Simple Rules
| May 31, 2016 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I was listening to a podcast – Trail Runner Nation Podcast, one of their recent ones, now too lazy to go look up the exact link. Because let’s face it, after a weekend in the motorhome with 3 dogs (one of which is a crazy b*tch spayed-female that tries to eat one of the other dogs and whines all the time, and another that tries to help all the time, and a third that constantly begs to go on adventures ALL THE TIME), a husband with a migraine, AND a teething child, you will forgive me if citing the exact chapter and verse on these things is low on my list of priorities?
Now where were we?
Ah yes. Podcast. Listening to a podcast.
This was the podcast where I got this gem of an idea, and now, I want to share with you another one: Simple Rules.
The idea came from some book on business I think (which I could look up, but I’m not going to because of the before mentioned concept) but is applicable to all SORTS of things.
Like endurance.
And running. And nutrition. And conditioning. And race day.
And anything else you can think of.
It’s a simple concept that goes like this.
- The simple rules have to be simple.
- They pertain to a defined activity.
- There are 3-5 of them MAX.
- They are individual
I realized that I have simple rules that I have followed consistently over the years, although I had never defined them as such. Here’s some examples: I don’t trot down hill in conditioning, I walk up on the uphills for the first half of any running race, I automatically trot anything flat and not technical in an endurance ride, don’t trot at a ride if the rocks are bigger than the size of my fist etc.
With some thought, I’ve decided the power of defining simple rules is:
- to better define things that have helped me be successful over the years and provide a starting point on what other simple rules in various activities may be needed for my life.
- to help invoke the power of auto-decisions in my every day life and during endurance events (which reduces decision making fatigue, which we have discussed adnoseum here on the blog)
- to create a better forum for sharing specific pieces of situational advice to others.
Wow! With that potential list of benefits, how can we not talk about simple rules in a blog post and maybe share our individual simple rules?
So, here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to share some of my simple rules that adhere to the guidelines above (simple, defined activity, 3-5 max, individual to me)…and I would LOVE to hear some of your simple rules. I know you have some, even if you haven’t defined them as such – what thing do you ALWAYS do or not do when you leave for ride camp? when you start a ride? when you are at a vet check? On ride day? When you are getting ready for a 50? or for a 100?
Leave in the comments, or leave us a link to your blog if you write a post :).
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Mel’s simple rules for…
…Nutrition
- Always portion out of the big bag
- No soda
- Leave room on the plate for seconds, and then most of the time don’t get them
- No processed foods before noon.
…General life
- Get up when the alarm goes off
- If it’s on the calendar, do it!
…Conditioning endurance horses
- Don’t trot down hills
- Ride for time, not for miles
…Training/Running
- Eat after every run
- Run a mile before giving up
…At a ride
- Never feel like I’m hurrying, never feel like I’m wasting time.
- If I’m not having fun, get off an walk or run.
- Trot everything that is trottable, walk everything else
- Buy the ride photo.
Great post–I boosted the signal to the E101 facebook page.
I can only think of one Simple Rule right now:
* If whatever you are doing doesn’t work, quit doing it.
I’m sure there are more, but that one covers a lot of ground…
That rule Does cover a lot of ground. That is what I have discovered with the simple rules, is that when I truly made them simple and made them rules that I always follow, there didn’t seem to be very many of them
A rule I should add to my general life rules is this: be present
Mine:
In life: never listen to anyone who doesn’t preface advice with “This works for me, but YMMV”.
In endurance: “You are never wrong to rider option”, and “If it’s not fun any more (for BOTH OF YOU) stop”.
I like the no soda rule! I have been (almost) soda free after kicking my Diet Coke addiction in January and wow, what a difference.
really? Like what kind of differences? (From no soda).
Well, after I got past the “OMG I need a diet coke” and the headache that came for three straight days… More energy, less overall craving for sweet stuff (I have a horrible sweet tooth) and better hydration status overall cos now I drink water. All that through stopping one can a day!
Wow that’s INSANE! I had a can maybe once a month and I came to the realization that I didn’t really like soda and I didn’t like how felt after drinking one so I decided no more soda so would would stop trying it and being dissapointed. I didn’t grow up with soda and I think I kept trying to have one as “a treat”.
I like it! Though I’m not much of a rule person, I do have similar with the calendar thing (though the only thing I calendar is swimming). And “Read a book every day, even just a little bit.”
I don’t have any “no” eat rules, I find there is a time and a place for most things (like Root Beer soda, with Old Town Auburn pizza, oh my, so amazing). But I do not eat after 8pm. Even if I feel hungry. I just go to bed. And I’ve always survived!
And the portion out of the big bag, always a great idea. My only downfall is popcorn…make a big batch and put it in a big bowl, it’s proportioned, see, there is a little bowl for later!
My main horse/endurance rule (for me, and the horse) would be “Deal with it.” Don’t whine, it is what it is, solve it or move on. And it works great with the horse. Major having a fit because he can’t do what he wants? Deal with it dude, and move down the trail! Or deal with it me, and get off/walk/handle the situation, because no one can come along and solve this for you.
Can you elaborate more on the concept for riding for time rather than distance and why that’s important to you? My gelding has had some time off for a medical issue and we are just now getting back into the swing of things. If you’re up for it, I’d love to hear how you decide when a horse is ready for their first LD or 50.
On the time versus mileage thing, here’s a post that I wrote in 2012 with some thoughts. I start off talking about running but then move to horse endurance later in the post. It’s been 4 years since I wrote that post and my opinion hasn’t changed much – if anything I’m even more adamant that time in the saddle matters more than the actual distance:10 hour fifty mile finish time isn’t necessarily “easier” on the horse than a 7 hour fifty if the horse could have comfortably covered the distance in the faster time. Obviously it’s a fine line between picking a reasonable pace that isn’t too fast – and erroring on the side of a little too slow is better than too fast….but too slow (being determined to turtle bc it’s “better for the horse” isn’t kinder IMO.
The time spent under saddle and moving is time the horse isn’t hydrating, eating, or resting. And instead is spent navigating the trail mentally and physically. Bottom line for me: as long as the two paces are truly aerobic, then time not distance is what is causign the majority of the fatigue.
I’ve never seen a study that looked at this and this should all be considered a YMMV/personal opinion :).
AERC published an article on a similar subject that I talk about here.
Here was something I wrote on whether a horse is ready for an LD/50 miler when a reader asked that exact question a couple years ago.