Mette Ivie Harrison's Blog, page 80
November 11, 2011
Friday Tri: Being Sidelined
You are going to be sidelined. Accept this as a fact before you begin and maybe you will have a better chance dealing with it when it happens. People who exercise, even those who exercise at a much lower level, are going to be injured. It happens in every day life, taking a step off the curb or even shopping with a rogue cart. You may just end up with a cold. Or it could be something like unexpected surgery.
When I was training for my first Ironman about 5 years ago, I ended up getting nervous and hired a coach for the last three months of my training. The first thing the coach did when I sent him a log of my training? Told me to take five days completely off. No running, no biking, no swimming. You think this would feel great, right? But for me, it felt like I was being put in prison. It's not just that I'm more than a little OCD and need to have my happy exercise numbers to write down and look at. It's that I depend on the regularity of the routine and the endorphins I get from working out on a daily basis.
No matter what the reason for being sidelined, though, I think it is important to figure out other ways to get at the goal you are headed toward. For me, training for the Ironman, I spent the next five days practicing how to change a tire on my bike. It took me at least a day to come up with the idea, but when I did, I went at it full force. This wasn't exercising, but it was definitely something about the race that I didn't feel prepared for. You don't get a flat often at races, but there are always a handful of people at the side of the road during any given race who are changing a tire. As you pass them, there is a sense of guilt that it's not you this time, and a sense of relief, that it's not you this time.
If you know how to change your own tire, you are not also subject to a terrifying fear that you would have no idea how to deal with this situation. I tend to depend on my husband for techie stuff. I love my bike and I like useful gear, but he's the geek. He likes doing this stuff and he doesn't like seeing me frustrated. What this meant is that he had always done all the tire changing since I started biking. I realized when I was stopped with a flat and had to wait until a nice cyclist in a car came by to help me that I really couldn't change a tire on my own.
After changing a tire on the back and the front three times each every morning, I felt more prepared for my race. I got it timed (because I have to have my numbers) down to under 5 minutes on a front tire, more like 8 for a back tire. In an Ironman race, 5-8 minutes isn't going to make much difference. And more important, my confidence in dealing with my own problems at a race went up enormously. My lack of sympathy for competitors who don't bring their own stuff to fix a flat also went down. I know, pros don't want to waste the weight, but when the World Champion has to wait for another competitor to throw her a tube, that just seems silly. You can't assume bike support is going to be there to help you. You need to be able to do it yourself.
My point here is that just because you are injured and can't work out, that doesn't mean that you are going to be doing nothing. Maybe all you will be doing is visualization exercises to help you deal with the pain of the final sprint of a race. That's not nothing. That stuff really matters. Maybe you will spend the time reading articles about training, or researching what gear might really make a difference. Maybe you will watch videos about proper swim technique. Maybe you'll figure out how to do dry land swim training. There is always something to be done, no matter what your situation is. Don't get frustrated by it. Find what you can do and do it.
When I was training for my first Ironman about 5 years ago, I ended up getting nervous and hired a coach for the last three months of my training. The first thing the coach did when I sent him a log of my training? Told me to take five days completely off. No running, no biking, no swimming. You think this would feel great, right? But for me, it felt like I was being put in prison. It's not just that I'm more than a little OCD and need to have my happy exercise numbers to write down and look at. It's that I depend on the regularity of the routine and the endorphins I get from working out on a daily basis.
No matter what the reason for being sidelined, though, I think it is important to figure out other ways to get at the goal you are headed toward. For me, training for the Ironman, I spent the next five days practicing how to change a tire on my bike. It took me at least a day to come up with the idea, but when I did, I went at it full force. This wasn't exercising, but it was definitely something about the race that I didn't feel prepared for. You don't get a flat often at races, but there are always a handful of people at the side of the road during any given race who are changing a tire. As you pass them, there is a sense of guilt that it's not you this time, and a sense of relief, that it's not you this time.
If you know how to change your own tire, you are not also subject to a terrifying fear that you would have no idea how to deal with this situation. I tend to depend on my husband for techie stuff. I love my bike and I like useful gear, but he's the geek. He likes doing this stuff and he doesn't like seeing me frustrated. What this meant is that he had always done all the tire changing since I started biking. I realized when I was stopped with a flat and had to wait until a nice cyclist in a car came by to help me that I really couldn't change a tire on my own.
After changing a tire on the back and the front three times each every morning, I felt more prepared for my race. I got it timed (because I have to have my numbers) down to under 5 minutes on a front tire, more like 8 for a back tire. In an Ironman race, 5-8 minutes isn't going to make much difference. And more important, my confidence in dealing with my own problems at a race went up enormously. My lack of sympathy for competitors who don't bring their own stuff to fix a flat also went down. I know, pros don't want to waste the weight, but when the World Champion has to wait for another competitor to throw her a tube, that just seems silly. You can't assume bike support is going to be there to help you. You need to be able to do it yourself.
