Saturday, July 18, 2009

Reading and Running

Maybe you didn’t notice, maybe you did. But while I was locked away in no-internet land, I finished my old book “Outliers” and moved onto the new book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougal. (See the new picture in my right sidebar...) It was first recommended to me by a friend in my running group who stumbled onto this unlikely national bestseller while he was on sabbatical from running due to an injury. When he told me the main premise of the book, I was more than intrigued since it supposedly confirms when I’ve been preaching to many of my running friends for quite some time. Since then, the book’s been making the rounds on many running blogs and podcasts (including Brandon’s Marathon who will be interviewing Mr. McDougall himself on his next podcast!) and has created quite a stir in the running community. Although I was familiar with his arguments for natural running and have found myself advocating many of his basic principles in arguments and discussions on the “most ideal way to run” with my friends, I felt it was important that I read the book to become familiar with his story, his theories and his path to discovery which was differs from my own. I am currently about ¾ done with the book and will post a full report on the story from a medical perspective once my reading assignment is complete.

On the running front, my first week “back on the grid” as my marathon-training buddies have come to call it, has been a bit tumultuous. After averaging only about 30 miles per week for base training the past four weeks, I packed some heavy miles on the roads this week. I have a nice 13 miler with my running group bright and early tomorrow morning and assuming it gets done would put me at 47 miles. For me this is the good part since last year at this time, I was at the peak of training for the San Francisco Marathon and still “only” completed 46 miles for the week. The bad part? My average pace this week was slower than any training week I did leading up to Boston. (I’d call my current state of running slower than molasses…) Yes, I know that was part of the program – “Run longer miles; run slower miles” – but it’s still quite a shock to the old confidence, you know? Alright, hope you all are in the midst of a good weekend. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow night to report my actual training numbers for the week…if I’m not too embarrassed to tabulate them.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great running week though-- 47 miles is a ton!

Running and living said...

Congrats on the high mileage. The speed is in you, it will come out at the right time:) Ana-Maria

J said...

I understand about the slower miles, but my slow miles are much slower than your slow miles!! Hope you are enjoying the rest of the weekend!

Anonymous said...

Way to start building the mileage up again. How did you like Outliers?

Robert James Reese said...

Another book you should read is "Running With the Buffaloes." I just finished it and really enjoyed it.

Don't worry -- The extra miles will make up for the slower pace, I'm sure. That's what all the serious runners do, so there has to be something to it...

X-Country2 said...

Outliers is my next book to read. Looking forward to it.

Another great week in the books!

Susan said...

I've never thought of it as "being on the grid," but that's an interesting way to phrase it!

Aron said...

I definitely feel you on the feeling slower than molasses :-/ I need to keep reminding myself of your phrase - longer miles/slower miles :)

Lindsay said...

nice job on the mileage! i am also forever struggling with the "slow down to speed up" theory. i did ok in my previous training for the goofy but am suffering from lack of confidence this go around. good luck! if you figure out any tips of survival please share :)

 
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