Balance

Balance for me has always been a rollercoaster challenge: I have a tendency to be clumsy at times and this causes all kinds of things to happen, from drinks spilling to slipping, tripping, and sometimes falling. Knowing that balance was a weakness, I started working on this a few years ago trying to find ways to reverse it and make balance a strength. One way is through lifting weights, using flexibility bands, and tai-chi. Tai-chi was the one that seemed to help me the most, it helped me relax and improve my breathing. And the balance exercises within tai-chi brought me some greater confidence of maintaining my balance, allowing me to push the envelope more with increasing athleticism. Working with our dog, Misty, has helped too. (For example~I’m struggling to maintain my balance in the above picture while Misty is trying to maneuver out of the photo. Very clever dog.) All the push-and-pull effect of running with a dog has made me a better runner. I’m used to our dog changing lanes behind me and know how to rotate the dog leash behind me when this happens. I’m not quite used to Misty cutting me off while running (this happened today) but I’m more able to stop quickly to stay safe or accelerate if we need to avoid danger/hazards.

Another sense of balance that is very important here with respect to safety is the balance between light and darkness. If it’s dark outside (or limited visibility), we need to be extra careful to make sure we can be seen at all times. In summertime, the greater sunlight has a little bit of a blinding effect so we need to make sure we shield our eyes with sunglasses. Regardless of the conditions, we need to make sure that other people, motorists, cyclists, and dogs can see us at all times so we don’t collide and have preventable accidents. Prevention is key not only with health but also with safety. One of my favorite ways to increase visibility is to wear Brilliant Reflective safety strips (see above and below). This comes in stick-on and iron-on varieties in many different colors. The safety strips last for a very long time. Every once in a while, I have to replace a few (like on the dog leash for example) if there is a lot of precipitation/humidity. You can attach the strips to clothing, gear, bicycles, water bottles, dog leashes, shoes, Road ID bracelets, and hats. Want to try Brilliant Reflective? Here is their website, check it out at your convenience. BrilliantReflective.com

Another balance tip is to increase your sense of awareness of hazards. An easy one is cracks in the sidewalk or the road (or debris you could trip over). I used to be prone to trip over a lot of these sidewalk cracks (some were quite large that our city has since repaired). Then I decided to memorize where all these hazards are and to photograph them if needed so I can report them to the city for repairs. It’s a little bit hit-or-miss remembering all the hazards (we all forget things from time to time) but with a commitment to increase the awareness, it’s surprising how much more of this helpful information we can absorb if we try.

Another important sense of balance to develop is the balance between running/working out and rest/recovery. Some of us are a little more prone to overexert/overtrain, causing a higher risk of injury. I used to do this: I thought I could cut rest/recovery out of the equation and succeed. It backfired. Doing that almost derailed my lengthy run streak a while back. Now I’m much more careful and I know if my body is telling me to boost the rest/recovery, I do it. It pays dividends not right away but down the road. Sometimes our bodies simply need time to heal. That’s why it’s wise to designate some easy weeks, rest or restful days, and maybe even entire months where we aren’t operating at 120% of our ability. Alternating hard and easy workouts is a great balancing strategy that works well.

Even levers like running without walking (for me and many others who train by Jeff Galloway’s run-walk method) I have to watch carefully. I know some of you may run without walk breaks and I understand that. If you do adopt this method of training, it is an essential part of it to keep the running/walking components optimized and balanced.

We must try to balance our health with optimal nutrition too. To oversimplify, we shouldn’t be eating all salt and no sugar. We shouldn’t be eating all sugar and no salt either. While endurance athletes need to think about possibly using salt tablets during high-stress training/marathons/ultras, we shouldn’t be stacking all the salty foods we can find with that either. I’ve tried salt tablets in summer (and in marathons and a 50k) and they work well for me. Our nutrition should be a healthy balance of (primarily plant) protein, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, carbs, healthy fats, and a plentiful amount of water. Beware of consuming too much sugar: it causes weight gain, decreases in performance and the “sugar crash” or energy drain that almost all of us have experienced.

All running and no cross-training is not good. Add some swimming. Maybe ride a bike, add some walks. Keep the physical activity safely balanced and you will optimize what you are able to do on a daily basis and in competition if you compete.

One nuance on the rest-recovery cycle that is very important is the quantity and quality of sleep we are getting. I won’t belabor the point since I’ve written about it before. But if you are tired on a daily basis, frequently the sleep lever needs to be adjusted. Find ways to relax like reading, music, and meditation, that may be helpful to you.

Can we achieve perfect balance? Probably not. Too many things in life are outside our control. But if we endeavor to balance as well and as efficiently (not perfectly) as we are able, we will find we are able to progress with leaps and bounds in our health, training, performance and ability to balance ourselves and others, being healthy helpful examples to our families and friends in need.