My point here is that just because you are injured and can't work out, that doesn't mean that you are going to be doing nothing. Maybe all you will be doing is visualization exercises to help you deal with the pain of the final sprint of a race. That's not nothing. That stuff really matters. Maybe you will spend the time reading articles about training, or researching what gear might really make a difference. Maybe you will watch videos about proper swim technique. Maybe you'll figure out how to do dry land swim training. There is always something to be done, no matter what your situation is. Don't get frustrated by it. Find what you can do and do it.
November 10, 2011
Thursday Quotes: Connie Willis's All Clear
I got to meet Connie Willis at World Fantasy this year and she was every bit as gracious and wonderful as I could have imagined from the narration of her novels. Her Doomsday Book is one of the books that got me to believe that sf/f was doing things that I simply couldn't do in other ways, and she also made me believe that there were women writers who had been there before me. I don't know if I can adequately explain how much I love her books, but this is a bit that is a glimpse:
"She hadn't realized they were in the bay that held The Light of the World . As the light grew, as golden as the light inside the lantern, she could see the painting more clearly than she ever had. And Mr. Humphreys was right. There was something new to see every time you looked at it.
She had been wrong in thinking Christ had been called up against his will to fight in a war. He didn't look--in spite of the crown of thorns--like someone making a sacrifice. Or even like someone determined to "do his bit." He looked instead like Marjorie had looked telling Polly she'd joined the Nursing Service, like Mr. Humphreys had looked filling buckets with water and sand to save St. Paul's, like Miss Laburnum had looked that day she came to Townsend Brothers with the coats. He looked like Captain Faulknor must have looked, lashing the ships together. Like Ernest Shackleton, setting out in that tiny boat across icy seas. Like Colin helping Mr. Dumworthy across the wreckage.
He looked . . contented. As if he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do."
"She hadn't realized they were in the bay that held The Light of the World . As the light grew, as golden as the light inside the lantern, she could see the painting more clearly than she ever had. And Mr. Humphreys was right. There was something new to see every time you looked at it.
She had been wrong in thinking Christ had been called up against his will to fight in a war. He didn't look--in spite of the crown of thorns--like someone making a sacrifice. Or even like someone determined to "do his bit." He looked instead like Marjorie had looked telling Polly she'd joined the Nursing Service, like Mr. Humphreys had looked filling buckets with water and sand to save St. Paul's, like Miss Laburnum had looked that day she came to Townsend Brothers with the coats. He looked like Captain Faulknor must have looked, lashing the ships together. Like Ernest Shackleton, setting out in that tiny boat across icy seas. Like Colin helping Mr. Dumworthy across the wreckage.
He looked . . contented. As if he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do."
November 9, 2011
Wednesday Writing: Professionalism
So, what makes the difference between someone who sells a book and keeps selling book after book after book versus someone who never sells a book or whose career is quickly over? I think it is the professionalism that persists in finding a new way to see an old project.
You write your book and you bring it to a critique group and you revise it. Then you polish it until you think it's perfect and you send it out. Let's say it gets rejected. Maybe you get a few agents or editors who ask for the full manuscript but no one bites. And you still love this book. Your friends tell you it is a great idea.
1. You could give up and shrug and decide that you are going to do something else with your life.
2. You could rail against the publishing machine that only wants bad commercial fiction or celebrity books that are an easy sale.
3. You could decide to self-publish the book because, after all, everyone else is doing it and you "know" that it's good enough.
4. Or you could decide to be a professional and set the book aside for a month or few. Then look at it again. And . . .
a. Look at it upside down.
b. Print it out and read it out loud.
c. Try taking out the center section.
d/e. Try starting earlier. Or later.
f. Try changing the point of view you're using.
g. Try making a different character the hero/heroine.
h. Revamp the main romance in the book.
i. Throw out the last half of the book and figure out a new ending.
j. Come up with a completely different back story for the main character.
k. Sit down and really work through your rules of magic.
l. Really vamp up your backstory.
m. Go sentence by sentence through the manuscript and make sure that each one shines.
n. Make the words more sensual, using smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing.
o. Try rewriting the whole story in a different genre.
p. Try writing the story for a different audience.
q. Try making the novel into a short story instead. It might work better that way.
r. Try making it into a series.
s. Work on a different book for a while, to hone your writing skills before you come back.
t. Make a graph of your plot and check to see if the pacing is right.
u. Imagine making a movie of the novel in your mind. Does it still work?
v. Set everything you've written aside and try rewriting what you see in your mind from scratch.
w. Let your side characters go where they want to go. Or stop them from doing that.
x. Figure out who your villain really is and why she does what she does.
y. Change the one thing that you don't want to change about the book.
z. Stop writing for an audience. Or try writing for one.
When I see real professionals at work, I see them doing many of the above things, working at the manuscript and making it better and better every time they revise it. Sure, sometimes it doesn't work. But we try anyway. We keep trying, because that's what professionals do. They figure out a way to make it happen. They get creative in trying to find solutions. They try to see things from another person's point of view.
