My name is Zola
This article was shared on the Google Minimalist list, and I thought I’d share it here. It brought back memories, and my Zola story:
In 1986, when I was a sophomore, my high school started a soccer program for the 1st time in school history. Rather than hire a soccer coach, they sent over the fitness coach of the football team to be our coach. We were the fittest team in the county! But we sucked at soccer. We lost 17-0 once, though that was to one of the top team in the state. They were probably taking it easy on us.
Anyway, we had two hour practices, with about an hour of fitness stuff to start, then a little soccer. (The worst was the dreaded Indian run, were all 20 of us lined up 10 yards a part, jogging slowly, and the person in back had to sprint to the front… Man those hurt!) Anyway, we always ended up at the track after practice where we had to run two miles. I hated running in cleats, and always forgot “sneakers,” so one day I just dropped the cleats and ran barefoot just inside the clay track on the grass. I did that every day for the rest of that year and subsequent years — which was less often as we eventually got a coach who wasn’t quite so into fitness.
Well, the 1st day I dropped the shoes, one of my teammates started calling me Zola, and it stuck — all through high school and my 1st year of college when I still played indoor on the 18 and under team we had. I didn’t even recognize the name until someone reminded me of the collision between Zola Budd and Mary Decker in the 1984 Olympics.
You can watch the video of the 1984 Olympic 3000 meter run here, where Decker and Budd collide.
So, other than running barefoot as all kids do, that was the start of my barefoot career. Granted I got away from it for many years, only to come back about 7 or 8 years ago when I started having knee issues — but only for 5 or 10 minutes on a treadmill or beach every now and then. I’m glad to be back much more “full time” these days (though I definitely still wear the right shoe for the trail!).
Run Less Run Faster
After coming back from Boston, where I watched my Dad and sister run the marathon, I realized I had caught the Boston bug… Even though Dad can get me in without a qualifying time, I had to check the what my BQ time is to see if I would have a chance. For me at nearly age 40, I’d have to run a 3:20, or 7:38 minutes per mile for 26.2 miles. I can run that now for 5 miles, but adding more than 20 would be tough. I’m also torn, as I don’t really enjoy road running that much, but instead love the trails and right now want to concentrate on trail ultras..
Either way, I had heard about this book so I thought I’d check it out. The main premise is “3plus2″ which is 3 hard runs per week, plus 2 cross training workouts. The hard runs are all about speed — interval work, short tempos, and long tempos (or at least long runs with tempo like speeds mixed in). The cross training is mostly about other aerobic work where you are allowed to mix in items that will save your body from some of the pounding of running, such as swimming and biking. They also show weight workouts and 2 running drills.
The book is filled with all kinds of tables such as: pace charts for what your times should be for various distance races based on your current 5k race time; times for your intervals and tempo’s based on current 5k times; training plans for 5k, 10k, and marathon; and on and on. Lots of tables.
Since I have not actually used the book to train for a particular race, I can’t say if it is effective, though looking around at reviews on-line, many people seem happy with it.
I will say the authors were extremely prompt with responding to a couple questions I had. For example, I had hoped I could use Heart Rate as an effort indicator instead of just pace, so I could do my long runs on trails. That would allow me to pursue both my goals of trail ultras and speed work. Bill Pierce responded within 24 hours that “The principle of specificity dictates that training on trails is good trainng for racing on trails.” Later, Scott Murr did respond with a much lengthier email all about using heart rate levels, which I still have not finished due to its length!
Right now I am not concentrating on speed at all, as I have SCAR coming up (70 mile run in the Smokies on the Appalachian Trail, though I am pretty sure I will cut it to 33 or 40 miles due to my recent bought with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). After SCAR I will re-assess and decide, and while I will most likely not follow the training schedules in this book exactly, I will incorporate some of the speed work into my training to see how close I can get to that 7:38 over 26 miles!
Romans. RC Sproul
Romans has been thrown at me from every conceivable angle for the past few years, starting with a long conversation with a Catholic priest (in street clothes, on holiday — didn’t come out he was a priest until pretty far into our conversation!) in Gatwick airport, sunday school class, reading it on my own, and seeing various passages from it in much of my other reading. RC Sproul has become one of my favorite writers. So when I saw he had a verse by verse commentary on it, I had to get it! It is a long read, and I had a hundred or more quotes highlighted on the kindle, but I won’t include them all here. I will just say that if you want to do a serious study of Romans and have a Reformed bent, this book is for you.
What I talk about when I talk about running. Haruki Murakami.
