Someday I will get one, if not both, of these guys (links here and here) to write up a short little ditty with me on the problem of central planning inherent in a long distance run.
If there were ever an activity where the clichés of “just let things go” or “go with your gut” were true, it’s in the long distance run. As my Zen master dean and lunch buddy, Skip Mounts, constantly says, “Take your watch off and you’ll run a better race.” I have yet to take my watch off in a race, but I suspect he’s probably right.
The problem for the runner is that your mind and body are telling you to try to control the process from beginning to end. One mile that’s too fast or slow can often breed panic. And, panic in a race will blow you up. If you run a couple of miles past people screaming, you can get a huge shot of adrenaline, which makes many runners move more quickly. But, in long distance running, adrenaline will blow you up.
In the long distance run, the most minor adjustments and the most random shocks have unintended, unexpected consequences that often produce more harm for the runner than good. If the runner is not in the right state of mind and tries to fine tune his or her performance too much, they blow up. As an old Top Gun line puts it, “You don’t have time to think up there. If you think, you’re dead…”
A similar planner’s problem presents itself when a runner becomes injured. Rather than approach the injury with gradual and slow changes, most runners respond by changing too many things all at once. When it’s a knee injury, many runners respond by getting new shoes, altering their stride, seeing a doctor, changing their diet, introducing new stretches, and backing off their running program. And, they make these drastic changes all at once! By changing so many variables at the same time to try correcting for one problem, they are, no doubt, introducing many more future problems. One can’t help but wonder how things would’ve turned out had they just left well enough alone.
People tell me the problem of parenting can also be described as a problem of central planning. While I don’t have kids, I believe them. And, on February 1st, I’ll try to relate to our parents who read the EWOT blog by discussing the planner’s problem (or, at least, this author’s problem) in raising a yellow lab mutt (it’ll be her 3rd birthday that day). Stay tuned…