A little back story on my running experience.
I was always pretty active as a kid, and like school work, athleticism came pretty natural for me without much effort. However, I never ran track. I thought running in circles was a silly idea, so I did a little theatre, badminton, and volleyball. All were team activities or sports where you measured against an opponent. I only started properly running around a track when I decided that I was going to join the Marine corps. Even then, it was just an exercise of seeing if I could even physically run an entire 3 miles.
Fast forward past the messy emotional details, I ended up in the Army. This should have been a plus because the Army only requires a 2 mile run. However, that 2 mile run in the Physical Training(PT) test kicked my butt everytime. I passed, but sometimes barely, and it always hurt. Yes, during regular PT my unit ran a few miles each week. But I always dreaded every step and the emotional struggle and frustration never let up. Even running on my own was painful, stress inducing, and apparently not very effective because I never quite aced the run part of the test.
So here I am, a pre-engineering student who's constantly getting her butt kicked by math. Yes I did pretty decent in my Calc. classes, but like my running test, it was painful, exhausting, and because I never got an A, it never felt that satisfying. It was more like something I got through.
About two weeks ago I started running again. I was inspired by my fitspo videos and a hilarious book called "The Nonrunners Marathon Guide for Women." The author of the book humorously chronicled her journey to completing a marathon. Initially, I thought it was just a fun read because I have no intention of ever running a marathon. But one day I asked myself, why not? Just go slow. And slow I went. The first mile of that first run was "granny on a walker" slow. But the weather was beautiful, I was comfortable and anytime I felt myself going faster, I slowed myself down.
That last part was important. When I would run in the past, Army and post-army, I would just go, assuming my starting pace was naturally where it should have been. I think I developed a deep seeded fear that starting slow would mean guaranteed failure of PT test, and I was used to the first mile sucking. But this time I decided I was going to enjoy this run and take my damn time.
I did 3 miles and it felt good. I was sore the next day, and that was rewarding. Here's where the real victory came; when I was getting ready for the next run I was actually looking forward to it! I felt capable, like I understood what worked for my body, and that I could see myself running further and further over time. Its actually gotten to the point where I have to work running into my schedule at least every 3rd day.
So what does this have to do with math? Well, last night I went to the 24 hr Dunkin Donuts to do my late night studying. However, still feeling a little disheartened by my midterm exam performance I was too anxious to focus. I couldn't even decide on where to start. You see, my teacher didn't develop a proper syllabus, just a list of chapters we'll review but no timeline. He also spends half the class dropping philosophical wisdom about relationships, history and culture while occasionally scribbling a problem on the board. No homework is assigned, so its a bit vague as to what exactly we're supposed to know and at what level we should we know it to pass an exam. Could I blame my poor performance on him, sure, but that gets me nowhere.
So I did what I always do when I feel anxious, I wrote a schedule, and then rewrote it at least 4 times. The schedule was not just studying, but how I was going to make the most of my time over the weekend. Saturday 8:30am I hit the school library and hoarded all the Diff.Eq books. Another thing I learned about myself on this journey is that I learn best with physical books. Youtube videos and e-books are convenient, but I prefer staring at paper if I need to review something 3 times. I gathered the books, sat at the table and had to decide where I wanted to start. That's when I made the scary decision to start from the very beginning, even though the semester is half over.
When I made that first run, didn't I know I could already run 3 miles? Of course. But that didn't mean I should have pushed to my limit on that run. Instead, the 3 miles was a great reintroduction to running that built a strong emotional foundation for future runs. Back in the library, the first book I cracked open was Diff.Eq workbook for dummies. The first few problems were very simple linear equations. At first glance I thought they would be a waste of time, but I decided to do them anyway. They were my warm-up. They would reinforce my confidence that I understand the mechanics of the problem. And after I finished those, I did more challenging problems in a different book at the same "pace" that I approached the simple problems. These took longer, but I was confident that I could finish them if I paced myself. And when I came across a section that I needed to review, I didn't sprint through the review, I kept pace. Starting over so late isn't even going to hurt because my pace is so comfortable that I can study 2-4 hrs a day without getting a headache or feeling a need to skip a day. I'll be caught up to the new material within a week with the addition of a confident method moving into finals!
Just like running, my pace will improve with consistent practice, not the random break-neck sprints. This isn't new advice, but it just took some reflection of my life experience to find a way to practice such sage wisdom that fit who I was as a person.
About two weeks ago I started running again. I was inspired by my fitspo videos and a hilarious book called "The Nonrunners Marathon Guide for Women." The author of the book humorously chronicled her journey to completing a marathon. Initially, I thought it was just a fun read because I have no intention of ever running a marathon. But one day I asked myself, why not? Just go slow. And slow I went. The first mile of that first run was "granny on a walker" slow. But the weather was beautiful, I was comfortable and anytime I felt myself going faster, I slowed myself down.
That last part was important. When I would run in the past, Army and post-army, I would just go, assuming my starting pace was naturally where it should have been. I think I developed a deep seeded fear that starting slow would mean guaranteed failure of PT test, and I was used to the first mile sucking. But this time I decided I was going to enjoy this run and take my damn time.
I did 3 miles and it felt good. I was sore the next day, and that was rewarding. Here's where the real victory came; when I was getting ready for the next run I was actually looking forward to it! I felt capable, like I understood what worked for my body, and that I could see myself running further and further over time. Its actually gotten to the point where I have to work running into my schedule at least every 3rd day.
So what does this have to do with math? Well, last night I went to the 24 hr Dunkin Donuts to do my late night studying. However, still feeling a little disheartened by my midterm exam performance I was too anxious to focus. I couldn't even decide on where to start. You see, my teacher didn't develop a proper syllabus, just a list of chapters we'll review but no timeline. He also spends half the class dropping philosophical wisdom about relationships, history and culture while occasionally scribbling a problem on the board. No homework is assigned, so its a bit vague as to what exactly we're supposed to know and at what level we should we know it to pass an exam. Could I blame my poor performance on him, sure, but that gets me nowhere.
So I did what I always do when I feel anxious, I wrote a schedule, and then rewrote it at least 4 times. The schedule was not just studying, but how I was going to make the most of my time over the weekend. Saturday 8:30am I hit the school library and hoarded all the Diff.Eq books. Another thing I learned about myself on this journey is that I learn best with physical books. Youtube videos and e-books are convenient, but I prefer staring at paper if I need to review something 3 times. I gathered the books, sat at the table and had to decide where I wanted to start. That's when I made the scary decision to start from the very beginning, even though the semester is half over.
When I made that first run, didn't I know I could already run 3 miles? Of course. But that didn't mean I should have pushed to my limit on that run. Instead, the 3 miles was a great reintroduction to running that built a strong emotional foundation for future runs. Back in the library, the first book I cracked open was Diff.Eq workbook for dummies. The first few problems were very simple linear equations. At first glance I thought they would be a waste of time, but I decided to do them anyway. They were my warm-up. They would reinforce my confidence that I understand the mechanics of the problem. And after I finished those, I did more challenging problems in a different book at the same "pace" that I approached the simple problems. These took longer, but I was confident that I could finish them if I paced myself. And when I came across a section that I needed to review, I didn't sprint through the review, I kept pace. Starting over so late isn't even going to hurt because my pace is so comfortable that I can study 2-4 hrs a day without getting a headache or feeling a need to skip a day. I'll be caught up to the new material within a week with the addition of a confident method moving into finals!
Just like running, my pace will improve with consistent practice, not the random break-neck sprints. This isn't new advice, but it just took some reflection of my life experience to find a way to practice such sage wisdom that fit who I was as a person.