You write your book and you bring it to a critique group and you revise it. Then you polish it until you think it's perfect and you send it out. Let's say it gets rejected. Maybe you get a few agents or editors who ask for the full manuscript but no one bites. And you still love this book. Your friends tell you it is a great idea.
1. You could give up and shrug and decide that you are going to do something else with your life.
2. You could rail against the publishing machine that only wants bad commercial fiction or celebrity books that are an easy sale.
3. You could decide to self-publish the book because, after all, everyone else is doing it and you "know" that it's good enough.
4. Or you could decide to be a professional and set the book aside for a month or few. Then look at it again. And . . .
a. Look at it upside down.
b. Print it out and read it out loud.
c. Try taking out the center section.
d/e. Try starting earlier. Or later.
f. Try changing the point of view you're using.
g. Try making a different character the hero/heroine.
h. Revamp the main romance in the book.
i. Throw out the last half of the book and figure out a new ending.
j. Come up with a completely different back story for the main character.
k. Sit down and really work through your rules of magic.
l. Really vamp up your backstory.
m. Go sentence by sentence through the manuscript and make sure that each one shines.
n. Make the words more sensual, using smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing.
o. Try rewriting the whole story in a different genre.
p. Try writing the story for a different audience.
q. Try making the novel into a short story instead. It might work better that way.
r. Try making it into a series.
s. Work on a different book for a while, to hone your writing skills before you come back.
t. Make a graph of your plot and check to see if the pacing is right.
u. Imagine making a movie of the novel in your mind. Does it still work?
v. Set everything you've written aside and try rewriting what you see in your mind from scratch.
w. Let your side characters go where they want to go. Or stop them from doing that.
x. Figure out who your villain really is and why she does what she does.
y. Change the one thing that you don't want to change about the book.
z. Stop writing for an audience. Or try writing for one.
When I see real professionals at work, I see them doing many of the above things, working at the manuscript and making it better and better every time they revise it. Sure, sometimes it doesn't work. But we try anyway. We keep trying, because that's what professionals do. They figure out a way to make it happen. They get creative in trying to find solutions. They try to see things from another person's point of view.
November 8, 2011
annoying romance tropes #19 #20 #21
#19 secret love child
The plot here is usually that the woman runs off, has the secret love child and then returns years later (usually when the kid is a teenager) and announces that the child is the hero's. The plot then revolves around some dire necessity that only the hero can help with. In contemporary romance, it's about blood transfusion or kidney donations. With fantasy, it is more about a child being taken and the world hanging in the balance. Yes, people do sometimes have love children. OK, maybe more than sometimes. But secret? It seems kind of hard to hide. And a woman who would do that to a man, or to her child, just bugs me.
#20 amnesia
This was a favorite from my 70s romances, but it pops up now and again still. I think it is so tempting to the writer because you can have the reader discover the protag's life in the same way that the protag does, being thrown in and trying to figure it out. It's also appealing because it allows people to start over with a blank slate, which is something that is useful, but so very tricky to do. We hang on to the past so firmly and refuse to reinterpret what the people around us are doing, even if they mean it in a different way. There is also a weird aura of romance around the idea of amnesia, the tragic accident and the fear of never being yourself again. Fun, fun, fun.
#21 the gay friend mistake
This happens in My Best Friend's Wedding with the wonderful Rupert Everett. But it wasn't particularly original then and it can be really offensive. Sure, you can't tell by looking if someone is gay, but is that really the only thing that is keeping you from getting together? Women can have guy friends without falling in love with them. And also, if you can't trust your girlfriend, then what is it going to be like when you are married?
The plot here is usually that the woman runs off, has the secret love child and then returns years later (usually when the kid is a teenager) and announces that the child is the hero's. The plot then revolves around some dire necessity that only the hero can help with. In contemporary romance, it's about blood transfusion or kidney donations. With fantasy, it is more about a child being taken and the world hanging in the balance. Yes, people do sometimes have love children. OK, maybe more than sometimes. But secret? It seems kind of hard to hide. And a woman who would do that to a man, or to her child, just bugs me.
#20 amnesia
This was a favorite from my 70s romances, but it pops up now and again still. I think it is so tempting to the writer because you can have the reader discover the protag's life in the same way that the protag does, being thrown in and trying to figure it out. It's also appealing because it allows people to start over with a blank slate, which is something that is useful, but so very tricky to do. We hang on to the past so firmly and refuse to reinterpret what the people around us are doing, even if they mean it in a different way. There is also a weird aura of romance around the idea of amnesia, the tragic accident and the fear of never being yourself again. Fun, fun, fun.
#21 the gay friend mistake
This happens in My Best Friend's Wedding with the wonderful Rupert Everett. But it wasn't particularly original then and it can be really offensive. Sure, you can't tell by looking if someone is gay, but is that really the only thing that is keeping you from getting together? Women can have guy friends without falling in love with them. And also, if you can't trust your girlfriend, then what is it going to be like when you are married?
