Lesson #5 to Self: The art of becoming resilient

Resiliency is not for the weak of heart. I should know because I've had lots of practice trying to get it right. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. But I am now in a situation that requires that I figure it out sooner rather than later.

A lovely run January 12th was the start of it. In the aftermath of that jaunt along country roads, the back of my knee started hurting. I wasn’t too worried, giving it a rest and increasing my time in the pool and in the weight room. But it never seemed to get better despite running (or trying to) every couple of days. The pain never got better. By the end of January, it was hard to be positive, desperately missing the mountain trails and friends who joined me there.

February ushered in more of the same. By the time my sweeping responsibilities for a 50K trail race rolled around (course demarking for those who might be picturing a broom in hand), I took the “come hell or high water” approach. The 33-degree torrential downpour certainly provided the high water component (literally) and the hell part was how my knee felt by the time I finished the assignment. Ugh.

Yesterday I resigned myself to the fact that my “it will eventually heal if I rest it” approach was not working. Hence, I walked myself into an orthopedic urgent care. X-rays failed to show any bony structural issues other than mild arthritis. The provider suggested a steroid shot and a 30-day wait for another appointment and possible MRI. I agreed. What did I have to lose?

Despite a glimmer of hope, last night I cancelled my upcoming 24-hour race, a mere three weeks from now. Even if my knee makes a miraculous recovery, continuous forward motion for that long would likely not help. However, I have set my sights on other races in the coming months.

Now comes the hard work. How will I manage the physical and mental aspects of rebounding from this ill-defined injury? I will need to be smart, calculating, and strategic. I know there will be good days and bad. I must fight with all my might the enemy of inevitable discouragement. And I must see each day as an opportunity to be resilient in body, mind, and spirit.

Lesson to Self #4: Hardworking

 

For the last three weeks, I have written lessons to myself about the importance of intentional character skill development including thinking well, becoming disciplined, and using creativity to find effective solutions. (You can find these in prior posts.) Since I was recently a witness to an exemplar of these three skills, I want us to be reminded of the importance of being hardworking, which is contingent on a hefty foundation of solid thinking, discipline, and creativity.

 

Allow me to introduce Lang Wedemeyer. Lang is the current head coach of Liberty University’s NCAA Division 1 women’s soccer program, ranked nationally this past season at #24. Prior to that, he spent 17 years at the helm of South Dakota State following his own 7-year tenure playing professional soccer and standout collegiate play with the Virginia Tech and Old Dominion Universities. Since he has been there, done that, you might think that he can now sit back and rest on his coaching laurels, doling out demanding instructions from the sidelines. Right? Wrong.

 

Coach Wedemeyer has led the Liberty Flames to remarkable accomplishments. The young women are bought into his coaching methodologies and approach. They are constantly improving their technical skills and, from all appearances, have developed an extremely tight-knit sense of “team.” It’s a beautiful thing.

 

So, what is Lang’s secret? Certainly, his own prowess in the sport and extensive experience as a coach contributes to his success. But I want to propose that the team buy-in and performance is largely a function of the example he sets.

 

Coach Wedemeyer got up close and personal with the sport of ultrarunning when he moved back into the Central Virginia area, a hotbed for trail running. One thing led to another as he entered the foray of long, sometimes tortuous mountain trail running. He began to enter races with mileage totals unknown to 99.9% of the population. He even ran the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles) and completed the nearly 500-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain in a mere 15 days. (14 days if you exclude his one day of rest. You do the math for miles per day.)

 

Lang is the kind of coach that leads by example. His players simply cannot rebel against his demand for excellence when he puts his money where his mouth is. He shows them (doesn’t have to tell them) how to be disciplined, how to accomplish hard things by grounded thinking, and how to be creative in finding solutions to difficult challenges. His hard work at maintaining his own physical, mental, and spiritual fitness leaves no room for a player to claim, “But Coach, you don’t understand.” He understands very well.

 

Yesterday I saw Lang in the middle of a 35-mile trail race. He got there by careful preparation and a healthy dose of hard work. He moved along with efficiency of stride and a smile on his face. He is the kind of coach that I most admire because there is nothing he will ask of his players that he is not willing to do himself. 

