"Christopher McDougall's hugely popular book, Born to Run, tells a very entertaining story. McDougall is a dazzling writer, at least in the arena of gonzo journalism. But as a long-distance runner, it seems that when he wrote his book, he was something of a newbie. Nothing wrong with that, but when someone attempts to explain a complex process to hundreds of thousands of others who include many other relative newbies, there are some risks. Like getting it quite wrong about how a good runner breathes."
http://enduranceandsustainability.blogspot.com/2011/09/born-to-run-is-mistaken-about-how-good.html
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Peak
I think it finally hit me that, less than a month from now, I'm on the slate to run 31 miles in the woods.
Or if not that, maybe it's the weather. But regardless, for some reason, I've been really insanely enthusiastic to get out and train. This week, I managed to cover 40 miles. 40 miles! (Actually, 40.01!) OK, a lot of marathon training programs call for more. But I still find it unbelievable, given that, just a few years ago, the idea of running 7 miles/week seemed barely attainable.
I do think that this is the peak in my preparation for the 50k. I've never run more than 29.4 miles in a week before, and that was back in June. So I've already totally broken the rule not to increase one's mileage more than 10% in a given week, and that means I've been lucky to avoid injury. But injury or no, I can definitely feel the wear and tear this week has taken on me. So, the plan is to take it easy for the next five days; run a long run (25 miles?) over the weekend; and then begin my taper.
I do wish I had been training this intensely earlier in the summer, but for a variety of reasons it just wasn't feasible. I have no doubt that I will finish the 50k, even if not as fast as I could have otherwise done. I must say, though, I am really curious to find out how I do.
Or if not that, maybe it's the weather. But regardless, for some reason, I've been really insanely enthusiastic to get out and train. This week, I managed to cover 40 miles. 40 miles! (Actually, 40.01!) OK, a lot of marathon training programs call for more. But I still find it unbelievable, given that, just a few years ago, the idea of running 7 miles/week seemed barely attainable.
I do think that this is the peak in my preparation for the 50k. I've never run more than 29.4 miles in a week before, and that was back in June. So I've already totally broken the rule not to increase one's mileage more than 10% in a given week, and that means I've been lucky to avoid injury. But injury or no, I can definitely feel the wear and tear this week has taken on me. So, the plan is to take it easy for the next five days; run a long run (25 miles?) over the weekend; and then begin my taper.
I do wish I had been training this intensely earlier in the summer, but for a variety of reasons it just wasn't feasible. I have no doubt that I will finish the 50k, even if not as fast as I could have otherwise done. I must say, though, I am really curious to find out how I do.
Canal Diggers 2011
The results from the Canal Diggers 2011 5K are in. Here's what I was able to accomplish:
Time: 19:24.7I'm obviously pretty happy with the results. Might try doing some speed work before my next 5K to see if I can't improve on that. I'd say that I'd see if I couldn't improve in my division - the top three finishers make some money after all! - but the 5th place 30-39 year old finished in 17:45. That's faster than I was able to run a 5K when I was 17, when I ran a 17:58 in the VT XC State Championship. Yikes!
Pace: 6:16
Place: 21
Division: 6 out of 100
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Carbo Loading
Since I'm running a 5K this Saturday (Canal Diggers in Worcester), I ate my favorite carbo loading dinner: penne with Bove's Vodka Sauce. So. Good.
What do you like to eat the night(s) before a race?
What do you like to eat the night(s) before a race?
quick hits
i liked joel's recent approach of book review; 1 or 2 lines that give me all the info i need. i'm going to try the same (for lack of time), hopefully to almost as good a result:
- Three Cups of Deceit (Jon Krakauer): this is Jon Krakauer's exposé of Greg Mortenson's book Three Cups of Tea, which if you don't know about, no point in reading this. For the most part, i was absolutely sucked in by Mortenson's accounts of his time in Pakistan, thought of him as a great man and fully supported his initiatives. Krakauer's book has certainly changed my opinion of this man... quite considerably, in fact. i do still think great work is being done, though. anyway, if you've read Three Cups of Tea, this is a must read.