November 7, 2011
race report Turkey Tri 2011
We knew the weather wasn't looking great. The race organizers sent an announcement around earlier in the week, threatening to cancel the bike if it was too bad. The prediction was snow showers with temps below 30. So 14 and I went prepared to deal with the weather. I brought several outfits to choose from, and ended up wearing almost everything because I got colder than I thought I would. I forgot to bring a coat to wear before the race started, but luckily was able to borrow one from the sister who was putting us up for the night.
I did the 5k run in 22:00 flat, which isn't bad. The bike was just around the parking lot. Less than a minute, seriously folks. Then the swim was 350 meters. They tried to start us staggered so that it wasn't too crazy in the water, which was probably a good idea. I think they ought to start staggered by expected finish time, rather than age, but I suppose anything works. It was about the same as it usually is. I passed about a dozen people in the water and was passed by one.
I could see a couple of women swimming about a full length ahead of me in the water and I couldn't catch them. I finished outside the podium overall, but first for women my age, so that was something. It wasn't the race I had wanted it to be, but it was still interesting and I got to do it with 14, so that was fun. I also got to listen to tunes while I ran, which is against USAT rules, but since this wasn't a USAT race, that was OK.
About canceling the bike: There was no snow on the ground, though there were some flurries. I think most people would have been fine on the bike, though we might have needed volunteers to shout out a warning at a couple of corners. It wasn't going to be a day for a PR, for anyone. You don't take chance on a course like that. But I get it, that most of the racers are neophytes, that it might have been their first tri, and no one wants people injured. So they cut it vastly short.
What was interesting to me was that I found myself deeply disappointed by the fact that I hadn't done the "whole" race. I tried to figure out for a while if my disappointment was because I hadn't placed as well as I had the last time I raced this course. But I didn't think it was. In the end, I came home, got on my bike indoors and finished the race mentally. Then I felt good again. I was surprised that I could do something like that to trick my brain, but it worked.
Then I started to think about how the same principle could be used in other ways in my life. If I am unhappy about something that has happened in the past that I can't change, are there ways in which I can make up for it in some way that will trick my mind and heart into accepting the substitution? I wonder if writing is that in a way, a substitution of what I wish had happened with what really did.
I did the 5k run in 22:00 flat, which isn't bad. The bike was just around the parking lot. Less than a minute, seriously folks. Then the swim was 350 meters. They tried to start us staggered so that it wasn't too crazy in the water, which was probably a good idea. I think they ought to start staggered by expected finish time, rather than age, but I suppose anything works. It was about the same as it usually is. I passed about a dozen people in the water and was passed by one.
I could see a couple of women swimming about a full length ahead of me in the water and I couldn't catch them. I finished outside the podium overall, but first for women my age, so that was something. It wasn't the race I had wanted it to be, but it was still interesting and I got to do it with 14, so that was fun. I also got to listen to tunes while I ran, which is against USAT rules, but since this wasn't a USAT race, that was OK.
About canceling the bike: There was no snow on the ground, though there were some flurries. I think most people would have been fine on the bike, though we might have needed volunteers to shout out a warning at a couple of corners. It wasn't going to be a day for a PR, for anyone. You don't take chance on a course like that. But I get it, that most of the racers are neophytes, that it might have been their first tri, and no one wants people injured. So they cut it vastly short.
What was interesting to me was that I found myself deeply disappointed by the fact that I hadn't done the "whole" race. I tried to figure out for a while if my disappointment was because I hadn't placed as well as I had the last time I raced this course. But I didn't think it was. In the end, I came home, got on my bike indoors and finished the race mentally. Then I felt good again. I was surprised that I could do something like that to trick my brain, but it worked.
Then I started to think about how the same principle could be used in other ways in my life. If I am unhappy about something that has happened in the past that I can't change, are there ways in which I can make up for it in some way that will trick my mind and heart into accepting the substitution? I wonder if writing is that in a way, a substitution of what I wish had happened with what really did.
November 4, 2011
How to write a first draft--a numbers graph in honor of NaNoWriMo
Date Daily wc Cumulative
8/12/2011 1956 1956
8/15/2011 4540 6496
8/16/2011 4226 10722
8/17/2011 4580 15302
8/19/2011 2396 17698
9/15/2011 4236 21934
9/16/2011 4449 26383
9/19/2011 4913 32296
9/20/2011 5039 35821
9/21/2011 4525 40860
9/22/2011 3470 44330
9/23/2011 5812 50142
10/19/2011 2369 53511
10/25/2011 5801 58312
10/26/2011 4974 63286
10/27/2011 2532 65818
10/28/2011 4005 69823
10/31/2011 3087 72910
11/1/2011 5117 78027
11/2/2011 4990 83017
11/3/2011 5926 88943
11/4/2011 3973 92916
You can see how happy numbers make me. This is a progress log of the novel most recently completed. The problem with NaNoWriMo for a working writer is that you so very rarely have a full month in which to devote to drafting. Mostly, it gets shoved in here and there, between revisions of the novel actually sold, and PR events and critiques etc. I think I could actually write a first draft of a novel in one month, but it's possible that the breaks are useful for letting my hindbrain figure out what is going to happen next. Mostly, it feels really painful to jump back into a novel like this. But so it goes . . .
