[Originally Published in "A View From The Loft," May-June 2008, Volume 31, Number 6]
For the past 18 years I have worked as a writer. For the first 16 of those years my traditional exercise program consisted of shuffling back and forth from my desk to the coffee pot, riding my bike around the occasional lake and playing catch in the yard with the kids––not exactly your typical “Iron Man” triathlon. But there were deadlines to be met, revisions to be made, clients to be satisfied. And the only way to do that, as they say, was to apply “seat of pants to seat of chair.” Sure, I got the work done, but as my list of credits grew, so did my waistline. I packed in the work and packed on the pounds.
Eventually, I found myself on a treadmill at the Mayo clinic where a doctor 22 years older than me who runs 5 miles a day before work told me bluntly things couldn’t go on like they were. I was overweight and out of shape. My endurance was far too low, my blood pressure far too high. I simply wasn’t fit, he said, and I needed to make a change now.
“Anyway, what do you do?” he asked, filing the results of my test.
“I’m a freelance writer,” I said, still huffing and puffing, “I, uh, basically work for myself.”
“Good,” he curtly replied, “you’ve got a flexible schedule. Plenty of time to work out.”
Yeah, right, I thought. I don’t have enough time to work, let alone work out.
Back in Minneapolis I had to face the facts: even though I always felt busy, I spent hours every day wandering around the house in search of inspiration, responding to chit-chatty e-mails and generally wasting time. I had no excuse. I could easily find time to work-out, I just never did, and that is what needed to change.
Finally, after weeks of putting it off and making increasingly creative excuses, I decided to go for a run. It was a suitably dreary Monday, my writing was going nowhere and I was in a foul mood. I might as well give it a go. So, I strapped on a pair of shoes which to this point had been a mere fashion accessory not actual athletic apparel, and bolted out the front door.
OK, well, I jogged. But slow and steady wins the race and I didn’t want to kill myself the first block. My plan was to run as far as I could, then turn around and walk, crawl or hitchhike home. (Secretly, I dreamt of running to Lyndale Avenue, about a mile and a half from my house, but seriously doubted I could.) Fifteen minutes later I was not only still alive, but a funny thing started to happen. Troublesome lines of dialogue which had been plaguing me for days started to weave themselves into a coherent conversation. New details emerged, a plot point came into focus, a scene began to take shape. I cursed myself. Why had I gone for a run? I should have stayed at home, at my desk, on my computer. I should have kept on writing.
Tired but oddly exhilarated, I made my way up a seemingly endless hill. My legs felt like concrete. Each foot weighed a ton. I struggled to breathe as I glanced up at a street sign: Lyndale Avenue. I laughed. I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t. I felt too good! I turned and ran back home, my brain buzzing with ideas. I shot through the door, went straight to my desk and wrote for an hour. It was bliss. At least, it was, until I tried to stand and immediately crumpled to the floor, my legs crippled by lactic acid. (I had yet to discover the fine art of the cool down.)
Nonetheless, I persevered. Two days later I did it again: another run, another great writing session. Clearly, this wasn’t a fluke. Something was going on here. Before I knew it, running had become an integral part of my writing. I couldn’t wait to start writing, get stuck, go for a run, get unstuck, and go write some more. It really worked. I’d found the secret. I had to tell everyone. It was almost too good to be true. Writing and running, running and writing--––I thought I’d invented something.
Turns out numerous writers had already joined the club.
Michael McNally, Associate Professor at Carleton College and author of the forthcoming book “Honoring Elders: Ojibwe Aging, Authority, and Religion” (Columbia University Press), for example, specifically times his runs to give himself a creative boost. “Not just when I’m flagging physically during the day,” he says, “but when I’m trying to work my way out of a sequencing issue or structural problem. At first, I try to refrain from thinking about anything––I’m just running. But as my head begins to clear, I can sometimes work out the problem. The challenge is getting back to the keyboard while the running buzz is still going.”
Theresa Schwegel, who won the 2005 Edgar Allen Poe Award for best first mystery novel with “Officer Down” (St. Martin’s Minotaur), can’t even conceive of writing without running. For her, they are one in the same. “I aim to do some kind of exercise every day, but running is the only way I work out my mental kinks. When I’m out there, one foot in front of the other, I’m able to shake off distractions and return to my work, clear and confident. For me, the sought-after writing zone depends on the runner’s high.”
Loft instructor and master track advisor Dale Gregory Anderson has run three marathons and thousands of miles over the years. He says he doesn’t depend on the runner’s high, but reports its apparent effects just the same. “For me, running is physical. My mind wanders. I’m easily distracted. I will say, however, that I was running around Lake Calhoun many years ago when a voice came to me: ‘That girl you’ve been reading about in the paper, the one who calls herself Echo and lives in a tree, that’s my sister.’ As it turned out, this became the first sentence of my story ‘The Girl in the Tree,’ which was later published in Alaska Quarterly Review.”
