Running is a passion - 7

It has been a month since we got into running. I am sure you started liking the sweet smell of your sweat than those expensive perfumes. If not, we need to talk. If you say you are not sweating much, then we need to definitely talk. That tells me you are not sustaining at >65% of your MHR long enough. Your body muscles are cheating on you.

There is a free iPhone app "LYR Lite" (LogYourRuncom) that keeps track of your training. I always use it when I run outside. It uses iPhone's internal GPS to calculate the distance and speed and will plot graphs to analyze your run. What I like the most about this app is, it lets you save the data on their website for future reference. This way you can track the progress. It also gives you an option to manually add entries from iPhone (or computer) for people training on the treadmill. I am sure this app is available on other smart phones with GPS capability. Get yours today and start tracking. I missed to do this in the beginning (and I negelct to do this even today when I run on a treadmill :( Now, I feel bad because I am unable to quantitatively see my progress since day 1. I suggest to use this app instead of google spreadsheet.

Now that it is a month, I can see how everyone is very eager to increase the speed. Here is an obvious but still interesting math that will help you. Speed is your stride length multiplied by frequency. In other words, one can improve their speed by increasing the length of your stride (wide steps) or frequency of your stride (quick steps). We just have to find our optimum length and frequency. Do this exercise for me, next time you run, gradually increase the speed on the treadmill to a high number and observe (or have someone else observe) what you naturally do, take more strides (covering almost the same distance with each stride) or take longer strides (keeping the number of strides per minute almost the same). I don't think one method is better than the other, so just see what comes to you naturally. Knowing that you can do two things. When you get tired, consciously do what comes to you naturally to get that extra pace. While training at a comfortable pace, work on the other one that is not natural to you. My observation is, I take longer strides (than changing the frequency) to increase speed. So, when I get to mile 12 or so in the race, I will consciously take longer strides to complete the race sooner. When I train, I will do the opposite to improve on my frequency.

Running is a passion - 6

In my mind, running is really a race between your heart and body muscles. The heart needs to work harder to feed the muscles, the muscles need to get stronger and efficient to make it easy on the heart.

When we reach the VO2 max (the maximum capacity of our body to use the oxygen and can process no more), it is difficult to run much longer. As we train, we are increasing our VO2 - the volume of oxygen we can consume and transport to the muscles. When I feel like I reached my VO2 max (out of breath), I will take real deep breaths and will count them (every time I exhale). This helps me not only to take deep breaths but more importantly at constant/regular intervals. So when I get to the point where I can go no more, I will start counting and will set the target to 500. This will easily give me an extra mile which would not be possible if I was not counting (in other words focused). Give this a try, maybe set the target to 100 to begin with, that's almost two minutes. Beleive me, it works wonders for me!

The other thing you can do is listen to fast beat songs, this will help you run faster. When you get tired in the middle of the song, don't give up, tell yourself that you will not quit (or slow down) until the end of the song. These are simple mind games I play to improve my speed and pace.

Running is a passion - 5

Let's talk about pronation. When we run, we land on our heel first and then roll in the toe. The angle at which we roll from heel to toe is what defines Pronation. The general idea is, when the feet come in contact with the ground, it should be angled (15 degrees) properly to evenly support our body weight. Some people will be under or over pronators.

If the impact is concentrated on a smaller area of the foot (< 15 degree angle) , it is called under pronation. Typically, people with high arches tend to be under pronators. If the impact is concentrated more on one side of the feet (>15 degree angle), it is called over pronation. Typically, people with low arches (flat feet) tend to be over pronators. Over and under pronators will have problems with ankle and knee in the long term.

If you are a normal pronator (examine your arch), regular shoes will work for the 5K training. When you go over 10K, you should get running shoes for stability. If you have a high arch or flat feet, you need running shoes right away to avoid injury in the long term. There is a good shop in Naperville downtown called "Naperville Running Company". They will let you run on a tread mill and video graph your running. They will replay it back to you several times in slow motion to understand your pronation. All the sales people are runners themselves. They will give you a great deal of advise. If you are a over or under pronator, they will recommend shoes with reinforcements and enhanced cushions on the inside or the outside (depending on your pronation). The shop even has a small race track to run and try different shoes. Shoes typically cost $130 to $150 in such places. Brooks, Asics, Mizuno are considered top brands. I have Asics regular stability shoes (I am a normal pronator - lucky me!).