 

Thanks, Coach Wedemeyer, for the inspiration.

 

Liberty Women's Soccer Liberty University Liberty Flames Liberty Flames Sports Network Liberty University Game On

 Lesson #3 to Self: Be creative

The story goes like this. A young woman is cooking with her mother and sees her cut off the ends of the ham before placing it in the oven. She inquires why. “Well, my mother told me to do it this way because it’s better. Why don’t you ask her for the specific reason in doing so?

So she does. “Grandma, why do you cut off the ends of the ham?” She gets the same response. “My mother always did it this way. I’ve done it as well but I don’t really know why. Why don’t you ask your Great Grandma?”

Once again she poses the question to her Great Grandma. Anticipating a compelling rationale in cutting off the ends, Great Grandma simply stated, “My roasting pan was always too small. I had to cut off the ends to make the ham fit in the pan.”

Ah, so there we have it. A simple solution to a specific problem turned into the non-negotiable standard for future endeavors.

“We’ve always done it this way” is a dangerous sentiment that squelches objective analysis and creativity. Granted, the way it’s always been done could actually be the best approach. But then again, it may not be.

Creativity has the potential to explore options and expand horizons. That said, creativity demands an element of discipline to objectively evaluate pros and cons without digging in the heels to a preconceived notion of what is best.

I would do well to consider alternative approaches, to be analytical, and to objectively review the data before settling on the path forward.

How about you? Is there a process in your organization for which there is no good explanation for the way it is done? Perhaps I can help you think outside the proverbial box to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Feel free to contact me (rebekah@rebekahtrittipoe.com or rebekahtrittipoe.com) to discuss the possibilities.

#Buildingbetterteams

Lesson 2: Be positive. Think constructively.

1975

 Lesson 2 - Be Positive. Think constructively.

Last week I proposed that better people make better anythings. I acknowledged my need to work on being more disciplined. I’ve not been perfect but have managed to be intentional about growing in this category.

This week, I am committing to being more positive, which will demand good and useful thinking if progress is to be made. But if I can be transparent, the struggle is real.

I was a cheerleader back in the day. Ra, Ra! (Please don’t laugh.) We were expected to be wildly
enthusiastic on the sidelines, even if the score was upside down. That required a healthy dose of faking it because, quite frankly, not every contest played by the Pennridge Rams ended up as a W in the stats book.

Likewise, as a multi-sport athlete in both high school and college, successful team play also required an element of positivity. Not only for personal stability but being positive (or not) tipped the scale on how the team functioned as a whole. It wasn’t always easy, especially when circumstances seemed stacked against us.

I acknowledge that my failure to cross the finish line at a couple of 100-mile races was largely due to a head-full of negative thoughts playing bumper cares in my brain. I was suffering. It hurt. It would take way too many hours to finish. I allowed my circumstances to taint my thinking, eventually escorting me to the point of no return.

Even now, on a continuum that includes zero as the midpoint, I am often left of center. Frustrated with a nagging injury that makes training hard, my struggle for daily productivity, and miffed that there is nearly as much hair stuck to my brush bristles as attached to my scalp makes some days seem gray. When friends run faster and longer than ever before, I mourn that I may never again be able to keep up. The thought of being a has-been hurls me further down the negative lane.

Realistically, can I do anything about fast friends or long locks that seem to enjoy their individuality apart from my head? Nope. Hence, it would be futile to dwell on those things though it is so easy (and natural) to do.

But can I adapt my training to optimize what I can do rather than bemoan what I cannot? Am I able to be more intentional about mindful scheduling of my days to be more productive? Is a wig an option should all my hair decide to vacate the premises? Sure. These are simplistic examples of constructive, positive thinking.

You see, being positive does NOT mean that I am forever giddy and cheerful like my cheerleader self in days of old (1975). Rather, being positive requires three things:

1)     Understanding the reality of what can be controlled and what cannot
2)     Developing useful thinking to address the controllable factors of the situation
3)     Being disciplined in managing thought patterns and keeping perspective.

This week I challenge myself in continuing to be disciplined in tandem with solid, positive thinking.