For me, my new found running routine coincided with finishing and later revising a full length screenplay. I’d sit down to write at the start of the day, generally for an hour or two, and go as long as I could. Then, when things bogged down, I’d get up and head out the door. After a mile or two, words would start to come and problems would unkink themselves. The challenge, just like for McNally, was to race back to my computer while the ideas were still percolating and the buzz had yet to recede. Still, I often found myself writing long into the afternoon still in my running gear (and having finally mastered the cool down, I was even able to walk when I was finished).
But the positive effects of exercise on brain activity aren’t just personal or anecdotal, they’re scientific. Numerous recent studies have underscored the correlation between aerobic activity and cognitive function, including that most subjective and elusive function, creativity. Researchers at Rhode Island College found students who exercised immediately before taking the Torrance Creativity Test, perhaps the most objective measure of creative thinking, scored higher than those who didn’t. In fact, those who exercised beforehand consistently outscored those who didn’t even after waiting hours to take the test. It seems the positive impact of exercise on your brain may be both immediate and enduring.
In the short term, exercise lowers stress, increases blood flow to the brain and releases endorphins that not only suppress pain, but give you the feeling of a natural high. In the long term, a consistent exercise routine may even “grow” your brain. A study conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and later published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology found that the number of brain cells in the hippocampus nearly doubled in adult rats who exercised on running wheels for thirty days. In fact, current thinking suggests it may be helpful to think of the brain as yet another muscle. And the best way to make it stronger, researchers find, isn’t Soduko, it’s exercise.
I’d say the writing/exercise routine isn’t for everyone, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Evidence says even the most basic exercise program, even walking, will boost your creativity and provide direct benefits to your work. The results are immediate and tangible. Just don’t get carried away. David Prokop, personal trainer at Twin Cities based Steele Fitness, cautions, “When starting any new exercise program, first consult with your doctor and get a full physical. Second, be clear about your goals. Do you just want to be healthier? Run a race? Lose weight? Whatever you have in mind, consistency is key. Develop a sensible, long-range plan you can actually follow. Make it part of your daily routine, not something you try to squeeze in, or chances are you never will.”
You trust your writer’s ear when hearing work, listen to your body, too. Start your program slowly. Be realistic. Give your body time to adjust to your new routine. Don’t fixate on mileage or speed. “If you go out for a 7 mile run and your heart rate is at 80-90 percent by the second mile, chances are you'll crash and burn,” says Prokop. “Get a heart rate monitor and use it to guide you. It’ll not only help you control the tempo of your workout by constantly monitoring your level of exertion, it’ll help you find and maintain your target heart rate as well.”
I won’t say how much I weighed before my stress test at the Mayo Clinic, but picture a shelf lined with books and you can probably guess I looked a lot more like the unabridged War and Peace than that slim volume of Victorian poetry you inherited from your grandmother. (Now, I at least resemble the Reader’s Digest version.) The writing/exercise routine is my daily foundation. I find myself more energetic, clear-headed and productive. I often write faster and more efficiently than ever before, and when I don’t, I go for a run to work out both my problems and along with my body.
The solitary pursuits of writing and running have a lot in common. Each can be daunting in its own way. It’s often easier to make excuses why not to do the work than it is to actually do it. You have to motivate yourself. After two years, though, I know this much: it is possible to craft leaner, more energetic prose while shaping a leaner, more energetic you. A solid writing/exercise program could be the key to making both your doctor and your editor happy.
How to Calculate Your Target Heart Rate:
Finding your target heart rate begins with finding your maximum heart rate. There are several ways to do it, but the quickest and easiest way is to subtract your age from 220. [e.g. a 40 year old has a max heart rate of 180, a 50 year old 170, etc.] Your “target heart rate” is simply a percentage of your max. Historically, the so-called “fat burning zone” is 60 percent max heart rate, generally thought to be ideal for those most looking to shed unwanted pounds. Newer studies suggest that shorter, high intensity workouts (at 80-85% of your max) may be just as or even more effective. In fact, there may be not such thing as a “fat burning zone.” David Prokop says, “The bottom line is the harder you work, the more calories you burn. Maintaining a higher heart rate for a longer period of time will produce dramatic results. Thirty minutes a day at least three times per week is a must. More often is even better.” (Find more information at www.runnersworld.com)
John Schaidler has written countless TV commercials and industrial films, and is a past winner of The Loft Mentor Series in fiction. He can be seen muttering snippets of dialogue while running along Minnehaha Creek at least 3 times per week.