Running is a passion - 4

Diet can help shed some weight, build your muscles etc. so your heart rate does not soar high. If someone knows the secret diet to increase stamina, he/she will be a millionaire by now :) I am not a millionaire or in other words diet expert. I can share what I did. I pretty much replaced cooking oil with olive oil where ever possible. I changed my snack habits to munch on nuts like edamame (best out there, available in Sams), pistachios, cashews etc. Chicken used to be the side dish before, now rice is the side and chicken is the main course. As vegetarians, you can replace chicken with dal, beans etc. I do not walk out of the grocery store without atleast one of these - avacado, broccoli, asparagus, cucumber. Since we all want to lose weight in this process, let's just be careful not to compensate the calories lost with eating.


When it comes to what to eat just before running, I don't think there is a silver bullet. What has worked best for me is empty stomach. I have seen lot of exp. runners take yogurt (good mix of proteins and carb) before the race. What is more important is to replenish the fluids and electrolytes lost after the run. Try to stick to water unless you run for more than an hour. If absolutely required, go with low calorie Gatorade. Here is the general rule - you weigh yourself before and after the run, the difference is weight is how much water you should intake. I never followed this, I trusted by thirst reflex.

Running is a passion - 3

Let's talk about endurance - After running for a little while,what do you think is stopping you from going? I will attempt to answer that, it is your heart, literally. Everyone has a max heart rate (MHR). The heart cannot pump any faster than that. The easy way to calculate your MHR is 220 - your age. The resting heart rate is anywhere between 60 and 75 (depending on the individual, trained professionals have as low as 40). As we run, the heart rate climbs up. The ideal heart rate while running is ~65% of MHR, which can be sustained for a long time. More importantly, this is the HR zone where we can lose weight, the body is processing stored fat for energy. As we run and get to the 80% - 90% range, it is NOT possible to sustain for long. Once you reach 100%, that's it. Even trained professionals cannot sustain at MHR for more than a minute. That's one reason why runners drink energy drinks like Gatorade while running. It has sodium which helps bring down the heart rate. I have a heart rate monitor that I use while running. When you get to more than 10 mile runs, you may want to consider buying one. For now,  measure your HR manually when you cannot go any further. It will be interesting to track and see how it improves.

Running is a passion - 2

If we have to stay on course with any training schedule, the key is to stay injury free. So, don't forget to stretch before and after the run. If you are in a hurry, you may skip stretching before the run, but NEVER after the run. Everyone's body is little different, my problem area is shin. So, I make sure I specially stretch my calf muscles. If any particular area is giving you trouble. pay special attention to it. I once had to take 3 weeks off from running because of shin splints. Costly lesson - prevention is better than cure! There are several ways to stretch, so pick whatever works for you, but don't skip! Cross training is equally important to stay injury free.

Working the same set of muscles everyday causes wear and tear.  Let's be honest, there are days we just feel like taking it easy. On those days, instead of skipping the workout altogether,  just walk slowly with incline set to ~5. There is no better way to strengthen the thigh and calf muscles that walking uphill. Even better, walk (or slow jog) backwards. Also, I recommend to get some weights (5-10 lbs dumbbells) from Sports Authority or somewhere and work your arm muscles and shoulder muscles. Or just carry the weight over your shoulders when you do slow walking.

The above two things are too important to ignore. As we put too much focus on miles and pace, we tend to disregard these. I can give first hand info, ignoring them is recipe for injury.

Running is a passion - 1

When I got into running, it was not easy in the beginning. Let's be honest, it is not a pleasant experience. Couple of my friends got into the habit of running as well but did not last more than a month. I kept going. After a month or two of hardship, I started liking it. There are instances where I will have long days at work, get home at 7:30 pm, but will still go out to run for an hour, come back and work till late night. Initially I requested Lakshmi to push me to go run, but very soon, the table turned, she would request me not to go to gym (so we can spend time together) and I will not listen. Literally, in my last July's half marathon, around mile 3, I felt like a violin fell on me, I thoroughly enjoyed the run, the pace, the whole nine yards... I guess that what some call runner's high! All this verbose is to say one thing, running is difficult in the beginning, once you train your heart and muscles, it is one of the best things. First thing I guess everyone tells beginners is to hang in there long!

