By Any Other Nerd

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by B.J. Fogg My rating: 5 of 5 stars Fogg--much like Charle Duhigg's Power of Habit or Jane McGonigal's Superbetter, provides an in-depth look at navigating goals for people by better understanding how motivation, environment, and triggers can be used effectively in small ways to guide people down paths they wish to go.  Whether it's addressing a habit one doesn't want, redirecting one's life to different goals, or just trying to be better at some aspect of life, Fogg helps readers understand that drastic changes rarely work but testing small adjustments coupled with reflecting can lead people to success in a variety of ways. Will-power and just motivation are not enough to do it and Fogg highlights why these are false hallmarks to embrace to make effective change in one's life.  Rather, he guides readers on the importance of creating extremely low stakes changes, stacking them over time, an...

Welcome to 2017!   Despite the craziness on the global level, we've arrived at 2017.  Politically, 2016 was a rough year.  Personally, I cannot complain.  I landed a new job, I've made progress in my PhD program, I've lost weight, and I earned personal bests in my running, despite injuries.  Overall, I'm healthy, happy, and loved.  But it's 2017 and I need some goals (for those new to this, you can check out  my 2016 goals  and  how well I did with them ).  I feel like these should all be doable this year, but who knows.  In reality, I probably won't hit all of them, but enough of them that like last year, I find this a valuable activity to get me focused on how to progress in the year.   Give It a Tri We all know that I have taken to  running over the last 5 years .  This past summer, I returned to bicycling as well when my IT band was giving me trouble.  I also started working at college...

At the end of each year, I take some time to look at and consider what are some of the goals I sought out for the year and what have I actually accomplished.  I did this with 2015 and set my goals for 2016 .  My goals for 2016 were a mixed bag but my achievements for 2016 went well beyond what I set out in writing.   Let's first look at what I set out to do: Giving Thanks Yes!  I totally nailed this one with a daily practice of giving thanks to different aspects of my life .  I will be writing a longer post on this but I definitely hit this one between the daily practice of acknowledging things to be grateful for and then also writing a letter once a week to thank someone in my life.   Finish the Book Well this was flubbed and is part of 2017's goals.  It just didn't happen and I should have prioritized it a bit more than I did.  Here's hoping 2017 isn't a repeat of 2016 in this regard. Running Goals So I didn't cross the 1500 thres...

I find it curious to be writing this post when I have had trouble running for the last two months--ever since I ran 5K and came in around 24:30.  But this post is necessary to write.  It's been five years since I first start running.  Five years since the flip switched and I went from hating running and unwilling to run even a mile to literally running thousands of miles in the last five years (between 1000 and 1200 a year).  What seemed like something that I just couldn't get has now become something I hate the idea of doing without.  Life is indeed funny like that. First marathon completed. Who knew I'd be back for more! I hope that I never lose the amazement that I feel every time I set off on a run because it, in itself, is something that is truly humbling and amazing.  Don't get me wrong, I love the feeling of my body after a good run: the muscles feeling loose but tired, the sweat dripping all over my body, the breathing bringing refreshment to ...

For the last few years of running, I have been trying to improve my time on the longer runs.  Particularly, I wanted to hit under two hours for my half-marathon time and four hours (or at one point, just anything better than what I had done) for the marathons.   Last fall, I broke the two-hour mark with my half marathon at the Half-Marathon by the Sea from YuKanRun , coming in at 1:55:08.  It was an exciting day to break the time and realize that the kid who couldn't do one mile in twelve minutes for much of his life, was now averaging 8:45-minute miles for over thirteen miles.   As accomplished as it felt, the Doubt Demon  in my head still continued to tell me it was a fluke.  It was a one-off.  It must have been a mistake.  I'm guessing some of you have had this experience if not this particular anecdote.  So present was this idea that I made it a goal this year to do it again (and maybe somewhere along the line improve upon ...

It's been a few months since I've dedicated any posts on running.  Clearly, there have been other priorities.  But with the spring approaching, I'm revving up to get in some races this year. Last year was both a struggle and a success.  I struggled with a hip-strain which killed much of the summer.  I floundered a little bit during June when I started the PhD program and during the semester when things got really busy.  Most recently, I had to take at least three weeks off from running to let a cold finally go away that had been lingering around way too much.  Yet, it was also a success.  I ran my first half-marathon in under two hours.  I followed this up with a five-mile race where I ran in under 43 minutes and a 4 mile race on New Years' Day where I ran close to 33  minutes (8:15'ish minute miles!).  Something over the course of the year had changed that helped me find the right pace and approach to running to help me increase my ti...

