In short, I moved from a relatively unvarying structure (evenly divided between tone, technique, and literature) to a marathon-inspired schedule that changed every day but was carefully mapped out over the course of each week. From this I moved to a free-form approach in August. I threw out my routine and worked on what I felt like, taking note of what I practiced and attempting to meet a weekly time quota in the usual areas of tone, technique, and literature.

So, did all this navel-gazing provide any insights? To my surprise, the more free-form approach was actually the most enjoyable. My fears that I wouldn’t “get to everything” were misguided. If anything, I actually accomplished more when I had the freedom to work on what really needed to be addressed.

Many of my exercises and practice techniques remained the same, of course, but the way in which I applied them changed, particularly during warm-ups. I found myself more frequently taking passages from solo repertoire and using them as the basis for exercises. For instance, David Lang’s Press Release closes with a long section of soft material in the baritone saxophone’s altissimo register. Rather than begin my session with a vibrato warm-up that randomly skipped around the middle register, I took the closing notes from Lang’s piece and warmed up on those instead.

Of course this isn’t a new approach. However, by giving myself permission to play what was forefront in my mind rather than going through the motions of a set routine, I found myself getting more done.

In short, there was less preoccupation over what I had to work on next and more focus on the present moment.

I don’t know if I would recommend this approach to younger students, most of whom can benefit from a defined practice routine. But once they show a grasp of essential techniques and procedures, it certainly seems that most musicians would want to develop a more mindful approach to practice that provides the flexibility to target pressing areas and keep things fresh and engaging.

P.S. The little spreadsheet I cooked up to track my practice time ended up being more trouble than it was worth. I found myself tracking times in Evernote and then transferring them to the spreadsheet. Waste of time, much?

My standard smoothie base is 8 oz. of almond milk paired with protein powder (right now it’s the excellent but expensive Vega Sport Performance Protein in vanilla) and optional handfuls of frozen spinach and kale. This grosses my wife out, but if you get the proportions just right you don’t really taste the slightly bitter greens, you get the extra micronutrients, and blah blah blah.

So, here’s the rundown:

#3 — Simple but Tasty
Smoothie Base
100 g Banana
50 g Avocado

#2 — Refreshing and So Darn Summery
Smoothie Base
50 g Banana
300 g Watermelon

And a drumroll for the best smoothie:

#1 — Tropical Paradise
Smoothie Base
50 g Banana
50 g Pineapple
80 g Mango
2 tbsp Coconut Flakes
10 g Macadamia Nuts (optional)

That last one was my wife’s invention. Congratulations to Cheryl on winning…absolutely nothing (no budget for prizes this year).

Unlike many runners, I was a little late to read Christopher McDougall’s popular Born to Run. Keyed up after the Tacoma Marathon last May, I dove into McDougall’s book during my recovery weeks. Like many, I found McDougall’s book well-written and inspiring. And like many, I experimented with some barefoot and minimalist running of my own.

I say “barefoot AND minimalist” on purpose, because I know that some in the barefoot community get awful touchy about products like the Vibram FiveFingers. I would not be the first to point out the irony of “barefoot shoes.”

I picked up a pair of Bikilas, Vibram’s offering for runners that provides a slightly thicker sole for shock absorption. Because I was used to running in ultra-cushiony Sauconys, my first short runs in the Bikilas were quite a change. The new sense of lightness and freedom really did feel liberating. It also improved my running form in a manner of weeks.

After doing a couple short runs in my Vibrams, I braved the Tacoma sidewalks and started doing some runs completely “unshod.” Once again, this was a completely new experience, but I found to my surprise that I was able to run up to a mile on city sidewalks without too much discomfort. I think I only suffered one small scrape over 10-15 runs.

In any case, it was clear that my old shoes had been getting in the way, and I bought a pair of Brooks Green Silence for my everyday running. I love these shoes, which are light and promote an efficient form but still have enough cushioning to keep me comfortable for longer distances.

Flash forward a few months. I was only using the Vibrams once every week or two to check up on my form and reconfirm the barefoot “feeling.” I realized that I could do essentially the same thing completely unshod or in my flat-soled Sanuk slip-ons, and thanks to REI’s extremely generous returns policy, I returned my Bikilas today after three months of dwindling use.