8/12/2011 1956 1956
8/15/2011 4540 6496
8/16/2011 4226 10722
8/17/2011 4580 15302
8/19/2011 2396 17698
9/15/2011 4236 21934
9/16/2011 4449 26383
9/19/2011 4913 32296
9/20/2011 5039 35821
9/21/2011 4525 40860
9/22/2011 3470 44330
9/23/2011 5812 50142
10/19/2011 2369 53511
10/25/2011 5801 58312
10/26/2011 4974 63286
10/27/2011 2532 65818
10/28/2011 4005 69823
10/31/2011 3087 72910
11/1/2011 5117 78027
11/2/2011 4990 83017
11/3/2011 5926 88943
11/4/2011 3973 92916
You can see how happy numbers make me. This is a progress log of the novel most recently completed. The problem with NaNoWriMo for a working writer is that you so very rarely have a full month in which to devote to drafting. Mostly, it gets shoved in here and there, between revisions of the novel actually sold, and PR events and critiques etc. I think I could actually write a first draft of a novel in one month, but it's possible that the breaks are useful for letting my hindbrain figure out what is going to happen next. Mostly, it feels really painful to jump back into a novel like this. But so it goes . . .
Annoying romance tropes #16 #17 #18
#16 Romance Novel Names
The man must have a "manly" name. The woman must have a "flower" name. Choices? Thane, Jock, and Phallus. Or Violet, Lily, Virginal. The writers seem to use the names so unconsciously, but it makes me laugh. Also makes me want to write parody.
#17 Not Pretty Enough
The woman must be worried about being "pretty" enough. She must also constantly assume that the man says he loves her/wants to marry her for reasons other than actually loving her or wanting to marry her. I know that there has to be some element of doubt in the relationship or you can't spin it out for the whole novel, but I really prefer other ones, especially when it's clear that the woman isn't actually suffering from some intense scarring or disfiguration. Why isn't she worried that she is smart enough? Or that she is funny enough? Or that she makes enough money? Because culturally, that's not what women think men care about. I really hope it isn't true.
#18 Doctor/Nurse Story
I'm not sure if there really are so many examples of patients falling for doctors/nurses. Maybe there are. Romance novels make me almost believe it. Seriously, if a woman gets hurt, you can be guaranteed that she falls in love with the doctor (in the 70s and 80s) or a more politically correct choice like a male nurse (in the 90s) or simply the guy who happens to drive her to the hospital (naughts and now). It works in reverse, too, in sometimes hilarious ways. I am so surprised at how this trope has hung on in romance novels. If a man gets hurt in any way, the woman who is meant to be his love interest must tend to him physically. She can't just dial 911. And men, apparently, get hurt a lot because they are idiots around women. And of course, women are just so clumsy around men, they are bound to end up needing to be carried around.
The man must have a "manly" name. The woman must have a "flower" name. Choices? Thane, Jock, and Phallus. Or Violet, Lily, Virginal. The writers seem to use the names so unconsciously, but it makes me laugh. Also makes me want to write parody.
#17 Not Pretty Enough
The woman must be worried about being "pretty" enough. She must also constantly assume that the man says he loves her/wants to marry her for reasons other than actually loving her or wanting to marry her. I know that there has to be some element of doubt in the relationship or you can't spin it out for the whole novel, but I really prefer other ones, especially when it's clear that the woman isn't actually suffering from some intense scarring or disfiguration. Why isn't she worried that she is smart enough? Or that she is funny enough? Or that she makes enough money? Because culturally, that's not what women think men care about. I really hope it isn't true.
#18 Doctor/Nurse Story
I'm not sure if there really are so many examples of patients falling for doctors/nurses. Maybe there are. Romance novels make me almost believe it. Seriously, if a woman gets hurt, you can be guaranteed that she falls in love with the doctor (in the 70s and 80s) or a more politically correct choice like a male nurse (in the 90s) or simply the guy who happens to drive her to the hospital (naughts and now). It works in reverse, too, in sometimes hilarious ways. I am so surprised at how this trope has hung on in romance novels. If a man gets hurt in any way, the woman who is meant to be his love interest must tend to him physically. She can't just dial 911. And men, apparently, get hurt a lot because they are idiots around women. And of course, women are just so clumsy around men, they are bound to end up needing to be carried around.
