Category: Read Run Write

2018 week twenty five

Book Read:
32. Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance — Alex Hutchinson

Kilometres Ran:
week twenty five — 52.3

To date: 1,232 KM

Last week I blathered on about some running book that I didn’t think was very good and then I noticed that there was another book that I think is pretty great and for some reason I haven’t written here about it yet, so time to solve that mishap. Hutchinson is an athlete and journalist and has a PhD in physics and is a regular contributor to Outside, and has written for Runner’s World, The New Yorker, the Globe and Mail, and elsewhere. Malcolm Gladwell thinks “This book is AMAZING!” which is nice, I guess, if you like Gladwell. The first thing I read about Gladwell and running, he made some asinine statement that running with music is “soft.” I don’t run with music, but that doesn’t make me “hard.” Also given that women are twice as likely to run with headphones* as men, Gladwell’s statement comes off a tad misogynistic. Anyway, enough about Gladwell, because while I do not agree on headphones (and some other stuff) we at least agree on Hutchinson’s book. There is a ton of information in this book and I’ve started trying a few in training and races, with good results. I’ve revisited bits of this book numerous times. I believe it’s a must-have in any athletics books library.

Endurance Tap & Neuenergy & Adidas Adios

Today was the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon. I’ve run it twice before and both were disappointments. Last year I was coming off my first full marathon, healthy and in excellent condition and wanted to break 1:40. It was a sweltering day and I finished 1:40:26. My first crack at the Scotiabank course was 2016. I had just run my first ever half marathon — the BMO Vancouver — and finished 1:46 flat. I was sure I could break 1:45 but was disappointed with a 1:46:31 result. Not only was I drinking way to much then, I was also smoking semi-casually (or -regularly, depending on your point of view…). A cigarette or two on race day served dual purpose, calming pre-race nerves, and, well, nicotine is well known for its laxative qualities. First Scotia Half would also be my last tar-loading. Smoke free and sober, I really wanted to beat myself.
“Soft” at the starting line.

But going into this morning I didn’t have a lot of confidence. I’m coming off a very near 1:40 in Helsinki a few weeks ago; I cut down a bit to try to heal up a blackened big toe and nagging shin splint, and to top it off I picked a fight with a stomach bug on Friday. Plus this course kicked my ass twice already. So I decided it would be a training run. I’d go out and run 4:37/KMs and nail a very respectable 1:37:24 and be happy with that. I had zero intention of chasing the PR I set at the BMO Half at the beginning of May. I went out with cumulative split times for 5, 10 and 15 KM and just ran. At 5 KM I was a bit quicker than planned, and I felt great. I missed the 10 KM split but my per-KMs were coming really fast and still felt great. When I hit 15 KM I checked my watch and I really surprised to find I was a few seconds ahead of PR time. That’s when I decided to just go for it. As I came up Beach Avenue into Stanley Park I saw the finish and the clock and all that registered was 32 and I put my head down and sprinted for the line.I finished 1:32:37, shaving over two minutes off my personal best, and nearly eight minutes off my best on this course, and I could not be happier. I watched and cheered on the other finishers for a bit then walked home, full on running high. Along the way I passed someone lingering in front of their apartment. “Can you spare a cigarette?” they asked. I smiled and replied, “Nope.”

*Sure it’s not a scientifically rigorous poll, but neither is arbitrarily equating earbuds with escapism.

2018 week twenty four

Book Read:
31. Run Forever — Amby Burfoot

Kilometres Ran:
week twenty four — 64.2

To date: 1,180 KM

Curmudgeon writes book about running, in which he reminds you over and over that 40 years ago he won the Boston Marathon, and that the only worthwhile running development since then is wicking socks. I was given a review copy of Amby Burfoot’s new book Run Forever. Burfoot won Boston in 1968 and went on to become executive editor of Runner’s World. He retired in 2013, but has not retired the word “scrumptious,” nor reminding you that he won Boston in 1968. Hey did you know Burfoot won Boston? Around the same time he also participated in a study into hydration and performance. He states that the results of the study showed he performed best on Gatorade, and worst drinking nothing, a result that pretty much anyone would say, “duh.” Except for Burfoot. He writes that one month after the study he runs (and wins the Boston Marathon) “without drinking anything en route” and goes on to declare: “I’m […] quite sure that, if someone had given me Gatorade on the course, I wouldn’t have run as well.” Reading Run Forever felt like reading a book about running written by Kurtwood Smith in full Red Forman. Once you get past surely old man writing about how he likes things the old fashioned way, the book is a decent compilation of running how-to with some good advice, but in that it is by no means unique and I think there are much better options out there.

Sorta smiley rainy run.