I really did like the Bikilas and I’m extremely thankful for McDougall’s book and my little barefoot adventure, but for now the pursuit of minimalism means getting rid of my $100 minimalist shoes. [This coming from a man who's waiting on the delivery of a $65 saxophone ligature, the piece of equipment that probably has the least impact on one's sound.]

As they say (maybe), three barefoot steps forward, two shod steps back.

Until recently my practice was divided neatly into thirds that could broadly be defined as “tone, technique, and literature.” I then transitioned into a marathon training-inspired practice plan in which each week’s sessions were carefully structured and varied so each day emphasized different areas and goals.

While June was a productive month and I enjoyed the variety of my new routine, July proved to be more difficult. Due to travel plans and a couple weddings, my neat little schedule was complicated by days with little or no time to play. I didn’t know whether to stick with the plan on my calendar, shuffle days around, or just default back to my old routine.

I was tempted to make a complete 180 and designate August as a “go with the flow” practice month, but a conversation with my wife inspired me to combine this idea with a unit-based approach. Taking 14 hours (roughly two hours per day) as a weekly baseline, I divided my practice into 10-minute units, with 240 minutes devoted to technique and 300 each to tone and literature.

I’ve always felt that tone is the most important thing a wind musician can develop, and with a recital coming up in a couple months, solo pieces are also an important focus right now. Technique, while certainly crucial, plays a smaller role in my current plan.

So, the plan for this month is to follow my whims each day and keep a checklist of what I happen to play. By the end of each week I hope to cover the minimum number of practice units in each category.

Maybe this approach will provide a sense of freedom while maintaining some overall structure.

If you’re curious, here’s the simple spreadsheet I cooked up to keep track of each week’s work:

No matter how much structure we create in our lives, no matter how many good habits we build, there will always be things that we cannot control — and if we let them, these things can be a huge source of anger, frustration, and stress.

The simple solution: learn to go with the flow. (68)

If anyone notices me failing to do this, I’d appreciate a kind reminder.

I hadn’t practiced in a sound space like that since my grad school days, and I noticed all sorts of undesirable things in my sound and technique that were being covered up by the slightly “wetter” acoustic of my wood-floored office.

There’s certainly some value in changing your practice space once and a while, as it’s easy to get too comfortable with the sound of one particular setting. I suppose it cuts both ways–every once and a while it’s good to enjoy an ego boost and play somewhere with lots of reverb, and other times it’s necessary to take a reality check in a less forgiving setting.

I’m still not sure what my ideal space is for daily work. If I played in a totally dry room every day it would start to wear on me, but my trip to the basement today makes me think that my office might be a little to boomy to catch everything.

What does your ideal practice space sound like?

Taking a rest day each Sunday didn’t make me feel rusty as I’d initially feared. If anything, my chops felt fresher on Mondays. The hardest part of rest days was not allowing myself to practice when I started to feel antsy about “wasting” my day. It was also nice to do a little non-saxophone score study. (I unknowingly picked Stravinsky’s Petrushka on the day before its 100th birthday!)

On days when I forced myself to focus on tone or technique for longer-than-normal periods, I found that the constraints of having to work on certain aspects of my playing allowed me to relax and focus without the distraction of what I had to accomplish next. On the downside, at times I felt like my work was getting stale as I repeated certain exercises to reach my time limit.

The long practice sessions on Saturdays didn’t feel like overkill and functioned well as recap/review sessions, especially on the main solo I’d been focusing on each week. However, the more sporadic literature sessions during the week resulted in my “second tier” solo pieces feeling a little less secure.

While I can’t say conclusively that this new practice schedule has made me a better player, I don’t think its making me worse. Over the next month I’ll continue the new plan and work to keep my literature practice more balanced and come up with new exercises to stretch my technique a bit more.

Comfort:
I haven’t worn a watch for around five years, and this one isn’t small. The red/gray color combo looks nice, but I still feel a little goofy wearing it. However, it’s quite light and due to the secure fit and comfortable band I don’t really notice it while I’m running. The size also makes the display quite easy to read and offers no-fumble access to the buttons. As for the chest strap, I wouldn’t wear it all day long, but it’s not too distracting and doesn’t slip out of place.