- Town House (Tish Cohen): this was one of those mcsweeny's books i found for $.99 cents in the kindle store. it's clear why it was that price. only made it half way through before giving up.
- Kapitoil (Teddy Wayne): i don't know whether it's because i can relate to the characters in it or what, but i absolutely loved this book. it's about a man from Quatar who comes to the US to work on some Y2K fixes for a huge financial firm. He ends up creating a program that automatically trades oil futures based on news trends to a great profit. The story was laugh out loud funny at points, sort of like a funny version of the Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid (also a great book, on a more serious note). best book i've read in a while, purely entertaining and quite interesting in it's (ok, pretty well known) social commentary.
- Ten-Thousand Saints (Eleanor Henderson): Joel pointed this book out, and because of how i grew up and the things i was associated with, this sounded spot on for a novel i'd really get into. much like the highly lauded Welcome to the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, this book fell well short of my expectations. i liked both books, don't get me wrong; but i don't understand the incredible high praise they got. 10,000 saints, for example, seemed like a cheap, plastic imitation of a childhood i grew up living and breathing... something so raw that i yearned to see it captured in print. alas...
next 3 books i'm reading are 86'd, by Dan Fante (John Fante's son), Everything is Going to be Great, by Rachel Shukert and The Art of Fielding, a baseball novel by Chad Harbach.
running, red sox sunday
this past sunday should have been a dream. and, really, it was, if i'm thinking bigger picture.
i woke up early and ran the tavern to tavern 5K. later that afternoon i dressed up the lad and my wife, son and i all went to fenway to watch the red sox play (my son's first sox game).
the weather was quite humid, but, we're new englanders, we're accustomed to just about anything. having to hold back at the race wasn't enjoyable, but, i'm really glad i did. i never do that, really... i'm usually a pedal to the metal kind of guy, the kind of guy who get's overuse injuries all the time. but i started out of the blocks pretty fast and kept that pace up for near 2 miles. at that point, i felt the leg start to burn like i'd been shot in it, so i slowed to a walk for a bit, then slowly jogged my way in. for some reason, my official time didn't post on the results, but even with the portion walked, i didn't do too badly. the best thing is that i proved to myself that i can still go fast (fast is relative, of course, i should say fast for me!) and i didn't push my leg into a bad state.
the sox game was a hot one, but we were prepared for that. the only issue i had was with the level of play. lackey was on the mound, and the bats weren't working. we lost handily... but hey, we were there, and my son was a great little boy the whole time.
all in all, could have been worse. here's hoping i have a lot more of those sundays to come in the future!!
i woke up early and ran the tavern to tavern 5K. later that afternoon i dressed up the lad and my wife, son and i all went to fenway to watch the red sox play (my son's first sox game).
the weather was quite humid, but, we're new englanders, we're accustomed to just about anything. having to hold back at the race wasn't enjoyable, but, i'm really glad i did. i never do that, really... i'm usually a pedal to the metal kind of guy, the kind of guy who get's overuse injuries all the time. but i started out of the blocks pretty fast and kept that pace up for near 2 miles. at that point, i felt the leg start to burn like i'd been shot in it, so i slowed to a walk for a bit, then slowly jogged my way in. for some reason, my official time didn't post on the results, but even with the portion walked, i didn't do too badly. the best thing is that i proved to myself that i can still go fast (fast is relative, of course, i should say fast for me!) and i didn't push my leg into a bad state.
the sox game was a hot one, but we were prepared for that. the only issue i had was with the level of play. lackey was on the mound, and the bats weren't working. we lost handily... but hey, we were there, and my son was a great little boy the whole time.
all in all, could have been worse. here's hoping i have a lot more of those sundays to come in the future!!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wild Card
Oddly, the Red Sox are better on the road (43-27, 0.614) than they are at home (42-29, 0.592). So maybe they should be resting up and intentionally taking the wild card?
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