November 3, 2011
Friday Tri: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Here are my times for a local fall triathlon (which means reverse, so you don't get out of the water and into freezing cold air) each time I have done it over the last 8 years:
11/04 1:06.12
11/05 1:05.14
4/06 1:06.12
11/07 1:02.35 (new, longer bike course—about 5 minutes longer)
4/08 1:00.08
11/08 1:02.23 (new course with longer run, longer swim—about 2 minutes longer)
4/09 1:01.16
11/09 1:00.16
4/10 1:02:47
11/10 1:01.17 (slightly longer run—30 seconds longer)
4/11 1:00.23
There is a steady progression here. I didn't improve each time I did the race, but I often did. And the improvements I made were often in seconds, not minutes, especially the last few years. I'm not moving like a hare, going leaps and bounds faster. I'm definitely the turtle with these tiny little steps forward. I've done the race so many times there are advantages in knowing exactly where each turn is and where I can shave a few seconds off.
I think it's also worth noting that this was one of the first races I did when I started doing triathlon, and it was not a success. I had taken first place in my age group the first tri I did, and third in my age group the second tri I did (on a mountain bike rather than the road bike I used for the other one—also there were only three women in my age group who finished). I didn't place in this race at all. Not even close. So that was an interesting reminder of how much farther I still had to go in triathlon.
Lately I have been taking second place to a certain someone who is a bit of a nemesis in triathlon. I tend to beat her in longer courses because I'm a better biker (and I have a better bike—or I used to!). This race depends more on the run and strangely, this nemesis often passes me on the last stretch of the swim. I'm a good swimmer, but she is REALLY good, so it seems that no matter how early I pass her on the bike, she still catches up to me on the swim.
You can tell from this list than I'm a little crazy about recording my race times. Even this year, when I'm trying not to have a particular race goal, the times matter to me, every little second. My plan to get under 1:00 which has been my goal from time immemorial, is to take a few seconds off in transition with my new sockless running shoes and my shoes already attached to bike plan. We'll see how it goes. I always have a new idea for how to do just a little better. That's what keeps me racing, the focus on what I CAN control, rather than what I can't.
One of the other things that I think is important here is that I'm getting older, not younger. But I'm still getting better. Part of that is simply that I wasn't very good to start with. I have a friend who used to train for the Olympics on hurdles and for him, every year means he's getting slower. But for me, who never did anything remotely athletic in my younger years, I can still make PR's.
I think it's also true in real life that we don't always look at where we've come from. We tend to look ahead a lot at what we still want to get done, but looking back is such a useful thing to do. Those incremental improvements that we make really matter. Even if it feels like it's not really getting faster, because I have a better helmet or because I've figured out how to take off seconds in transition, it still counts. At least, I say it still counts.
11/04 1:06.12
11/05 1:05.14
4/06 1:06.12
11/07 1:02.35 (new, longer bike course—about 5 minutes longer)
4/08 1:00.08
11/08 1:02.23 (new course with longer run, longer swim—about 2 minutes longer)
4/09 1:01.16
11/09 1:00.16
4/10 1:02:47
11/10 1:01.17 (slightly longer run—30 seconds longer)
4/11 1:00.23
There is a steady progression here. I didn't improve each time I did the race, but I often did. And the improvements I made were often in seconds, not minutes, especially the last few years. I'm not moving like a hare, going leaps and bounds faster. I'm definitely the turtle with these tiny little steps forward. I've done the race so many times there are advantages in knowing exactly where each turn is and where I can shave a few seconds off.
I think it's also worth noting that this was one of the first races I did when I started doing triathlon, and it was not a success. I had taken first place in my age group the first tri I did, and third in my age group the second tri I did (on a mountain bike rather than the road bike I used for the other one—also there were only three women in my age group who finished). I didn't place in this race at all. Not even close. So that was an interesting reminder of how much farther I still had to go in triathlon.
Lately I have been taking second place to a certain someone who is a bit of a nemesis in triathlon. I tend to beat her in longer courses because I'm a better biker (and I have a better bike—or I used to!). This race depends more on the run and strangely, this nemesis often passes me on the last stretch of the swim. I'm a good swimmer, but she is REALLY good, so it seems that no matter how early I pass her on the bike, she still catches up to me on the swim.
You can tell from this list than I'm a little crazy about recording my race times. Even this year, when I'm trying not to have a particular race goal, the times matter to me, every little second. My plan to get under 1:00 which has been my goal from time immemorial, is to take a few seconds off in transition with my new sockless running shoes and my shoes already attached to bike plan. We'll see how it goes. I always have a new idea for how to do just a little better. That's what keeps me racing, the focus on what I CAN control, rather than what I can't.
One of the other things that I think is important here is that I'm getting older, not younger. But I'm still getting better. Part of that is simply that I wasn't very good to start with. I have a friend who used to train for the Olympics on hurdles and for him, every year means he's getting slower. But for me, who never did anything remotely athletic in my younger years, I can still make PR's.
