Thursday, March 27, 2008

GOOD EXAMPLE

It’s amazing how on-the-ball, quick-thinking one can be at 4:40 in the morning. Today’s plan was to get up at 4:40 for a medium-long run before work. After getting up, feeding the dog, and going to the bathroom, I looked out the window and didn’t see any of the 6” of snow that they were predicting. Then I quickly grabbed the TV guide and realized that the NCAA hoops tourney is on tonight. So rather than go out and slog through 14 miles or so, I decided to run on the treadmill tonight and get in some quality.

Sure it makes me sound wishy-washy, but really, 12 miles with some at MP is probably more beneficial for me at this point than 14 miles at 8:15 pace.

No takers from yesterday’s post, however, Adam sent me an email voting for Daniels. If you’re not familiar with Adam’s training, the URL of his blog says it all; “analytical training”. He’s very much into the numbers behind the training – even talking about having a VDOT down to a half of a point.

I think it’s funny that while I’m analytical by nature, I tend to keep a lot of analysis out of my running. For me, it takes away a lot of the pleasure when I’m constantly monitoring my HR and worrying about hitting exact paces. I could probably improve my running with more focus on the numbers, but I’m not sure it’s worth the decreased enjoyment.

Speaking of other blogs; every once in awhile I try to find some new and exciting stuff to read. Here’s what I’ve found recently;

US Distance Running - I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it wasn’t being updated consistently so I kind of forgot about it for awhile.

The Lead Pack - I just found this about an hour ago and haven’t dug too deeply into it yet. However, any site with an interview of Jack Daniels and Joe Rubio can’t be all bad.

Runnerville - Not really a blog, but definitely a new and exciting running site. I’ve been trying to catch up on some of the podcasts lately.

Less Than Our Best - This site is more of a satirical look at running. Be sure not to take anything they say too seriously. I’m still trying to figure out if they really don’t know how to spell Shalane – preferring to go with Shalene. Sure it's not a common name, but she's one of the top-3 women runners in the US. Anyway, their sub-heading - sacrificing the gift since 2007 - is a great play on the famous Pre quote; “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

Quote of the day;

“Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” — Mark Twain

3 comments:

roughkat said...

If Adam was really serious, he'd have his VDOT down to a tenth. I don't right now but I have Daniels' charts down to that. I'm a numbers guy too and I swear by VDOT training.

I'm surprised you don't consider yourself a numbers guy. I'm sure that you just mean watching your heartrate and splits the entire run, but you seem to track a lot of numbers like MPW and past races. I suppose it's all relative.

Vince A. said...

My coach (me) tells me to run as many miles as I can each week, as fast as I can run them.... That would be a short book, probably wouldn't sell!

Chad said...

roughkat, I'd say I'm a numbers guy when it comes to some aspects of running; MPW, paces, times, etc. I just don't enjoy getting bogged down with watching my HR.

Vince, how's that strategy working out for you?