Running races (full, half, 10K or 5K does not matter) is all about personal goals, we are not competing against anyone but ourselves. So, with the race 6 months out, one of the first things to do is decide on the pace to run 3.1 mile. When I was a beginner, I set the thread mill speed to 6 miles per hour and could not finish a mile. After a week of running  at 6 mph, I was still struggling to finish a mile. so, I brought the speed down to 5.5 miles per hour and was able to finish 1 mile comfortably (in relative terms). At 5.5 mph I felt like I had a good rhythm to run atleast a mile. So, I set my target to be 5.5 miles per hour for the 13.1 race. Run at a pace that is comfortable to slowly build the pace and distance. If we try to over reach, we will soon get tired and de-motivated.

For now, with so many words, if I am not clear, I will repeat, you are in for a long RUN, so take it slowly and stay motivated!

Eating Etiquettes

As we all know, weight loss occurs when we spend more calories than we consume. Let’s chew on the “consume” part of the equation before we get to the “spend” part of the equation. Even my 4 year old will say, just eat less to create the deficit. It is kind of arrogance to say I have got something to blog. But, here is what I will say - there is no need to punish our tummies, there is a better way!

Of so many theories out there on fat gain, the foremost according to me is the role of blood glucose spikes. After we eat a meal high in simple carbohydrates (mmm… briyani, yummy huh?) -> Intestine very quickly converts them into blood sugar -> Pancreas works overtime to create insulin to carry the sugar to the cells -> Insulin sends signal to brain that there is a lot of energy in the body -> Brain orders to stop burning fat and store the excess sugar as fat. Bummer!

Did not mean to get techni(medi)cal, but what did I tell you - “know the facts”. The knee jerk reaction to this fact probably is - diet, right? Hold that thought - let’s talk about dietary fiber.

All of us know fiber is good. Some of you know fiber is not absorbed by the body. So, the question is - why is it good, then? The inability of the fiber to get absorbed by the body is what makes it good. It stays in the stomach for a long time and slows down digestion. This prevents the blood glucose spike after that big meal. Winner!

So, instead of staying away from the big meals on those special occasions, let’s prepare the tummy for it. What I do is eat fiber, lot of them (cucumber, lettuce, nuts) before the meal. This not only decreases my appetite, but also prevents the blood glucose spike. We all have one life, so harsh dieting is probably not the solution. Agree? My rule is simple, if the dieting approach cannot be sustained (over time), it’s not worth it. It's time to get smart.

However, when it is not so special an occasion, let’s cut down on the carbs. Instead of punishing our tummies by filling half tank, substitute the remaining portion with fiber. As we learnt to say “please” after “yes” and “thank you” after “no”, here is more etiquette to learn when you order food:

Coffee/Decaf - with skim milk and NO sugar
Iced tea - unsweetened or even better I am good with water
Mexican food - NO rice, NO tortilla, substitute with avocado
American food - NO fries substitute with veggies
Burger - throw the bun, just the patty

I know this one turned out to be a lengthy one, there is still more left to be said though. Until then, stay healthy!

The number one thing before I write the series on Healthy Living is to get the disclaimer out. I am not a doctor / nutritionist / therapist / what not. All the opinions expressed here are from my own reading and experience. Please take it with a grain of salt and use them at your own risk :)

My curiosity for healthy living got intense in the fall of 2009. Why? I call it the "three O" syndrome. Ever since I turned thirty, the thought of growing old was bothering me. Well, nobody has the power to stop the chronological age, but one has the ability to slow down the biological age. Having said that, all I intend to do here is share my journey in the pursuit of healthy living; with the hope that it will help inspire others do the same.

Back to the topic, the first and most important thing is to learn the facts of how weight loss works viz. blood glucose spikes, dietary fiber, low carb-high protein diet methods, metabolism, heart rate zones, VO2 max, DOMS, subcutaneous fat, visceral fat. Beleive me, just knowing the facts will help in a big way.

Let's cover these topics as we go. This is just an introductory blog and not intended to bombard with facts. Let me just state one for starters - for every 3500 excess calories consumed, we gain 1 pound! The good news is - the converse is true as well!! After all, we are what we eat.

Let's discuss eating habits in the next blog. Until then, stay healthy!

