This week, I want to send some support for my fellow friendship-deficient adults and provide an update on my mile training (hint, I’m feeling a bit more confident!).
First, here is a gift link to a New York Times piece with tips from “experts” on maintaining friendships as an adult. I dunno if it’s the algorithm or sheer happenstance, but I received this last week, and it was timely. “The Friendship Advice Experts Swear By” has six “tips” about finding and maintaining friendships as an adult.
It was timely for me because I noticed that I’d been running alone again for weeks. My newfound running pal got injured. The Curriculum Night dad was also hurt. And I had quit going to the Wednesday morning running group around Green Lake because I just didn’t find it a fit for my needs.
The newsletter suggests:
Practicing “aggressive” friendship – which means simply doing what you put off – scheduling, texting, calling a friend or acquaintance rather than doing what you normally do, which is put it off.
Talioring your plans – which means simply doing things you want to do (fishing, golfing, running) and inviting friends. The expert points out that there’s data to sugget men are better at side-by-side activities than face-to-face ones, so consider that.
Being needy – which is to say asking for some help when you need it, such as a recommendation for a doctor, CPA or barber, or even just a book to read.
Fitting friends into your routines – which is just what it says. Easier if you have kids, but could be as simple as asking someone to join you for an errand. “I’m going to the sporting goods store – wanna go with me? I can pick you up in 20 minutes.” I guess this works and turns out to be nice.
Join something – which you’ve probably heard before. If you join a club for an interest, chances are you’ll find like minded people you want to spend more time with.
Prepare to be engaged – which is not engaged to be married, but recognize that it can take a little bit of being deliberate to develop a bond.
Read the piece. It’s not long and it’s a gift link, so you shouldn’t hit a paywall.
I have a bit of a milestone to mark in my mile training: I’m reaching the end of my “waking up my legs to speed” phase of training. I did my final 200-meter interval session Tuesday morning with 12 x 200. My splits are pictured, but all are roughly within a half second of 39 seconds, which is about 5:20 mile pace. I had a slow outlier of 39.2 and a fast outlier of 36.5.
I felt like I was putting in some effort, but also that I could have done a few more at that pace, or done all of them a tad faster. This means I am ready for my next phase of training which is to start 400-meter repeats. I’m actually going to slow the pace a bit and shoot for something like 4 of them at 85seconds or so.
I don’t have a specific time goal I’m aiming for in my one-mile race, I just want to find out how fast I am capable of running the mile. I don’t think I could go out and run a 5:20 mile right now. In fact, I would say that is a longshot, if I’m being honest. It’s one thing to run 200m at 5:20 pace, then do 200m recovery jog super easy (or “party pace” as I like to call it). It’s entirely another thing to run 1600m at 5:20 pace without recovery jogs. The upshot: I’ve started on a good trajectory and now I have to keep it there.
Most importantly, I haven’t torn a muscle, which has nabbed me in the past when trying to run faster than my body is truly prepared to handle.
Please share this post with someone you think might find it useful, make sure you’re subscribed.
And if you like this content and want to support improvements to Warm Current, you can buy me a coffee.