Don't Read Just Do

I've always been baffled by the amount of books there are about running or cycling or rock climbing or kayaking. How much could you actually learn from a book? As I type it, I realize what an incredibly dumb statement that is. Yes, books are for learning. I speak good English I do. Pete decided to take out several books about running and triathlons from the library recently. Among the books that we took out was Breakthrough Triathlon Training, by Brad Kearns. The main point of this book is to avoid burnout. Kearns, who was a world-ranked professional triathlete, writes more about the mental positioning of training than the physical regime that one undertakes. What I found most interesting is that he points out that some of the most successful (success being relative of course) athletes must build into their training plenty of recovery time. Recovery time is not just for your body to heal, but for your mind to regroup as well. There are so many great points to this book that if your serious about training for any kind of endurance event, I recommend picking this up - triathlete or not.

I'm sitting on the porch right now, soaking in the cool Sunday morning breeze, and relaxing - while Pete and Marie are out riding. Marie is enjoying a double brick today (ride 25, run 3, ride 25, run 3). Pete and I are joining her for different legs of this brick. She and Pete are riding 25 miles, then running 3. When they get back from the run I'll jump on my bike and ride another 25 miles with her and then run the final 3. There was no way in hell I was going to do the entire double brick with her, so I'm doing what I know I can and will probably have to push it a bit.

Among many of the recommendations that this book makes is to run without a watch or Garmin or an Ipod every now and then. Don't track every step and then carefully analyze it. Go out and run for time not distance. Find the fun in it. Yesterday was a one hour run for us. Rather than running along one of the paths, we chose to run up into a neighborhood behind Lake Calhoun. I had no idea where we were, but I didn't need to. I knew that after 30 minutes we'd turn around and head home. That was all the thinking that I had to do. There were more hills on this route, which I liked. I like powering up a short hill to move the lactic acid in my muscles. I pound up that hill as hard as I can, pulling with my arms, head straight and focused. When I get to the top I resume my pace and my legs always feel stronger and lighter. By the end of the run we reached our starting point at exactly one-hour, meaning that our pace was insanely consistent. Our overall pace was solid. I felt great.

Continuing to follow the advice of this book, to enjoy my surrounds and appreciate my accomplishments, I went down to Lake Nokomis yesterday. Not to swim, not to obsess about the race, but to sit and watch Marie as she did her 2 mile swim. The was partially of course because there aren't Life Guards on duty until much later in the day and I don't want her out there swimming with no spotter, but also because I just wanted to sit. I didn't bring a book or listen to music. I just sat and watched the many people swim around the 100 meter-spaced lap buoys. I was so pleased that out of all the swimmers Marie was clearly the strongest and most consistent. It made it easy to look out over the water and find her. I thought about how only a two weeks ago this beach was packed with hundreds of people and the water filled with flopping swimmers. Yesterday, it was a handful of people and not a worry in the world.

So many of you that might read this blog might run or ride or do crazy yoga and I'm so glad that you do. Remember why you're doing it and make it fun. Take some time for yourself and relax. Sleep in every now and then and enjoy your accomplishments - the only one measuring them is you, so its up to you to determine what success is. Recognize the success in those around you and realize that you might learn something.