Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: What's worthwhile, worthy of our time, energy, belief, and action? I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. To me, it's building mind, body and spirit wellness towards peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit. Let's pursue these topics together to find.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Holistic health and wellness.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Hey there.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: It's Ramsey here. I'm training for the Capital City Half Marathon here in Olympia, Washington. There are two big, long hills on the course for this race. I'm not big into running hills. My normal running loop around town is pretty flat. But I've got this friend and running buddy who is all about hills and elevation. So he says to me, when you run uphill, here's what you do. Push off your toes, engage your glutes to really lift your legs and imagine running into the hill as opposed to up it. Okay, hang on. Wait. Don't worry. This is not just a running tutorial today. Stay with me. When you see a hill in front of you, meaning a challenge, a task, a difficult conversation, are you enthusiastic about running up, or are you like, ugh, another pain in my ass? I think most of us are the latter. But my friend here just gave us all some good advice. If we take a second to unpack it, pushing off our toes, that's about posture and attitude and intention, taking every action deliberately, intently, instead of grudgingly engaging our glutes. Those are the big guns, the big muscles in your butt, the ones that can carry us up. And yes, after running up hills for a few days, I was sore. Literally a pain in my ass, but worth it. Running into the hill instead of just up it changes our perspective in unexpected ways. This hill, this problem, this challenge, is likely not entirely as it first seemed. Here's some irony for you. I feel like that technique probably required more energy than was strictly necessary to get me up the hill. Like, maybe I could have put in less effort to get past that challenge, but what was the point? Getting up that one hill? No, I'm training for a future race. The. The point is to be better able to get up future hills by applying the right posture, form, energy, power, and perspective. I'm equipping myself to make it easier next time. Not easier this time. When you run uphill, why are you doing it? I mean, like, what's your mindset? What are you trying to accomplish in the big picture? Are you going along to get along? That's cool. I feel you. I'm often in that maintenance mode. Are you desperate? Does your life depend on you getting up this particular hill today? I hope not. I mean, sometimes that really is the case, but I think more often we just feel that way, you know, like we're in survival mode. Okay, so maintenance mode and survival mode. Neither of those particularly appeal to me, although I totally get them. Right now I'm in training mode, and on game day, I'm going to be in racing mode. Might I suggest that you try for training mode instead of maintenance mode? In training mode, we're not running up this hill for the sake of getting to the top of only this hill. We're pushing through the challenge for the sake of the next challenge and the one after that. We're building our skills, stamina, endurance, so that we not only crest this hill, but so that the next one is easier, smoother, faster, and hurts less. If you're always just putting in the minimum to make it through the day, or if I'm only running my usual flat loop around town, then we're not gaining much, learning much, expanding much. And what's it for? If you're in maintenance mode instead of training mode, what are you looking forward to? Survival mode. That day when you need to run uphill for your very life? That sounds sucky to me. Why not train for a race so that you can give it your all? In racing mode, it doesn't have to literally be a half marathon. Why not stretch yourself regularly at work with your clients, in social situations or with your family in preparation for that big shot, that big event, that big conversation, that big client presentation when you can fly up that hill, popping off your toes, pumping your booty, cutting through that hill like it's nothing. That's what I'm trying to do. That's what I'm looking for in this race. I'd like to thank my friend for his good advice. I'm not a naturally enthusiastic hill runner, but I'm starting to see the value of running uphill. And for today, that is enough.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Where to go from here? Visit whatsworthwhile.net to learn more about me, Ramsey Zimmerman, and please reach out to me and let me know what you think. I don't want this podcast to be some message in a bottle thrown out to sea. I want to hear back from you. Please send me a message or an email or hit me up on X, LinkedIn or Instagram. And please leave a rating and review for the what's Worthwhile podcast on Apple.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Smart, Spotify, Iheart, or Amazon. Thanks.