I saw this book while in the Harvad Co-op while in Boston for the marathon (I was spectating, not running!). Quickly put a sample on the kindle and when I read that later, had to get the whole book. Kindle samples are killing me! :-)
The 1st chapter of this book sounded an awful lot like me, even though Mr. Murakami is in his later 50′s… The 1st chapter was the best, while the rest were not as interesting to me. Just about running marathons and/or triathlons, though he did have one ultra. But overall a lot of good insite worth reading and sharing here. So I’ll just throw out a bunch of quotes:
- Somerset Maugham once wrote that in each shave lies a philosophy. I couldn’t agree more. No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.
- Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running.
- I don’t know why, but the older you get, the busier you become. [ too true! ]
- the fact that I’m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets.
- By running longer it’s like I can physically exhaust that portion of my discontent.
- (Putting off thinking about something is one of my specialties, a skill I’ve honed as I’ve grown older.)
- I’m struck by how, except when you’re young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.
- but the only way to understand what’s really fair is to take a long-range view of things.
- Life is basically unfair. But even in a situation that’s unfair, I think it’s possible to seek out a kind of fairness. Of course, that might take time and effort. And maybe it won’t seem to be worth all that. It’s up to each individual to decide whether or not it is.
- The most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school.
- As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have. That’s one of the few good points of growing older.
- Still, it’s pretty wonderful to watch these pretty girls run. As I do, I’m struck by an obvious thought: One generation takes over from the next. This is how things are handed over in this world, so I don’t feel so bad if they pass me. These girls have their own pace, their own sense of time. And I have my own pace, my own sense of time. The two are completely different, but that’s the way it should be.
- and covered sixty-two miles. It was draining physically, as you can imagine, and for a while afterward I swore I’d never run again. I doubt I’ll try it again, but who knows what the future may hold. Maybe someday, having forgotten my lesson, I’ll take up the challenge of an ultramarathon again. You have to wait until tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring.
- Since I was on autopilot, if someone had told me to keep on running I might well have run beyond sixty-two miles. It’s weird, but at the end I hardly knew who I was or what I was doing. This should have been a very alarming feeling, but it didn’t feel that way. By then running had entered the realm of the metaphysical. First there came the action of running, and accompanying it there was this entity known as me. I run; therefore I am.
- In this instance, relief outweighed happiness.
- And one of the privileges given to those who’ve avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old. The honor of physical decline is waiting, and you have to get used to that reality.
- Competing against time isn’t important. What’s going to be much more meaningful to me now is how much I can enjoy myself, whether I can finish twenty-six miles with a feeling of contentment. I’ll enjoy and value things that can’t be expressed in numbers, and I’ll grope for a feeling of pride that comes from a slightly different place.
- Reaching the finish line, never walking, and enjoying the race. These three, in this order, are my goals.
- On the body of the bike is written “18 Til I Die,” the name of a Bryan Adams hit. It’s a joke, of course. Being eighteen until you die means you die when you’re eighteen.
- I’ve carried this character around like an old suitcase, down a long, dusty path. I’m not carrying it because I like it. The contents are too heavy, and it looks crummy, fraying in spots. I’ve carried it with me because there was nothing else I was supposed to carry. Still, I guess I have grown attached to it. As you might expect.
- I’d always thought I was sort of a brazen person, but this issue with hyperventilating made me realize a part of me was, unexpectedly, high strung. I had no idea how nervous I got at the start of a race. But it turns out I really was tense, just like everybody else. It doesn’t matter how old I get, but as long as I continue to live I’ll always discover something new about myself. No matter how long you stand there examining yourself naked before a mirror, you’ll never see reflected what’s inside.
- Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren’t involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It’s precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive—or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself. If things go well, that is.
- My time, the rank I attain, my outward appearance—all of these are secondary. For a runner like me, what’s really important is reaching the goal I set myself, under my own power. I give it everything I have, endure what needs enduring, and am able, in my own way, to be satisfied.
Real Food. Nina Plank.
I saw this book mentioned on the google minimalist (running) list saying it was a bit more approachable than some other books on the paleo diet, though after reading this I don’t know how paleo it really is. Guess I’d have to read a paleo book after all. Or maybe it mentioned Weston Price and Price is not paleo?? I don’t know. I have read so few food/nutrition books in the past few years that maybe it has all passed me by. Guess I have become pretty comfortable with my diet!