Atheist, theist or agnostic?

Just got curious. Read the below quotes from Einstein...

- "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
- "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world."
- "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
- "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
- "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."
- "I believe in Espinoza's God who manifests himself in the harmony of all that exists rahter than a God who is more concerned with the fate and actions of men."

What was he? Atheist, theist or agnostic?

Bye Bye Chicago!

Chicago welcomed me a year back with a big middle finger. I moved for my job from the racing capital (Indy) to Chicago last year around this time. It was my first day there. I was casually driving my good old Pontiac Grand AM looking around and enjoying the beauty of the city. To prove the point that I am in a city, this incident happened. I was not more than a second late to step on the gas at the lights after the green light turned on. A typical Chicago girl behind me in a sports car rudely honked and showed her middle finger before passing me in a flash second. I hated the city life where everyone is constantly in a hurry. I liked living in Indy better because it is a small town. Today, I moved from Chicago to a small town in New Jersey. Now, you will think I am a happy man to have moved to a small town. No! I miss the city life. How strange? Is it because I got institutionalized to the city life?

I’m getting married!

It’s always a wonderful feeling when you enter a new phase in life. I recollect the first days from the different phases of my life; from a school going obedient (self proclaimed!) kid; to a college free bird; to a workaholic professional (?). And now, (man!) I am getting married and entering a new phase again. I don’t know what’s in store for me in this phase. But I am a strong believer of the “probability theory”. I have enjoyed all of my previous phases. By all means, I hope the same.

I can still vaguely remember my first day in school. The teacher was trying to entertain us. She had a bottle of ink and cut okra (ladies finger). We need to dip the cut okra in the ink and make marks on white sheets. When it was my turn, I spilled the whole bottle of ink on my teacher. I didn’t know to feel bad then. Now I feel bad not because I messed my teacher’s day but because if I do this now, it may haunt me for atleast a week. People say I am a grown up :(. Anyway, the saga continues even today. I have such hasty hands. Quite often, I spill water in restaurants, pull electronic gadgets down from the desk when the loose cables find my hasty legs and the list never ends. But I don’t complain. I accept and try to be careful.

I still remember my first day in college when my seniors advised that I have joined the second best college in India. CITians know why? It’s the damn ‘C’ instead of ‘I’ in my college name. I blindly believe it till date. I am not worried about what others say.

On the first day of my job, LOL, I remember banging myself on the entrance glass door not realizing that there was a door. I have seen birds hit on the window glass quite often and I feel am not the only one to do this mistake. All I can say is my childhood saga continues.

Now, I am looking forward for my first DAY (wondering why in CAPS? The dirty minds would have caught by now) of my next phase in life as a married man!!!

"We do not remember days; we remember moments."
-Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand

Institutionalized!

Yesterday, I moved to a new cubicle not far from my old one. This morning, when I went to work, I went straight to my old cubicle. Boy! I have been sitting in that old cubicle for just 8 months. Still, I went there to say "Hi" to my old desk :) I could not help thinking on my way to the new cubicle on how we get institutionalized in today's world with our daily routines and more routines. You remember in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption", what Red (Morgan Freeman, who is on parole after few decades in prison) feels when his store manager tells him not to ask his permission to piss?... "Forty years I've been asking permission to piss. I can't squeeze a drop without say-so".

Leverage

"Give me a place to stand and a lever strong and big enough and I can move the world"

Archimedes, Greek mathematician and engineer who ran outside into the streets naked screaming after the discovery of Archimedes principle (law of buoyancy) said the above lines. Thought that his thought is a “mighty thought” that I can post to wake up from my nap from blogging!!!

Ctrl+Alt+Del

Why does a dead fish weigh more than when it was alive? Anyone wants to give it a try? No one?

Friends...

