I read a lot. Here are some books on running I've read over the past few months with recommendations.
The Big Book of Endurance Training by Phil Maffetone
Ratings: 10/10 for useful information; 2/10 for entertainment.
Review: This book changed my life. If you've struggled with injuries or bonked at your most recent marathon or have hit a plateau in your training, read the book. You'll want a heart rate monitor after reading it, so get one now. My race times have dropped dramatically since reading it and doing what it says.
Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself by Rich Roll
Ratings: 6/10 for useful information; 8/10 for entertainment
Review: Dude was a college swimmer turned alcoholic. He then became a recovering alcoholic turned fatass. Dude then completed an Ironman triathlon on five of the Hawaiian Islands in like seven days or something ridiculous like that. I could have done without the me and my wife are so enlightened because of our East Asian philosophy and Vegan diet preaching, but it was a pretty good story. The part about overcoming his addictions was actually more interesting than the triathlon parts. This book introduced me to the concept of heart rate monitor training.
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Ratings: 10/10 for information; 5/10 for entertainment.
Review: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This is a common sense guide to eating healthy. I don't have a lot of common sense much of the time. Anyone who considers him or herself an endurance athlete would benefit from reading it.
Iron War by Mark Fitzgerald
Ratings: Information 8/10; Entertainment 8/10
Review: Fitzgerald recounts the epic Ironman battle of 1989 between Dave Scott and Mark Allen. The first 75% of the book is of pantheon quality. The last 25%, including the part about Mark Allen becoming a shaman surfer, is a little lame. This highly entertaining book has confirmed my suspicion that many world class athletes--especially endurance athletes--aren't necessarily to be admired outside of their fitness accomplishments. Both men had failed marriages, at least partly attributable to their endurance addiction. Karnazes is the only psycho endurance runner with a happy marriage that comes to mind. Dean, I'm counting on you. Keep setting the example!
Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn.
Ratings: Information 5/10; Entertainment 6/10
Review. This just in: Kenyans are fast. Finn is another left-winger who feels the need to apologize for prosperity. Kenyans, according to Finn, are fast because they run a lot as kids. They have too. Westerners are fat and spoiled by modern life.
As far as I'm concerned, the East Africans can have their gold medals. I'll take air conditioning.
Oh by the way: Mo Farah and Galen Rupp.
Showing posts with label Phil Maffetone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phil Maffetone. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Friday, October 19, 2012
Random Unofficial 5-k PR
Went running the other day. Thought it'd be a good day to set a pr, a 10-k* pr. I'd been running slow to get fast. Some heart rate monitor guru said so in a book, so I'd been running slow to get fast, although--to be honest, I didn't think it would work. It sounds stupid. Really stupid. How the heck am I going to get fast by running slow--although, truth be told, while training for my first and only marathon to this point (I've another one coming soon. I bet you can't wait to find out about it), I trained fast and got slow.
Every now and then, human beings lack the faith necessary to follow through on their plans. My plan was run slow to run fast. The theory, espoused by Phil Maffetone in The Big Book of Endurance Training, says that if I run with my heart rate in the aerobic zone, I'll build my aerobic capacity, allowing me to run faster at the same effort and to run faster at faster efforts. As I said, I didn't really believe it, but I was actually enjoying the more relaxed paces. It's like running was actually fun. But I'd lost faith in the concept, despite ample evidence to support it, such as MAF test #3, the details of which I will not bore you, and I thought I'd better test the theory before my half marathon in a couple of weeks.
So I thought Monday would be a good, albeit random, day to set a 10-k pr.
I failed.
Instead I set a 5-k* pr. It had been so long since I'd really tore loose that the concept of pacing didn't register and I ran a 7:21 first mile, which is fast (for me). Mile 2 was also a little faster than I should have gone. It was 7:28. Mile 3 was at 7:31. These are close to times I was running 1-mile repeats at last January. I realized after about 2.5 miles that I wouldn't have enough left in the tank for a 10-k pr, so I settled for a 5-k pr of 23:06 (a full 36 seconds faster than I'd ever run the distance befor), jogged a recovery mile, and called it a day.
As it turns out, you can get fast by running slow. Who knew?
*My current 10-k pr is 48:02. I plan on breaking that before the end of the year.
*You could argue I actually failed since the plan was to run a 10-k pr. I don't care. Nobody was there but me. Besides, in the Olympics, you can set the 5,000-meter world record during the first half of a 10, 000-meter race and it still counts. If it's good enough for Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, it's good enough for me.
Every now and then, human beings lack the faith necessary to follow through on their plans. My plan was run slow to run fast. The theory, espoused by Phil Maffetone in The Big Book of Endurance Training, says that if I run with my heart rate in the aerobic zone, I'll build my aerobic capacity, allowing me to run faster at the same effort and to run faster at faster efforts. As I said, I didn't really believe it, but I was actually enjoying the more relaxed paces. It's like running was actually fun. But I'd lost faith in the concept, despite ample evidence to support it, such as MAF test #3, the details of which I will not bore you, and I thought I'd better test the theory before my half marathon in a couple of weeks.
So I thought Monday would be a good, albeit random, day to set a 10-k pr.
I failed.
Instead I set a 5-k* pr. It had been so long since I'd really tore loose that the concept of pacing didn't register and I ran a 7:21 first mile, which is fast (for me). Mile 2 was also a little faster than I should have gone. It was 7:28. Mile 3 was at 7:31. These are close to times I was running 1-mile repeats at last January. I realized after about 2.5 miles that I wouldn't have enough left in the tank for a 10-k pr, so I settled for a 5-k pr of 23:06 (a full 36 seconds faster than I'd ever run the distance befor), jogged a recovery mile, and called it a day.
As it turns out, you can get fast by running slow. Who knew?
 |
| Here's part of the Sunset Dunes running trail in Las Vegas where my historic run took place. |
*My current 10-k pr is 48:02. I plan on breaking that before the end of the year.
*You could argue I actually failed since the plan was to run a 10-k pr. I don't care. Nobody was there but me. Besides, in the Olympics, you can set the 5,000-meter world record during the first half of a 10, 000-meter race and it still counts. If it's good enough for Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, it's good enough for me.
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