I think it's also true in real life that we don't always look at where we've come from. We tend to look ahead a lot at what we still want to get done, but looking back is such a useful thing to do. Those incremental improvements that we make really matter. Even if it feels like it's not really getting faster, because I have a better helmet or because I've figured out how to take off seconds in transition, it still counts. At least, I say it still counts.
November 2, 2011
Thursday Quotes: Jim Butcher's Changes
I think Changes is the best of the Harry Dresden books, which I love alternately and mock, as well. I still think that the ending was mean to readers, and mostly a ploy to make us need to buy both the next book and the collection that came in between. But, even so . . .
"I'm not a Wiccan. I'm not big on churches of any kind, despite the fact that I've spoken, face-to-face, with an archangel of the Almighty.
But there were some things I believed in. Some things I had faith in. And faith isn't about perfect attendance to services, or how much money you put on the little plate. It isn't about going skyclad to the Holy Rites, or meditating each day upon the divine.
Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others--even when there's not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.
Faith is a power of its own, and one even more elusive and difficult to define than magic."
"I'm not a Wiccan. I'm not big on churches of any kind, despite the fact that I've spoken, face-to-face, with an archangel of the Almighty.
But there were some things I believed in. Some things I had faith in. And faith isn't about perfect attendance to services, or how much money you put on the little plate. It isn't about going skyclad to the Holy Rites, or meditating each day upon the divine.
Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others--even when there's not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.
Faith is a power of its own, and one even more elusive and difficult to define than magic."
November 1, 2011
Panel Moderating Styles
1. The Ellen-Kushner Dinner Party
Ellen Kushner explained to the audience that she hopes that the audience in her panels feels like they have been sitting in on a dinner party. She wants everyone to feel equally empowered to speak, but she feels no obligation to sit back and let the other panelists do the talking. She strategizes by trying to think of fun jumping off points and sort of throws them into the mix and lets what is going to happen happen. She doesn't try to keep people from having a heated discussion. In fact, in some ways, it seemed that what she wanted was two opposing sides duking it out up on the podium. I enjoyed watching this style, but am not entirely sure that I am prepared to do it myself.
2. The Holly Black CSI
Holly actually physically moves her chair to the side of the other panelists, so that she is sitting apart from them. Visually, it looks more like she is on a game show and she is the hostess. She has a list of prepared questions, which doesn't mean she doesn't want people to veer off in interesting directions. But the overall feel I got was that she was observing everything happening, and occasionally putting a word in to tweak things in interesting ways. This was also very interesting to watch. It was like the best reality television, where there is a sense that a very creative mind is behind the scenes. It's not staged in any way, but there is a controlling power.
3. Abdicating Monarch
This is the panelist who openly admits that h/she has no idea why h/she was chosen to be moderator of the panel. This is almost the first thing that happens in the panel, the introduction and the abdication of the monarch. You can guess that what usually happens then is a free-for-all. Most often, the audience takes control, and the moderator seems relieved to have this happen. Hands are raised after the introductions, and the panel goes wherever the audience wants it to go. Sadly, unless you happen to have an extremely good audience, the questions devolved into comments by the audience about books they have read, pet hobby horses, and boring travelogues.
4. A Higher Power
The moderator in this case is a no-name author who is flanked by a big name author on the other side of the table. The moderator at first thinks that it is a huge honor to be in the presence of the other panelist, tries to do the job of moderating by asking some good questions, but in the end is overwhelmed by the sheer force of personality of the big-name panelist. If anyone asks a question, either audience or moderator, the whole panel turns to look at big name. Because big name isn't going to let anyone else answer, or if they do, woe to them because big name will make sure they regret it by laughing at their answer and humiliating them. At the end, the moderator realizes that it was not, in fact, an honor to be asked to moderate the panel. It was an initiation ceremony.
5. Shall We Dance?
The panelists have never met each other before, nor have they bothered to look up the least details on line. They don't connect in any way. Their past experiences are vastly different and even if they are trying to play nice, they are speaking at cross purposes constantly. It ends up feeling as if you are watching an awkward junior high dance where everyone stands against the wall, waiting to be asked to dance, but no one will meet anyone else's eyes, and when people think they have the courage to open their mouths, they find they are mistaken and quickly run away.
6. Comedy Central
Sometimes a panel idea is just plain stupid and the comedy central style is absolutely appropriate. Other times the moderator is simply uninterested in the actual topic of discussion and even disdainful of the other panelists. So this devolves into the moderator asking questions that are absurd and off the wall, and which no one has any idea how to answer.
7. Hijacking
When the entire panel decides that the topic or the assumptions on which the topic given is based are wrong. And they admit shortly into the discussion that they are not interested in talking about that at all. It can take some time if they haven't discussed it beforehand to settle into a related topic that interests them. Other times, the panel is up front about their nefarious plans. The panel on how to get teens to transition to adult books at World Fantasy in 2011 was like that. The panelists were all YA authors who instead wanted to get adults to start reading YA.