The truth is a dead fish does not weigh more than when it was alive. When I shot the question, our mind was programmed to believe the fact instead of challenging the fact. Our minds are programmed! Let me tell you a very interesting and thought provoking fact. You may not have had an opportunity to witness this. Please trust me. Back home in India, elephants are considered sacred and are worshipped in most Hindu temples. The elephants 12 feet tall and weighing 7000 pounds will be tied to a sacred pillar. When you imagine of elephants being tied, you will think of thick iron chain being used to tie the elephant’s leg to the pillar. But the truth is the elephants are tied to the pillar with a tiny rope. Puzzling? The reason is this. The elephants are tied to the pillar when they are young; days after they were born. The young elephants, with tiny legs, try to free itself with all its energy. Not strong enough. It tries again mustering all its force with a fury. Not strong enough. Obviously, the tiny rope is too strong to be broken by a young elephant. It tries until its mind gets programmed to believe that it can never succeed. Or in other words, it quits. When the young elephant grows bigger and stronger it has more than required strength to break the tiny rope into pieces. But, with a programmed mind, it never tries or attempts to free itself. Having known this fact, Hindu temples save on thick iron chains. The point to be noted is a negatively programmed mind is very dangerous. Shouldn’t we, intelligent human beings, having the sixth sense - the common sense (which is not very common though ;)) learn a language to program our mind positively? And free up our mind by deleting the negative programs?

In the age of computers, when people talk about programming languages like Java, Visual Basic, Visual C++; I was wondering if I could learn a language to program my mind. And the language I leant is Visualization. This technique has helped me more than once to hit my target. One incident worth sharing is the election I contested in my school for the post of General Secretary. Speculations were that I have only 40% chance of winning; I lack charisma; girls don’t like me; etc. etc. I challenged this with the programming language I learnt - Visualization. I visualized the Election Day from the casting of votes; to the counting of votes; to the declaration of results; to delivering the acceptance speech so vivid, crisp and clear in my mind. I did this exercise at least twice a day until the D-day. It was mind-boggling to me when I won the elections. I was a happy camper to deliver the acceptance speech, which I had delivered numerous times in my mind.

Friends, we all know the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” buttons, the most useful and most used button on windows ;) to terminate and restart programs. Don’t we need this “Ctrl+Alt+Del” buttons in our lives to terminate the negative programs and start the positive programs?

Shift_

I recently bought a new Nissan Altima. I liked their caption Shift_* where * stands for passion, inspiration, performance, individuality, joy, originality etc. No! That is not the reason why I bought a Nissan. But this shift_* reminded me of an illustration from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R Covey. I read this book several years ago and have appreciated Paradigm Shift in my life. I personalized this illustration (with due reference to the author) on many occasions when I spoke on Paradigm Shift. I thought of narrating it again in my own words for my blog.

I was waiting at the KMCH hospital lobby for donating blood. It was a Saturday afternoon and the seats at the lobby were sparsely occupied. Some of them were reading magazines while most of them were lost in thoughts day dreaming. To break this silence, came two little kids yelling at each other accompanied by their father. One should be less than 5 years of age and the other could be anywhere between 7 or 8 years old. The man took a corner seat, closed his eyes and ignored the very existence of his two kids who were breaking the hell loose. They ran all over, grabbed the magazines from other peoples hand and irritated everyone there. An elderly man in the lobby could not stand this anymore. He went to the kids’ father and politely asked him to mind the kids. The kids’ father slowly opened his eyes, looked around as if he is seeing the world for the first time and said "My wife released herself from the world moments ago at the maternity ward. I don't know how to react and neither do they". My paradigm shifted at that moment. My attitude towards the kid, changed from hatred to sympathy. I could see everyone else in that room undergoing this shift in paradigm.

This story helped me realize how the paradigm shift could change your attitude altogether. If you wear blue glasses, my friends, the world is blue. If you wear red glasses, my friends, the world is red. So make your choice to wear the right glasses.

Taste of success

It was a cold dark evening in Stockholm, Sweden, middle of winter, thousands of people had gathered. After a long loud round of applause and a moment of silence… these words followed… “I've always believed in numbers and the equations and logic that lead to reason. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found.”

Friends…

The occasion was the 1994 Nobel Prize ceremony when John Nash, "a beautiful mind" was delivering the acceptance speech after winning the Nobel Prize for economics. John Nash, a paranoid schizophrenic, had crossed many odds and stood the test of time to prove himself to the world. Can you imagine how sweet success would have tasted to him at that moment?

I was watching the Oscar night couple of weeks back and was lost in thoughts.

My mind was echoing the lines “This moment is so much bigger for me. This moment is so much bigger for me”. These were the words an emotional Hally Berry said with tears after winning the academy award for the Best actress in 2002. She was the first African American to win an academy award in that category. Can you imagine how sweet success would have tasted to her at that moment?