I am, in no uncertain terms, a bull.  I am broad, have legs like tree-trunks--whether fit from running or not--and will never fit into anything less than large (and even that is stretching it--literally).  It is clear that my genetic predisposition set me up for brute--not skillful--labor.  I've come to utterly appreciate that about myself and my body.  Like I've said before, I'm more like a mule when it comes to physical prowess.  But getting to this certainly wasn't easy.  Our society appreciates the cheetah more than the bull.  In part, this probably results from both our Puritanical need for being productive and our Industrial Revolution desire for mass (that is, fast) production.  Though some facets of sports focus on the bull (tackling, hitting or kicking the ball), many more rely on cheetah (out-maneuvering your opponent, running the bases, getting to the other side of the court or field first).  Lacking any real cheetah-like abilit...

So I've been rather quiet on the running front of late.  The last I posted on running was way back in August when I was talking about my recovery .  I continued running through the fall and completed the Baystate Marathon, though came in around the same time as the year before, which was disappointing but there wasn't much I could do about it.  However, I have been running pretty consistently since then and am looking forward to another season of running. Monthly Running Mileage. I'm mostly itching to get outside and start running.  I've been running for months but it has been all on the treadmill.  I've learned to tolerate the treadmill pretty decently, so long as I had Netflix to get me through it.  January and February were less than stellar.  I blame that mostly on moving in late January coupled with the start of the semester and of course, blizzard season. March has me in much finer form and the forthcoming months will be more successful in ...

What Is It The screen on my treadmill after completing 6 miles. Why It's Today's Pick The weather hasn't quite picked up in terms of me being able to run outside, but I have attempted to still step up with the running.  I've signed up for 3-4 half marathons and one marathon and therefore need to get my running going.  This last week I got myself back to running 10 minute miles (including doing 10 miles at 10 minute miles).  But not every day is easy.  Today was a struggle to get to 6 miles in an hour.  I fought with myself pretty hard and came close to slowing down or quitting.  There was no fatigue or pain to speak of--just the some-times nagging voice telling me to skip the workout or not do as much.  I don't manage to conquer that voice every time it comes--I succumb to it more than I would like.  But today, I beat it and so my photo of the day is my accomplishment. Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or fee...

So my last post on running was a while back and I was discussing an injury.  The final diagnosis was a herniated disc with a pinched nerve.  Fun times!  May was a hard month, especially coming off my personal best of running a half-marathon in 2:03.   I was able to start running in June but I had to take it easy.  For the first half of June there was pain that accompanied the running.  Additionally, June was just a very busy month for work and having to do the doctor shuffle only added to it.  July was also busy with work and teaching.  However, in both months, I managed to do over 80 miles, so I'm happy with that.  80 miles is still a distance that there are upwards of decades where I did not accumulate that much running--so I'll take it!   Getting back on them tracks! After the diagnosis in late June and a regiment of physical therapy that went on over June and July, the doctor gave me the go-ahead at the end of July to return ...

About a month ago, I across several of my feeds that Vibrams had recently settled a big lawsuit.  Now, we all know here that I'm a big Vibrams fan .  They are a shoe for all seasons as far as I see it.  So when I found out that they had settled a lawsuit , I was pretty surprised, initially.   Not giving them up any time soon! They lawsuit did not have to do with injuries incurred by the users but by the health claims associated with Vibrams.  They claimed things about their product that were not scientifically proven and someone called them on it  Fair enough--no company should falsely represent itself in such a manner.  However, I noticed that a good amount of people have used the loss to gloat, laugh at, or validate their belief that Vibrams are bad.  I get why they have done so but of course, as someone who has made a fundamental lifestyle change (that is, became a runner) that was a direct result of Vibrams, I feel I need to speak to wh...

While such things are bound to happen when one engages in athletic training (or rather just in the course of life), it is still a major disappointment when one ends up with an injury.  Thus rather than regular updates about my runs during May such as the marathon and the half-marathon I had lined up, I'm writing about my injury.  To pour salt on the literal (though not open) wound, I sustained the injury while not running.  For many athletes, that's the pinnacle of disappointments when it comes to running (Ok, I can't really say this with any certainty but it would seem that injuring one's self while doing the thing you love to do is somehow more acceptable.   Several days after I did my personal best half-marathon , I was running.  I ran about 13 miles that day and was doing things around the apartment.  I had a crick in my neck from the night before and was doing some rigorous work around the apartment when I felt a my whole left shoulder and neck are...