Ok, what just happened? One minute there were blogs being kicked out weekly and then silence for months. Rest assured everything is just fine on my end of the world. Work and life just seemed to have collided for a minute there!
So what have I been doing all this time? For one thing I finished up being the lead PT instructor for the newest batch of sheriff's deputy recruits. It was an amazing experience. I learned quite a bit from them and the more experienced instructors. Most of their academy PT time was unfortunately spent running god awful stairs inside the training center and doing cross-fit type workouts due to the remnants of our brutal winter. It was cold enough for a runner like me to get some miles outside. But not them. We did manage to knock out a spectacular six miler. Most of them had never run that far. So it was a great accomplishment that day! We had some injuries. But as long as one of them passes his final test next week I'll be able to say that I had a 100% success rate. It was a little dicey in the final test for some of them. But everyone dug deep and got their required push-up, sit-up and mile and a half numbers that they needed. I'm anxiously awaiting the start of another Fall academy with an additional 40 new recruits. Our department is currently conducting entrance PT tests for that class and I shivered in the pouring rain last weekend to prove it. You know you're a dedicated instructor when you're drying your clothes under a hand dryer between sessions! Can't wait to keep my perfect record intact!
My training has been progressing very nicely. I'm back up to about 30 plus miles a week and running almost at speeds that I like. After recording HR data for the last two months I've eased up on the 80/20 HR training. I've discovered that I'm already typically running right in my HR sweet spot. So I'm not wearing the chest strap as much and mostly running by feel. Still working hard with my coach and knocking out some solid cross-training twice a week. Last weekend I even managed to take third place in a local inaugural 10K that I registered for on a whim. I'll be posting a race review soon. But let's just say that I was extremely surprised and thrilled to have done something that I've only dreamed of! No more complaining about my coach's speed workouts! This weekend I'll be running my first trail race. It's going to also be a local 10 mile race run on some of the trails that I've run on in the past. A little nervous about it being my first one on a trail. But why do anything easy? Ten miles of dirt, rocks and roots here I come (whether I'm ready or not)!
Another thing that I've been trying to do a lot of lately is read. So today I'm going to give you my book review of Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich. Heinrich is a biology professor out of the University of Vermont who's written mostly about nature, behavior, biology and ecology. He's also an extremely gifted distance runner who's won numerous event and set some masters ultramarathon records throughout the 80's.
This book came highly recommended. Why We Run is half of a biology book and half a recounting of his training for and ultimately winning the Golden Gate Marathon in 1979. I'm a nerdy lover of the animal world and most things related to biology. But I have to admit that I found that section of his book challenging to get through. There were times when these sections put me to sleep almost immediately. It was all I could do to get through them. They were mainly focused on describing various animals, their endurance prowess and how that could relate to human running. It was interesting up to a point. Even though Bernd tries, I just didn't make the connections to human running.
The latter half of the book was much more enjoyable for me. He goes into detail about his experiences while he was training. Even though I'm a techie, results driven type of guy with my running, I'm fascinated about what goes on in the running mind too. Running can be such a mental game sometimes and I think that Bernd focuses too much on the physical aspects in this book. Well, what would you expect from a biologist? If you enjoy seriously reading about that type of thing and are a runner, then I'd say give this book a go. I'll even give you my copy! It just wasn't for me.
Today's National Running Day and I hope that you managed to get out there to enjoy this wonderful gift that we've been given! I'm so happy to be back! I've been doing it so much that time got away from me here! More to come of both, I promise!
My training has been progressing very nicely. I'm back up to about 30 plus miles a week and running almost at speeds that I like. After recording HR data for the last two months I've eased up on the 80/20 HR training. I've discovered that I'm already typically running right in my HR sweet spot. So I'm not wearing the chest strap as much and mostly running by feel. Still working hard with my coach and knocking out some solid cross-training twice a week. Last weekend I even managed to take third place in a local inaugural 10K that I registered for on a whim. I'll be posting a race review soon. But let's just say that I was extremely surprised and thrilled to have done something that I've only dreamed of! No more complaining about my coach's speed workouts! This weekend I'll be running my first trail race. It's going to also be a local 10 mile race run on some of the trails that I've run on in the past. A little nervous about it being my first one on a trail. But why do anything easy? Ten miles of dirt, rocks and roots here I come (whether I'm ready or not)!
Another thing that I've been trying to do a lot of lately is read. So today I'm going to give you my book review of Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich. Heinrich is a biology professor out of the University of Vermont who's written mostly about nature, behavior, biology and ecology. He's also an extremely gifted distance runner who's won numerous event and set some masters ultramarathon records throughout the 80's.
This book came highly recommended. Why We Run is half of a biology book and half a recounting of his training for and ultimately winning the Golden Gate Marathon in 1979. I'm a nerdy lover of the animal world and most things related to biology. But I have to admit that I found that section of his book challenging to get through. There were times when these sections put me to sleep almost immediately. It was all I could do to get through them. They were mainly focused on describing various animals, their endurance prowess and how that could relate to human running. It was interesting up to a point. Even though Bernd tries, I just didn't make the connections to human running.
The latter half of the book was much more enjoyable for me. He goes into detail about his experiences while he was training. Even though I'm a techie, results driven type of guy with my running, I'm fascinated about what goes on in the running mind too. Running can be such a mental game sometimes and I think that Bernd focuses too much on the physical aspects in this book. Well, what would you expect from a biologist? If you enjoy seriously reading about that type of thing and are a runner, then I'd say give this book a go. I'll even give you my copy! It just wasn't for me.
Today's National Running Day and I hope that you managed to get out there to enjoy this wonderful gift that we've been given! I'm so happy to be back! I've been doing it so much that time got away from me here! More to come of both, I promise!
No comments:
Post a Comment