My mind was also echoing the lines “Honda produces more cars than Toyota”. Let me take a minute here to describe what it took for Honda to establish his Honda car company. He had the idea for a great new car engine design but not the resource or capitol. He knocked the doors of Toyota, the leading car manufacturer of the day only to find his idea rejected and he was disappointed. With great difficulty he built his own company to manufacture cars. Just before manufacturing was to go live, WWII shattered the company to pieces. He lost everything but not hope. He rebuilt the whole company only to lose it again to a merciless earthquake. Again, he lost everything but hope. One fine day he made headlines “Honda produces more cars than Toyota”. Can you imagine how sweet success would have tasted to him at that moment?

I am sure every one of us has tasted success. I have tasted success many times. May not be popular, may not be of this magnitude, nevertheless it tasted very sweet.

As a kid, I had a strong desire to perform in stage plays. I was in my fifth grade. I think it was a boring math class on a hot summer afternoon. There was a circular, which read “Students who are interested in participating in the drama to be staged on the school annual day function, please stay back after class hours for selection.” I got excited. Next minute, I got nervous. I mustered all my courage, which was kind of easy as I had the desire and went for the selection. The classroom was packed with 30 students and most of them were tensed like me. I took a corner seat and was chanting my prayers to get selected. My English teacher and Science teacher walked into the classroom in a relaxed and happy mood. They brought a book; I don’t remember what book it was. Anyway, the task was to read a random page in that book. The student who reads it clearly with the right stress and pause would be selected. Sounds easy? Believe me, it was not easy for me. I did not utter a single word and was obviously rejected. I was greatly disappointed. Next day, I went to the teachers and pleaded them to include me in the stage play. I told them about my desire. They politically answered “next year”. I waited till next year, but was not selected this time too. However, I improved a bit. This time I had the courage to read a page from that book. But not up to the standard. Third time… in seventh grade… not up to the standard. Fourth time… Eighth grade… not up to the standard. But lady luck shined on me this time. All these years my school principal had been watching me. He understood that I have the desire, but not the skill. Though I was not up to the standard, he selected me. He told me, why he selected me and what he expected from me. He groomed me in all respects and taught me patiently. He also gave an excellent tip. “Stand before the mirror and practice”. I listened to him earnestly and followed his advice sincerely. I practiced before the mirror day and night. There is no bigger punishment for me than seeing myself in the mirror ;). Finally the D-day came, the annual day function. I played the role of a corrupt politician and won the best actor award.

I tasted success!

Platonic Love

"If parting hurts so much… why love?"

These are the lines from the movie “Shadowlands”. A brilliant drama on how life coexists with joy and sorrow, love and pain, ups and downs... A man falls in love with a lady who is going to die in months. He makes all efforts to keep her and himself happy. At one of their happy moments, she tells him “the happiness now is part of the sadness then”. After her death he lives with sorrow all his life accepting the truth “the sadness now is part of the happiness then”...

Ponder...

“Some day, and that day may never come,

I would like to call upon you to do me a service in return.”

Yes, you got it correct. It’s “The Godfather”. I watched it again and was overwhelmed again! And these are the lines the Don says to Bonsera (in the first scene) after accepting to help him. The Don never accepts money but friendship for his service. It kept me thinking for a little while!

Power

Off late, I have been watching quite a few English movies, mostly the Drama category ones. The recent one was the "Schindler's List"- a true story of Oskar Schindler, a businessman who tries to make his fortune during the Second World War by exploiting cheap Jewish labor, but ends up saving 1100 Polish Jews from almost certain death during the Nazi reign. The Survivors and their generations (numbering about 6000 today) belong to a new religion "Schindler" Jews! More than me talking about the movie, I will recommend you to watch the movie. But I am tempted to tell about the conversation of a Nazi officer (who kills Jews mercilessly) and Schindler on what is power? The Nazi officer claims that he has power as he can kill or punish anyone. Schindler gives a beautiful definition of power. It goes like this... "Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don't. That's power. That's what the emperors had. A man stole something, he's brought in before the emperor, he throws himself down on the floor, he begs for mercy, he knows he's going to die... and the emperor pardons this worthless man. He lets him go. That's power. If you kill him, that's not power, that's justice." This changed my paradigm towards the definition of power. Does it for you?