Ease of Use:
The watch and strap have worked flawlessly during my runs. The Garmin acquires satellites quickly and hasn’t dropped them yet, and the heart rate feature is similarly stable. Using the watch to program/edit workouts takes a little while due to the simple interface but is very intuitive. This ability to create different workouts/intervals and customize the distance and heart rate zones for each is what sold me on the Garmin over the FT4. I also liked that you could specify the heart rate in beats or as a percentage of your maximum. The device emits loud beeps that inflect down/up when you are below/above your desired zone and gives a satisfying short beep when you finally lock in. It would be nice to have a volume adjustment feature, but I guess you always have the option of turning the sound off entirely if you’re running on a crowded track.

The Garmin Training Center software is a little clunky; every time I plug the watch in I’m asked to choose between conflicting profiles on my hard drive and the watch. It’s irritating but seems to be a common bug for Mac users. The software’s charts and maps are a little rudimentary, and you have to upload the data to the Garmin website to get the better looking maps and analysis. It’s an extra step that would be nice to avoid, although the process is otherwise smooth and intuitive.

Training Discoveries:
Go figure! I really wasn’t taking my recovery runs slow enough, mostly during initial warm-ups and on hills. On my lactate threshold runs I found that I stayed in the higher heart rate zones relatively easily, but wasn’t pushing hard enough down hills. It will be interesting to try my first VO2 max runs to see whether I’m hitting 93-95 percent of my maximum heart rate. Hello, 29th Street hill!

Overall:
I’m glad I splurged on the Garmin 305. It’s been fun training with a monitor and it hasn’t been too distracting during recovery and general aerobic runs when I’m just cruising along with my thoughts. It’s also going to make following the different runs specified by Pfitzinger/Douglas a whole lot easier. Well, maybe “easier” is the wrong word…!

Recipe: Sautéed Portobello Mushroom and Avocado Salad
 

Greens:

1-2 cups spring mix
2 leaves lettuce, chopped
2 leaves kale, chopped

Toppings:
1 portobello mushroom cap, chopped and sautéed in coconut oil
1/2 avocado, sliced or chopped
4 mini bell peppers, sliced or chopped

Dressing:
Cayenne Dill Tahini dressing from Thrive

Extras:
2 tbsp sprouted quinoa (I didn’t have any and subbed sprouted lentils)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (post-run boost of protein and B12)
1/4 tsp cayenne (I like mine extra spicy and prefer the 80,000 HU kind)
1/4 cup sliced carrot (I had one to use up)

Grape tomatoes would have been tasty on this as well. I thought about adding olives and red onion, which might make this a quasi-fajita salad when combined with the avocado and mushroom.

It’s been almost two months since my first marathon, and I’ve been toying with the idea of what comes next. The Seattle Marathon in November would give me more than enough time to implement a full training schedule.  To prepare for the Tacoma Marathon, I followed an abbreviated version of Hal Higdon’s Novice I program with slightly longer runs on the weekends and Galloway-style walk breaks. The idea was mostly to survive, and after finishing in 4:39 my original sub-four hour goal seems a little lofty.

Still, something about finishing in under four hours is tempting. Summer reading to the rescue! Advanced Marathoning by Pfitzinger/Douglas is a go-to references for runners, and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit since picking it up last week. Of course, I’m anything but advanced — my current level of training is right at the edge of their lowest-tier plan. It’s also becoming clear that I should probably get a heart rate monitor.

Runners talk about heart rate a lot, and other than checking my pulse during the occasional 30-second walk break, I haven’t paid much attention. However, it seems like following the various workouts that Pfitzinger and Douglas recommend would be a little difficult without one. Once runners use a monitor, they often discover that their “easy” runs aren’t slow enough. I don’t think I have this problem, but I probably don’t push hard enough on the more difficult runs.

Right now I track my miles with Nike Plus via their foot sensor or iPhone app.  If I get a heart rate monitor, I’m not sure whether to replace Nike Plus entirely with the more expensive GPS-enabled Garmin Forerunner 305 or to augment it with something more minimal like the Polar FT4.

I’m also feeling conflicted because I’d like to be “in the moment” and enjoy running without any training goals or expensive toys. On the other hand, I tend to obsess over the two or three things I’m currently “in to.” And it looks like this is one of those times.

So, which monitor? Something simple or something with bells and whistles? Or maybe just a couple fingers on my neck?