After a couple of weeks, with only intermittent opportunities to get on the treadmill, I was more than relieved to get back out on the pavement this past weekend.
And I am more than a bit pleased with my efforts… particularly given that I stuck an extra couple of kilometres on Saturday’s run:
I was definitely in the zone. 🚀
Sunday morning…
10.36 km – 56:49 min – 5’28” pace
Longer! Harder! Faster! Stronger!
🚀
It’s been three weeks of nothing but the hard monotonous patter of the treadmill due to intermittent travel, a bout of illness, snow1 and a busy end to half-term. So, it was an absolute delight to lace up my Nikes this morning and step out into the crisp late-winter air.
Not a bad time or pace either!
8.65 km – 48:05 min – 5’33” pace
Fantastic run this morning. The air was fresh and crisp and I kept a consistent pace throughout. Not my quickest time but not far off my average:
10.03 km – 56:40 min – 5’38” pace
My current goal (after reading Footnotes) is to run without music.
Today, I ran the first five kilometres with music at half my normal volume; and the second five kilometres with it at less than a quarter of my normal volume. No impact on my pace and I was even more aware of the world around me…
I just finished reading Footnotes by Vybarr Cregan-Reid. It was an excellent book… as much a travel diary and literary history as a book about running.
I normally do a bit more research before starting a book but this one came highly recommended so I jumped right in. I was unaware that the author was a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Kent. Cregan-Reid underpins and punctuates his running journey with numerous literary references and quotations. They are all apposite, detailed and creatively employed.
I can certainly recommend the book to fellow runners as I came away feeling that Cregan-Reid unearths the very essence of running and its role in our relationship to the world around us. But, I can also recommend the book to those who have an avid interest in literature and travel; particularly those with an enthusiasm for writers who extolled the virtues of nature like Blake, Coleridge, Hardy, Tolstoy and Woolf.
—
This was my sixth running-related book during what has been a very good reading running year:
They are all well written and each is uniquely different.
Today We Die a Little by Richard Askwith was the most interesting read. I knew nothing about Emil Zátopek prior to reading the book. I had never even heard of him! Askwith’s biography is rich in detail; profoundly inspirational; and deeply heartbreaking.
However, I feel that Born to Run by Christopher McDougall has had the most significant impact on my running. Not only is there a fantastic over-arching story about the Tarahumara and Micah True’s tireless efforts to organise a race in the Copper Canyons (Mexico), but weaved into the narrative is a well-researched argument for barefoot running.
McDougall uses historical facts, scientific data and a wealth of anecdotal evidence to present a compelling case for freeing one’s feet from the tyranny of running shoes. I am not fully converted. My feet remain shod when I run but I spent three months focussing intently on my running form. I now land mid to forefoot; run with a slight forward lean; and have increased my cadence significantly. The impact has been huge. I am quicker; I can run further; and I have been close to injury free ever since. No plantar fasciitis here!
—
Next up is… The Runner: Four Years Living and Running in the Wilderness by Markus Torgeby.