This book touts moving back to the way food was before it was industrialized, including farm animals, milk, eggs, and produce. Getting away from grain fed beef and chicken when that is not their natural diet, not eating farm raised fish, getting back to locally grown produce, etc. And I’m all for that, though I don’t eat a lot of meat… She was very into using butter — which I never used a whole lot of margin but only went for the real thing — butter is better!; whole milk — I normally do skim or 2% but am now considering sticking with just 2%; eggs – i love ‘em — but only pastured so they can be omnivorous as they were ment to be. She was against all industrial oils (which pretty much leaves olive oil as the only oil). And all in all getting away from as much process and pre-packaged food as possible, which I already try to do.
Just a few quotes:
- Is drinking milk unnatural? The critics say that cow milk was “designed” for newborn calves, not for humans. That’s true. But this observation does not prove that the human digestive system cannot, or should not, handle milk. After all, the tomato was designed to make more tomato plants, not pasta sauce. [ i've been guilty of saying this in the past, but I would still say we shouldn't drink it constantly... everything in moderation!]
- Aren’t some fats unhealthy? Yes. It’s easy to remember the bad ones: they are the industrial fats recently added to our diet. The unhealthy fats are refined vegetable oils, including corn, safflower, sunflower, and soybean oil, and synthetic trans fats. Trans fats are formed by hydrogenation, in which unsaturated oils are pelted with hydrogen atoms to make an artificially saturated fat. That’s how they make firm margarine from liquid corn oil.
- To reap all the flavor and health benefits of olive oil, buy the best oil you can afford, ideally extra-virgin, cold-pressed, and organic.
- The sooner we ban trans fats— as Denmark has— the better.
Boston Marathon Liveblog
I am going to attempt a live blog of the Boston Marathon as Dad and Kim race. We’ll see how it goes.
6:50 — saw Dad and Kim off from the hotel. They are taking a taxi to the runner bus station in Boston, where they will take the bus to the start at Hopkinton. And there they will have an hour or two to wait for their start at 10:30.
8:00 — after a bit of email, loading my pack, getting fed, I am out the door. Taking the red line to South Station where I will pick up the P509 Worcester train @ 8:50 for Framingham. That is the last rail stop where you can get close to the marahon course, and it is at mile 6.
8:30 Waiting at South Station.
if you want text updates from AT&T for when Dad and Kim cross certain points, text “runner” to 31901 and then when you get a reply enter the bib numbers…
Kim — 27665
Dad — 27617
8:51 slight delay in boarding and leaving… mad dash of people ran for the track when it was announced… out bounds in the morning are normally NOT this crowded!
8:57 – the train has left the station!
the science of sport will be doing live splits for the leaders, which should be interesting. Will Ryan Hall have his break out race and win it all?
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2010/04/2010-boston-marathon-live-splits-and.html
9:08 standing room only:
9:26 – a few more stops to Framingham… I’ll have a tough decision to make at some point as there is nearly a two hour gap on inbound trains which could put me in jeopardy of making it back into the city for seeing Dad and Kim finish. 
. Not sure how much I can trek on foot.
9:55 just got to Framingham…
10:09. lead women just passed where I am in about 38 minutes… I must be further than the 10k which is where I thought I was… going to start heading up the course…
10:28. ran a little over a mile up, now waiting for the lead men. Dad and Kim should be starting in two minutes. I’m just short of the 8 mile mark.
10:38 lead pack of men just passed in a little under 38 minutes — again I am a little short of the 8 mile mark. they are fast! 
10:45. that will be the last of my posts on the elites… think I’ll head up the course some more so I have more options on the trains!
11:02 I’m at the mile 9 marker. I’ve gotten no text updates for 3 wave 1 runners shooting for 3 hr runs so it looks like ther may be too much of a delay to be useful to know when to expect dad and Kim
11:04 random picture of runners
11:06 I have yet to see a barefooted or vibram wearer. but I have not been looking that close!
11:23 wave 1 is finally starting to thin out a bit here at the mile 9 marker… it would be just about impossible to spot someone in particular as thick as it was!
11:37 the beginning of wave 2 is now coming through mile 9…
12:09. Kim just passed mile 9. I’m going to have to make a run for the train station or I am going to be stuck.
12:30 ran 1.5 miles for the station and made it, but now the train is late. I had to make the tough decision to not wait for Dad at mile 9 as the next inbound train is at 2:20 pm and I would not have made it back to Boston until too late! Now I need to figure out when to get off next!
12:39 I think I’ll get off in Newton, just past mile 19. I can make it in from there on foot if needed! Bummed I’m missing “kiss me corner” at Wesley College!
12:53 ATT texts do not seem to be working for most spectators around me, but Nadia in GA is getting them! she just sent me this:
They’ve both passed the 15k mark–your dad just a little while ago, and
Kim about 10 minutes before him. By my calculations, Kim will be at 20k
before 1:00. Your dad should be there before 1:15.
