The Role of Group Think For Runners

With the onset of June and July, my summer contract allows for more time to read and write and I hope to post a more thorough entry on the work of George Sheehan. I'm currently coming to the end of This Running Life,  as usual, there is no way to comment on every idea Dr. Sheehan covers that provokes a thought. 

When someone spends an hour a day for most of four decades out on the roads, a fellow runner of any experience can understand the sheer volume of deep thought that is accumulated. Many people today don't feel the same connection to Dr. Sheehan that they did a few years ago but I hope to write on why I feel a connection to his writing later this summer.

For now, I'll just make a quick attempt at processing his thoughts on group think or the herd mentality. In the final section of the book 'The Spirit' and within chapter 17 entitled 'The Self' the good doctor makes an interesting commentary.

But all too soon, we become members of the herd. We learn herd rules, herd regulations, herd mentality, herd ethics. We become part of society. Society must be preserved, so we accept the obligations it imposes.

Others have raised questions about this necessity. "Are we sent here," asked Thoreau, "to do chores and hold horses?" The answer, says society, is yes. Work has to be done. And if work is not available, then make work has to be devised. We must be kept busy. The idle mind begins to think, the idle body begins to play, and that is dangerous for the herd.

In consideration of this line of thinking, it's probably necessary to concede that the decades since Sheehan wrote many things, including the internet, have dramatically altered society as is generally referenced here. Nonetheless, there is something in this worth exploring today.

In general, my nature is skeptical, questioning and doubtful of someone who attempts to lob grenades at long established ideas that have stood the test of time. I think some of those ideas would fall under what Sheehan considers "the herd" mentality. One of the best gifts graduate work gave me was new desire to occasionally evaluate the merit of someone clearly trying to upset the applecart.

It's fair to say that Dr. Sheehan isn't one of those grenade tossers nor is he trying to challenge convention in a revolutionary form. For me, though, this section of logical progression immediately caused what would be a fast-forward moment to today for George if he was still alive.

Today I think we've actually explored the opposite extreme of escaping the herd. The new groupthink ethic is probably rooted in the post, post-modern mindset that I'm very unqualified to comment upon. But it seems that either everyone wants to believe in their ultimate solitary uniqueness or simply have everything charted on a master calendar and simply be responsible for checking a box.

The Brave New world has two polar extremes. One where every man is, in fact, an island or one where internet search engines have replaced rationality. Again, I'm not qualified to make commentary on the philosophical, ethical or moral nature of this discussion. But where it rubs up against the world of running and coaching it's my responsibility to comment.

First, let me say I completely agree that running is an individual sport and it means many things to many people. What each person brings in the form of mental, spiritual, social and physiological status must be acknowledged. Once size does not fit all.

Yet, what are we missing when we come into the game believing that our unique situation provides us the leverage to ignore history? In my opinion, we do have obligations to society to be the best versions of ourselves as runners and people.

That means my own skeptical nature has to be wielded as a tool and not as an internet firewall. I must be willing to integrate my own experience and knowledge with that of the experience and knowledge of the past and present.

The herd has survived. There is a benefit to the herd. But I think we will all be better off if everyone does the work of learning our history, evaluating new information and allowing that knowledge to educate our action each day.

Is work either "tend the horse and draw water" or "devised make work"? I say work is what you make of it each day. Just as the debate on "junk miles" will never be settled among distance runners, miles are what you make of them. 

It's our responsibility to understand what work we're doing each day we lace 'em up and get out the door. The running herd crosses a lot of finish lines in increasingly faster AND slower times. More runners are hitting a Boston Marathon qualifying time yet the average finishing time of marathons in the US is getting slower.

It's up to you to know what works and doesn't as you attempt to reach your own personal finish line each day.

Healthy Running and Racing Context, Part 2

All regular runners, competitive, recreational or fitness, have a go to running route. The four miles and change that compose my favorite circuit were actually the key ingredient in the training that produced the fastest times of my competitive college running career.

I could and have run this loop along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis in the dark of morning or night. I've run the lollipop style route both forward and backward. I've run it as a segment of a longer run all the way up to 12 miles. It's flat stretches, bridges, light polls and hill segments have served for hours of repeats hitting every imaginable goal for physiological stress and adaptation possible. 

You'll find it known simply as the Hennepin Loop in my logs and journals and by the dozens of athletes that I coach who also attend the same university I did as a college athlete. Hennepin Loop + Nic Island means 5.2 miles. Hennepin Loop + Boom equals 6.5 miles. Hennepin/Stone Arch Fartlek means an RPE based fartlek run measured by light poles on two long bridges over Old Man River.

It seems to me many of us have these home turf areas that are the foundation to our successful running endeavors. But how does this tie into my previous post about creating a healthy context for serious athlete training and connect back to my perceived success at a local 10-mile racing event?

Back in February in the midst of an intense period of sleep depravity, work pressure and general winter doldrums common in Minnesota I needed to get out for a run. It also needed to be as seamless as possible. Shorts. Shirt. Socks. Shoes. Run.

Simple. No watch or GPS. No phone or fitness apps. No uploads, downloads, instagrams or tweets (Of course I'm ruining it by blogging about it now). Just a familiar, favorite route where the mind turns off, the CNS takes over and some unknown time later you are back home again. 

I will never know exactly which physiological systems were taxed or the extent to which they were pushed. The minutes per mile down to hundredths of a mile will remain an unknown in my log. Yet the time spent on my feet that day were just as much a training day as any prescribed workout with umpteen variables dialed in and programed into my Garmin 220.

There is more to say on this but I'm going to keep this post short and extend my thoughts on to another entry later this week. Thanks for staying with me on this topic and I hope to have you back when I wrap up things up next time.