’s the plan. And when I go, I start with running. Running is important to me. I was reading about how … Continue reading