Friday, May 30, 2008

May Reading Update

If the May running didn't go so well, at least the reading kept pace:

1. Run Strong edited by Kevin Beck. It deserves a greater review than I'll give it here but suffice it to say it is a good book. It is laid out in sections that cover the different areas of running with the common thread of strength throughout. There are lots of good tips and ideas as well as explanations. One complaint, as I previously mentioned, was it gave me an overtraining injury merely by a discussion in the first chapter. (Right? I mean there wasn't any other explanation that I know of...)

Recommended - but given this audience I'm probably the last to discover it.

2. It takes all kinds by Louis Bromfield. A collection of shorter stories that are not connected. Not my preference (I'm not a short story fan) but enjoyable anyway. The first story, McLeod's Folly, was particularly suspenseful and a pleasure to read. The rest of the book was good but didn't live up to the expectation created by the first selection.  I have found two more Bromfields for me to read so you'll see these posted next month.

3. Time Bandit by Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand with Malcom MacPherson. I got this book free of charge from the publisher through the Early Reviewers group at Librarything.com. It is supposedly written in the first person by the co-captains of an Alaskan crab fishing vessel named F/V Time Bandit. The F/V Time Bandit was made famous by the Discovery Channel's show Deadliest Catch. The whole book is a collection of disjointed sea stories peppered with vulgar language and low class living. The thinnest thread of an impending disaster runs from the first chapter to the last. And I mean thin. The subject of the book (Alaskan crab fishing and its dangers) could have been much better told by a real novelist or narrator (fiction or non). What they were thinking here is beyond me.

4. The Two Cultures and A Second Look by C.P. Snow. An essay on the lack of communication between the literary community and the scientific community in England (and the West) in the 1950's. The second part of the book (A Second Look) is the author's response to published criticism of the essay five years later. Initially the Rede Lecture at Cambridge University in 1959, it was published in book form later that year. After reading Time Bandit, this book was a refreshing splash of crisp argument. Satisfying.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Fragrant 45

The air was filled with the pleasant scent of new flowers on the trees mingled with the salt of the sea. The sun was bright, the air cool, and the water sparkling.

Pleasant 45 minutes - easy.

Took yesterday off due to unexpected soreness in the legs from Tuesday's workout.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Good Up-Tempo

A 2 mile warm-up followed by a 75 minute up-tempo run (pace ~ 6:55 or so).  Felt pretty good but I’m a little sore now.  Achilles feels fine –no symptoms.

 

12+ miles including warm-up.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Fresh legs

As expected, today's run was a joy to do. Fresh legs from the time off and some good sleep from the holiday weekend combined to make this easy run easy.

I will try to avoid my penchant for over-training this summer. The Achilles issue was a wake up call.

~ 7+ miles in 59 minutes.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Rock Bottom

I hit a seven day zero yesterday but I can't blame it on the Achilles which seems to be ok. I got 5 miles in this morning to shake things loose and I felt fine.

5 miles @ 8:29 pace.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

See Eric Win!


Way to go Eric!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A slow recovery

No acute pain but 6 miles was enough as I felt some soreness. The road's camber is noticeable now as well as any lateral movement.

6 miles @ 8:18 pace. A beautiful sunrise.

Monday, May 12, 2008

5 mile Achille check

Ok. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

5 miles @ 8:24 pace.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Not so fast

Maybe I felt good yesterday but not today. Within 2 miles the Achilles was starting to get sore so I turned around.

4 miles @ 9:09 pace.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Ok. Two days off and I feel better.

6 miles this afternoon following much sleep, rest, and relaxation to facilitate the healing. (It helped that I happen to be on vacation.) It seemed to work as I had no symptoms of soreness while running or inflammation when finished.

Sore to squeeze still but no where near as tender as it was. I will try some easy strengthening exercises I have just read about in Run Strong edited by Kevin Beck. A good book. I was doing some things right and some things it looks like I have omitted. I am going to go back over the book and see if I can incorporate some of the lessons into my program.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Grass & Orthotics

I put the orthotics back in the running shoes and ran an NMT workout on the grass. I felt good. A day off or two is in my future. Not to worry.


5 miles @ 9:37 pace inc 8 x 30 secs / 90 secs rec.

Flare Up

After 5 miles the run went downhill. Foot in a bucket of ice water followed the run.

10 miles @ 8:53 pace.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Recovery part two

Finished my miles today with a 2nd 5 mile run. Ran on the airport - 1/2 on the tarmac and other in the grass. Achilles still tender. I think it will be for awhile.

5 miles @ 8:11 pace.

Recovery run

Five gentle miles this morning to check on the Achilles. It was ok. Came home and re-iced it.

5 miles @ 10:28 pace.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

R.I.C.E.

My-a-kill-ease heel needs to heal. Using the title method for the cure and it seems to be working. It all started with reading a paragraph in Run Strong edited by Kevin Beck. I just started the book and a talk on tendons led off the tome. It wasn't 12 hours later and I had the problems described.

A nice run this morning with Jon and Mike. Poor Mike was giddy from an 11 hour drive from Ottawa the night before and it was easy to get him laughing. At one point he spit out his cookie.

But laugh he might. He was the strongest of us all - leading the way around the lake. Just don't ask him about the dozen bass boats at the bottom of Boyden.

20 miles @ 9:05 pace.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Recovery run - **Reading Update**

10 easy miles w/Eric @ 9:37 pace. What a joy to run.

Beautiful crisp clear Spring day. The birds sang, the sun shone, and the body recovered from yesterday's tough workout.

**Reading Update**

The Monastery by Sir Walter Scott - I love this author. In his books he transports you back into another time and place. This one was no different. Well done. I have noticed, however, I am again dissatisfied with the ending. Not that it doesn't end well, but after being so deep in the imagination - living with the characters - when the story ends you know that there must be more. What about the baby found alive on the battlefield? Is he the rightful heir to the castle? We can't stop now. It's just like in Ivanhoe when in the end the hero marries the blond. But all along it was the beautiful dark haired Jewess that loved him truly and saved his life (a debt he repaid in the tilting yard - saving her life). Everyone knows he should have married her instead.

Close Combat by W.E.B. Griffin - brain candy. Light stuff. Don't go out of your way for this one.

Wild is the River by Louis Bromfield - Excellent! Top notch story. Another rediscovery of one of my favorite authors. I couldn't put this one down. There's no connection between between the title and the story, just so you know. It's the oddest thing. The story is set in occupied New Orleans during the Civil War. Poor Tom. Engaged to Agnes of Pickney St., Boston but running around with Felice, the Madame of the Cafe Imperial. Uh oh, enter a young Baroness who's in love with Hector but uses Tom toward her own ends - which, of course, results in Tom's demise. Hector meanwhile doesn't love the young baroness and falls for Agnes after she makes her way (incredibly) to New Orleans to marry Tom. Add villainy, kidnapping, riots, beatings, murders, and unbearable humidity and you've got a story that owns you like a hot sleepless night. Highly recommended.

The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge by Jean-Francois Lyotard - A chore. Philosophy. Kept my attention during the first half of the book as he made a case for ideas but it veered off into a critique of contemporary philosophers I have yet to read, so I was lost. Glad that's over.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Looking forward to tomorrow

What else can one say when you have to run 18 on a Friday? Another drop in the bucket.

18 miles @ 7:42 pace.

Last 3.5 miles a little tough.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Welcome to May

A cool one this morning but a beautiful sunrise nevertheless.

15 miles @ 8:19 pace.

Felt good.