Whenever I get a new book, especially non-fiction, I like to look through the table of contents. If you read my 2018 week twenty three last week you may recall that I developed a shin splint while on holiday. Burfoot in Run Forever devotes a section to injuries, and a “chaplet” (his word for “chapter”) to shin splints, in which he says that pretty much every runner gets them, but that they’re something beginning runners suffer with, and “once you move past an initial bout, they rarely come back.” My first bout of shin splints came in the beginning of this year, and my physiotherapist put the Fear of God (or Saint Sebastian?) into me about proper care lest I develop a stress fracture. Burfoot, on the other hand, writes, “Shin splints are the perfect example of how most running injuries aren’t serious. You get them, then you get over them.” The bigger problem I have with this book is that there’s some really bad advice. And yet I’ll probably buy a hardcopy for my library. Thanks to Centre Street for the review copy.
Unintentionally frowny sunny run.

On Wednesday I went for a run in the rain up to UBC and back home following most of the impending Scotiabank Half Marathon route and I should have trimmed my toenails because my left big toenail had gotten a little too long and by the time I finished my descent of Marine Drive it was pretty uncomfortable. So after some 6,000 KM running I got my first black toe badge, and damnit I had no idea how debilitating it is. Thursday was a write-off but by Friday evening I forced myself back outside. It did not feel great but I pushed through, and then it felt better, and better Saturday, and better today. Whether the toenail falls off or not remains to be seen. I’m hoping it makes up its mind soon. One week until Scotiabank Half. And sixteen weeks until Victoria Marathon.

2018 week twenty three

Book Read:
30. What Made Maddy Run — Kate Fagan

Kilometres Ran:
week twenty three — 50.4

To date: 1,116 KM

I read this book a while ago and put off writing about it because I wasn’t sure what to write about it and then this week happened and I’m still not quite sure what to write about it but here it is. The book tells the short life and tragic end of Madison Holleran, an all American college athlete who seemed from all appearances to have it all going for her. This week we lost two more such people. First, fashion designer Kate Spade, then the man living everyone’s dream life, Anthony Bourdain. That one for me was pretty tough. I don’t tend to get too upset when celebrities pass, but there was something about Bourdain’s passing that really hit me. He really seemed like a normal guy that also happened to have a really great life that he loved to share with other people. He, seemingly effortlessly, made the world a better place. There’s clearly more to the story than that, but I’m not sure I want to know any more. Maybe that’s why I had trouble with Fagan’s book. The book is good, but the story sucks. And the whole time I’m reading it I already know it’s not going to end well while at the same time I’m hoping that it somehow ends well. Through access to social media and private messages, and interviews with friends and family Fagan explores in detail Holleran’s downward spiral as she adjusts to college life after high school, and the pressures of elite-level college athletics. Ultimately, Holleran decides that her only escape is to end her life. How she does it, though the exact detail strike me as speculation, if true is a heavy conclusion to a too short life. If scripted it would strike me as cliché and difficult to believe. It’s not a happy book, but I believe it’s worth reading.

Resting my shinbone with a two-bridges bike ride to North Van and back. Don’t let the smile fool you I still hate bridges.

While I was away in ran just about every day and then biked or walked or both and it was great but maybe it was a bit of overkill. On the last Thursday I was away I ran and my right shin felt not quite right and later on it felt as if I had kicked something and bruised the shinbone but I couldn’t remember and I figured I would remember. On the last Friday I ran and recall as I descended Västerbron I felt the pain in my shin gradually grow. It was a very weird experience. I was about halfway through a 15 KM route, which I finished and the pain continued to grow throughout the day. I’ve had a shin splint once before. When I hurt my right knee last fall I developed a shin splint on my left, which my physiotherapist suggested was probably due to overcompensation. This was much worse. I flew home on Saturday and took the day off, ran Sunday and felt awful, so I took Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday was Global Running Day, so of course I completely overdid it. I woke and ran 24 KM and I felt really great but my shin did not. An afternoon of stretching and massaging the sole of my foot I felt okay enough to go out and join the multi-run-clubs Global Running Day social run. I opted for the shorter (not the shortest…) route from Burrard Bridge around Science World into Vanier Park. It started not so great, as I really felt alone in a huge crowd where everyone seemed to know everyone. I said hello to a couple people I knew from Strava. Some friendlier than others, social media IRL status quo. I eavesdropped on Rob Watson and at the end of the run chatted with him and he was really friendly, which was refreshing, and I talked with a few others I recognized. I feel like I made a bit of progress towards my 2018 resolution towards more social running. However, my leg by now I was thinking about amputation. So I ran home. All in it was a 36 KM day. I took Thursday-Friday-Saturday off, went for a long bike ride on Saturday and woke this morning feeling pretty good. Rest and bike ride definitely helped. My run this morning wasn’t exceptional, but it was fine. My shin started to hurt again towards the end so I cut short and went out for an afternoon pedal instead.