Anger Management

Last weekend, I discovered how to make anger work for me.

Dreadmill Workout

Saturday, I did a one hour hard trainer ride. I followed that with a 30 minute treadmill brick run. I started out doing a 5k hill workout at pace of 8m/m. I got through the first 4 minute rep at incline of 3. My legs felt like toast, so I wussed out on the 2nd rep at incline of 4.

I decided to bag the hill workout, and just try and push my pace on the treadmill to the top of zone 2. I wanted to see how fast i could go without leaving Zone 2. I sucked and could not even hold a pace of 9m/m, and I ended up feeling angry and frustrated. At the 20 minute mark, I stopped running and almost gave up, thinking “these are junk miles, my body needs a rest”.

Then I decided to work on mental toughness. After all, in a race, if I am not getting the pace I want, I don’t just give up. I keep going at the best pace I can. So, I hopped back on the treadmill and I tried to redirect my anger into the movement of my feet. “Fast Feet, Angry Feet” became my mantra. That worked, and I nailed my 9m/m pace in Zone 2 (top of zone 2, but I’ll take it)! So, chalk one up for mental toughness. I finished feeling strong.

Long Run

On Sunday I headed out in the cold drizzle for a hilly 8 mile run. I was maintaining good focus and feeling strong for the first three miles. At mile 4, my mind started to wander and I was thinking about some of the stressful things going on in my life. That caused me to lose my running groove. And that made me angry! I wasn’t going to let stress and emotion get in the way of my good workout. So, I tried to redirect that angry energy into the movement of my feet. It worked, and I felt like I was running fast again.

At the 6 mile mark, I stepped in a puddle that was deeper than it appeared. I twisted my ankle, tripped and banged my knee – OUCH! I inspected my knee – it was scraped and bloody. I jogged a few strides…knee felt fine…ankle felt a little sore, but not painful. So, I started running and was very happy to have no serious injury. (you can just barely see my new Zoot compression socks in that photo – love ’em!)

Then it dawned on my that I was running along at a mindlessly slow pace, simply happy to be running at all. The anger that I had felt earlier had been helping me to run fast. So, I intentionally tried to think of things that made me angry, so I could tap into that angry energy again! It worked. I ran the rest of the way home fast. Angry fast! I will have to remember this lesson in “Anger Management”, and use it next time someone passes me in a race.

Update: I don’t think it’s a good idea to run angry for an entire race! That doesn’t sound fun! If I use my newfound yoga running groove to tap into a relaxed, fast running state throughout the race, then maybe no-one WILL pass me in the run. I will keep the anger card in my back pocket and only use it when truly needed. Thanks to a good friend for that thought.

Why Andy Bernard was sent to Anger Management classes:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwTJ08lb73Q]
YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwTJ08lb73Q