Not Quite the English Country Side

Well a quick post here, I have been out of the country in London and now Paris for the past few days now and I managed to get in one run at least. Monday Morning, I went for 5 miles from our hotel, which was very close to the Heathrow Airport, so again not quite the English country side.

But I felt ok and the legs felt pretty good, though it was a bit of a challenge crossing the road being the they drive on the other side of the road I always had to remember to look the other way before crossing.

Running Abroad

Well, it's 8:30pm and I'm about to hop a plane to London and Paris for a week for work. Exciting I know, but our schedule is very busy and I have the Twin Cities marathon a week from tomorrow.

The challenges of fitting your runs in while vacationing or traveling for work is alway a challenge, especially while traveling abroad. I will need to get at least a few runs in, but being that this is my taper week and I'm still taking it easy after the 50 mile race. I am happy to report that my hamstrings are feeling much better and I went for a 5 mile run yesterday and felt ok. It was still a little tough to run faster that a 8:30min pace, but with one more easy week I should be fine. Won't be setting any PR though.

I'll try and fit my runs and posts in while abroad, and hopefully can post some pictures of some sites, I'm planning on bringing my camera on any outdoor runs.

What's 4 Minutes?

The Short-Intense-Workout that Delivers:

I'm talking about Tabata Training, a short intense workout that is supposed to yield major gains. What is Tabata Training? It was created in Japan in 1996 by Izumi Tabata from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, who was searching for a better training protocol for the Japanese speed-skating team.

It is simple and easy(relatively). All you do is a quick 4 minute interval workout.

20seconds Sprints all out

10 Seconds rest

8 times for a total of 4 minutes.

Sounds easy enough and it is recommended that you start out incorporating it into your normal workout and once a week for beginners, 2 for intermediate and 3 times a week for advanced runners. According to a study done participants using the Tabata interval technique for 6weeks improved 14% verses 10% for non users. in max aerobic capacity. They also improved there anaerobic capacity by 28% while none user saw no gain.

While I can not fully endorse this training technique as I have not used it yet. I think I can spare the extra 4 minutes to give it a try and see what results I get.

Once a Runner: Book Review

There are two books that are considered by many as the best running books ever. Once a Runner: A Novel the other one is Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It is difficult to say which is better, because Once a Runner is a novel and Born to Run is more of a memoir/documentary that recounts the author's amazing experience.

Once a Runner is a novel that follows Quenton Cassidy, a track runner at Southeastern University in Florida, as he learns what it takes to truly be a great runner. Quenton is a one of the best runners the Southeastern has ever had he runs the one mile just a few second above 4 minutes, but he realizes that to become a great miler has has to put all of his time and energy into running.

The book was great and really takes you into the mind of a runner. Parker does a great job of describing and recreating all of the sensations of "the big race." It really brought me back to my track days and reminded me of the pain of the interval training and the emotions of those types of races. I think that this book would be great for all sorts of readers but it certainly has grown in popularity with the distance running community, to the point of near cult following.

I think this book was great in so many way and is certainly a must read for all runners, former or future and even none runner would enjoy it and get a little insight as to the reasoning behind The Trials by Mile, Mile of Trials.

Far better book review at Slate.com