8. Mediation
There are two people on the panel who hate each other passionately, and they always sit on opposing sides of the panel. A reluctant moderator sits in the middle and tries, ducking head and cringing, to ask questions which won't sound like s/he is taking sides. Because then nuclear armageddon will occur.
9. Pimping Your Book
Every question asked by the moderator is, in the end, a chance for the authors to pick up the copies of their books which they have kindly brought in case the audience doesn't know who they are, and tell every detail in that book which proves a point they wish to make in response to the question. I fear that for me, this makes me think the authors are actually suffering from some extreme form of lack of self-esteem. Everyone at WFC is someone important. Carrying your book around with you like it's a blanket is rather bad form. It's trying too hard. Talk about other authors' books you love and you will seem more generous and less grasping and needy.
Ellen Kushner explained to the audience that she hopes that the audience in her panels feels like they have been sitting in on a dinner party. She wants everyone to feel equally empowered to speak, but she feels no obligation to sit back and let the other panelists do the talking. She strategizes by trying to think of fun jumping off points and sort of throws them into the mix and lets what is going to happen happen. She doesn't try to keep people from having a heated discussion. In fact, in some ways, it seemed that what she wanted was two opposing sides duking it out up on the podium. I enjoyed watching this style, but am not entirely sure that I am prepared to do it myself.
2. The Holly Black CSI
Holly actually physically moves her chair to the side of the other panelists, so that she is sitting apart from them. Visually, it looks more like she is on a game show and she is the hostess. She has a list of prepared questions, which doesn't mean she doesn't want people to veer off in interesting directions. But the overall feel I got was that she was observing everything happening, and occasionally putting a word in to tweak things in interesting ways. This was also very interesting to watch. It was like the best reality television, where there is a sense that a very creative mind is behind the scenes. It's not staged in any way, but there is a controlling power.
3. Abdicating Monarch
This is the panelist who openly admits that h/she has no idea why h/she was chosen to be moderator of the panel. This is almost the first thing that happens in the panel, the introduction and the abdication of the monarch. You can guess that what usually happens then is a free-for-all. Most often, the audience takes control, and the moderator seems relieved to have this happen. Hands are raised after the introductions, and the panel goes wherever the audience wants it to go. Sadly, unless you happen to have an extremely good audience, the questions devolved into comments by the audience about books they have read, pet hobby horses, and boring travelogues.
4. A Higher Power
The moderator in this case is a no-name author who is flanked by a big name author on the other side of the table. The moderator at first thinks that it is a huge honor to be in the presence of the other panelist, tries to do the job of moderating by asking some good questions, but in the end is overwhelmed by the sheer force of personality of the big-name panelist. If anyone asks a question, either audience or moderator, the whole panel turns to look at big name. Because big name isn't going to let anyone else answer, or if they do, woe to them because big name will make sure they regret it by laughing at their answer and humiliating them. At the end, the moderator realizes that it was not, in fact, an honor to be asked to moderate the panel. It was an initiation ceremony.
5. Shall We Dance?
The panelists have never met each other before, nor have they bothered to look up the least details on line. They don't connect in any way. Their past experiences are vastly different and even if they are trying to play nice, they are speaking at cross purposes constantly. It ends up feeling as if you are watching an awkward junior high dance where everyone stands against the wall, waiting to be asked to dance, but no one will meet anyone else's eyes, and when people think they have the courage to open their mouths, they find they are mistaken and quickly run away.
6. Comedy Central
Sometimes a panel idea is just plain stupid and the comedy central style is absolutely appropriate. Other times the moderator is simply uninterested in the actual topic of discussion and even disdainful of the other panelists. So this devolves into the moderator asking questions that are absurd and off the wall, and which no one has any idea how to answer.
7. Hijacking
When the entire panel decides that the topic or the assumptions on which the topic given is based are wrong. And they admit shortly into the discussion that they are not interested in talking about that at all. It can take some time if they haven't discussed it beforehand to settle into a related topic that interests them. Other times, the panel is up front about their nefarious plans. The panel on how to get teens to transition to adult books at World Fantasy in 2011 was like that. The panelists were all YA authors who instead wanted to get adults to start reading YA.
8. Mediation
There are two people on the panel who hate each other passionately, and they always sit on opposing sides of the panel. A reluctant moderator sits in the middle and tries, ducking head and cringing, to ask questions which won't sound like s/he is taking sides. Because then nuclear armageddon will occur.
9. Pimping Your Book
Every question asked by the moderator is, in the end, a chance for the authors to pick up the copies of their books which they have kindly brought in case the audience doesn't know who they are, and tell every detail in that book which proves a point they wish to make in response to the question. I fear that for me, this makes me think the authors are actually suffering from some extreme form of lack of self-esteem. Everyone at WFC is someone important. Carrying your book around with you like it's a blanket is rather bad form. It's trying too hard. Talk about other authors' books you love and you will seem more generous and less grasping and needy.
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