The Looniness Of The Long Distance Runner: An Unfit Londoner’s Attempt To Run The New York City Marathon From Scratch by Russell Taylor
SUMMARY: I enjoyed this book. It is written with a sense of humor.
Since I am currently training to run a marathon myself also from scratch, the title jumped out at me. I had to buy it. Since the author is English, the book is in English. I don’t mean US English. I mean it is written in English English. So there is some English slang sprinkled throughout the book, prices are in pounds, and distances are often in kilometers.
After the author, while in a drunken state, sponsors some other people to run in the New York City marathon, he decides to run it himself. He comes up with the plan of writing a book about his training, and the race itself. The author’s royalties from the book all go to charity. As he was not a runner to begin with, he starts running slowly, not telling people of his goal to run in the New York City Marathon. He begins to build up his speed and endurance. Along the way he runs some shorter races. I had scanned the whole book, converted it to text, and then converted the text to speech. I was listening to this book when I ran my first half marathon. In fact, the author was running his first half-marathon in the book while I was running mine. The author manages to run his New York Marathon, and even runs it in a sub-four-hour time.
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Heart Monitor Training For The Compleat Idiot by John L. Parker Jr.
SUMMARY: Great ideas, let’s see if they work.
After buying a treadmill, I wanted to learn how to use it the most efficient way possible. I started learning about aerobic and anaerobic zones, and heart monitors, etc. I found this book mentioned on Amazon in the review of another book. I read reviews, and many people seemed to like it. So I bought it. I have been pleased so far. The author even offers a guarantee in the begining of the book that if after a month of following the training theories in the book , that if you don’t see improvements, he will take the book back, and refund your money, and send you a certificate of apology.
He uses zones calculated using max heart rate and morning resting heart rate. So 70% of max is (MHR - RHR) *.70 + RHR. He recommends recovery days be run at under 70%. Hard days at over 85%. And that hard days be followed by at least one, if not two recovery days. The theory being that the sub 70% workouts build an aerobic base. The hard workouts help build speed and seem to ‘reset’ the pace needed to reach 70% on the recovery days.
I have been following this program for about a week, and am already seeing slight improvements. I am having to go just a little faster to keep my HR near 70%. And after doing eight miles on the treadmill with my HR under 70% I feel fine. I also did six miles on the treadmill last night as well in addition to a two mile walk. Supposedly keeping you HR down, it teaches the muscles to burn fat more efficiently. And after training at under 70%, your speed will increase while maintaining this low HR. And keeping your HR low, you don’t get as worn out, and are less likely to be injured.
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Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes
SUMMARY: I loved this book! I had a hard time putting it down.
Dean Karnazes ran cross county events in school and was failrly successful. He tried Trand & Field, but after a disagreement with the coach, he gave up running. Years later after his sister died in a car accident, Dean found himself running for 30 miles in blistered feet. He began to run again as a release. Then he learn about the Western States 100 Endurance race (100 miles through mountains). He raced a 50 mile race, and qualified for the Western States 100 race. He managed to drag himself across the finish line. He then tried the Badwater Ultramarathon, and 135 mile endurance race from the lowest point in Death Valley, to the Mt Whitney with temperatures reach 130 degrees. He didn’t complete it the firts year, but made it the next year. He goes on the run to a 199 mile 12 person relay race as a team of one (Team Dean).
Dean Karnazes is currently preparing to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days (Endurance50).
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HR102 Heart Rate Monitor by Oregon Scientific
SUMMARY: The heart rate monitor works great. It is a great no-frills unit for the price. The manual is a little weak.
I have been using this heart rate monitor for a few weeks now, and for the most part I am happy with it. I chose it for price (less than $30 from Amazon.com) and because I own another piece of electrnics from Oregon Scientific that I am pleased with. When I first got it, I strapped it on, and start working out, and it worked great. The next time I went to using it, it didn’t register my heart rate right away but then soon did. The third time I tried I couldn’t get it to register my heart rate. I began to think I got a bum model. But after I worked up a sweat, I tried it again, and it worked. I began thinking the batteries were low, and it would only register my HR after it really got pumping. Then I read the manual. Lo and behold, I wanted to strap it UNDER my pecks, though one of the drawings looks like it goes over the pecks. Also, I wanted to dampen it, so it would make good contact. So once I started strapping it below my pecks, and dampening it first, it has worked great.
I tried to set it up to beep if my heart rate rose above 151, but I didn’t hear it beep. Maybe it was drowned out by the TV.
One thing I am concerned about is whether it uses a coded signal. I would like to use it when I run a marathon, and would hate to have it rendered useless from cross feed. To be able to store data, and download it into my computer would be cool, but I don’t know if I would get much use from it.
I may look at buying Polar with a few more features. But for now the Oregon Scientific HR102 Heart Rate Monitor works great!
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