An Entrepreneurial Exercise Model

In her series for The Huffington Post, The New Power Girls, Patricia Handschiegel kindly quoted me in The New Power Girls: How to Strike Balance in Business. The experience was rich and I wrote about it on Handshake 2.0.  I also wrote about my cat, about whom my thinking inspired the words that were ultimately quoted.

I am fortunate to be on Patricia Handshiegel's e-mail list of sources for quotes.  Although I was not quoted in her latest entry, The New Power Girls Style: How Today's Business Women Sneak Health and Wellness Into Their Busy Worlds, I was made thoughtful by her questions on "how to make wellness happen" for today's business women.

Handschiegel quotes Kathy Caprino, founder and President of Ellia Communications:  "I struggle deeply with healthy living and eating - and fitting an ongoing commitment to health into my wildly busy life as an entrepreneur and mom," and "I fit a walk in my day whenever possible and drink water every time I'm in the car."

In my work life, I probably did not struggle deeply enough with wellness, going through periods of months, even years, with little, to no, exercise, and long hours at the typewriter, then the computer.  I have been plagued by overuse injuries, the worst of which resulted in chronic back pain from 1998 on. 

Relief from demoralizing pain?  Nicey-nice physical therapy didn't do it.  A walk, "fit in" or not, doesn't do it. 

The only relief I have is when I engage in extreme physical effort day after day. 

As I reflect on my life so far, I see it as one more manifestation of the pattern:  intensity nourishes and sustains me.

So, thanks to Handschiegel's query, I have had these insights:

As an entrepreneur, I thrive on start-up, execution, and exit.  I've found that using an entrepreneurial exercise model - as I use a business model - optimizes my results.

In signing up for a sprint triathlon season - five races, each about a two-hour swim, bike, and run event, over the course of about six months - I revel in the passionate start-up of the season, the intensity of each milestone race, then exiting the season by finishing in the middle or higher in my age group. 

Unlike my work day schedule, the workout schedule isn’t insane - one to two hours per day, five to six days per week. 

The side benefits?  A respite from chronic pain.  I’m fit enough to pass the yearly blood pressure check.  I burn a lot of calories so I get to eat a lot.

And I have think time.  That is precious to me.

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In the photo, I'm at the Reston Sprint Triathlon in Reston, Virginia, June, 2008.  I am coached by Kati Derrick, two-time Louisville Ironman finisher.