I think I’ll jump off the train a little sooner than I said in my last update.
13:27. just arrived at the 30k mark — hope I didn’t miss Kim!
13:37. finally saw some bare footers! the lady was in a full body cheetah leotard.
13:43 definitely missed kim according to the splits on the web… by maybe 10 minutes at most, probably a lot less — she sped up! now need to figure out what to do and how to get back!
13:49. looks like a 2 mile run to the 1st subway station… will hang here at 30k a bit to see if I can catch Dad…
14:05. still no Dad here at 30k and the web shows no 25k time… not sure what is going on… Kim past 35k and should be done soon but I am miles form the finish… time to run to the T I guess…
14:34 just past mile 20 waiting o see if dad shows up. based on updates from Nadia he should be here any minute…
14:49 word from Nadia is Kim finished in 3:49. I’m with dad on heart break hill.
15:21 still close to Dad near mile 23. I was going to take the T in but I’m able to keep up with the train because t is moving so slow due to all the people…
15:27 dad is making phone calls from the course.
15:51 passing mile 25, 1.2 to go! I’m still tailing dad from off course.
16:23 at the end waiting to find everyone… the last mile was impossible as a spectator to keep moving and I had to go a few blocks around
16:40 in taxi heading towards hotel
17:22 cleaned up a few typos from a real computer. the end. thanks for watching.
The Barefoot Running Book. Jason Robillard.
Jason is one of the contributors to the Google Minimalist list (http://groups.google.com/group/huaraches/) and when I saw he had a book coming out, even though it is a bit more for beginners, I thought I’d grab a copy. Over all it is a good read, though it is definitely geared towards the newer barefoot runners out there. I would definitely recommend it to you if you are in that camp — not withstanding his sense of humor! ;-)
Quotes that are worth sharing:
- Leonardo Da Vinci called the human foot “… a work of art, a marvel of engineering…”
- wearing shoes decreases the runners ability to judge impact… As such, shod runners produce far greater impact forces [... than barefoot/minimalist] (I can certainly attest to that, as I currently run barefoot, minimalist, and with traditional shoes… I can definitely feel the difference.)
- it will become increasingly difficult to run in traditional shoes. Your feet will feel incredibly heavy and the rest of your body will rebel against the pounding… (Another thing that I am finding very true… Traditional shoes no longer feel comfortable to run in, and my shoes are trending more and more minimalist. Luckily we are on the precipice of a large variety of minimalist options, something that has not been the case until very recently.)
- “Each of us is an experiment of one – observer and subject making choices, living with them, recording the effects.” — George Sheehan
Thoughts worth sharing:
- He brings up the analogy of baby formula vs. mother’s milk, and how an entire generation was lead to believe that formula is better. But then over time that fallacy was proven, and now it is well known mother’s milk is better (as long as that is possible). Are we witnessing the same thing with running shoes? I’m a firm believer in the right tool (shoe) for the job (run/terrain), but also that the more minimalist the better!
- He suggests running on hard surfaces such as pavement before grass and trails. I am not so sure I agree. While trails I would definitely say are “advanced,” I found my short 2-3 minute runs on grass a great way to start the foot strengthening process. Yet at the same time, I do believe that forgiving surfaces will allow you to miss problems with your form and perhaps delay the transition to proper form… Its also the case that wearing a minimalist shoe before you have good form can be a recipe for disaster. So I would recommend 100% barefoot, hard surface running early. But I also think foot strengthening via exercise, walking barefoot and various surfaces, and yes, running on grass, is good in the early stages. Just be sure to mix in hard surfaces as well!
Once A Runner. John L Parker, Jr.
Wow, another running book. Go figure. :-)
This one is the first fiction running book I have read, and it is a great story about a college miler. Beyond the fictitious story, you get a great view into the world of an elite level runner and some view into some of the more intense workouts. It certainly captured my attention and kept me interested throughout. And of course I as glad to see Cassidy, the main character, a fan of barefoot running.
Quotes:
- A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke at precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.
- He sought to conquer the physical limitations placed upon him by a three-dimensional world (and if Time is the fourth dimension, that too was his province).
- If he could conquer the weakness, the cowardice in himself, he would not worry about the rest; it would come. Training was a rite of purification; from it came speed, strength. Racing was a rite of death; from it came knowledge.
- She found it impossible to tell him that this simply wasn’t the way she had imagined it would be. She was not experienced enough to know that it rarely is.
- There was no refuge in injury, his body could not be injured in this way. There was no refuge in mercy, there was nothing to forgive and no one to issue dispensation. And at last he saw: there was no refuge in cowardice, because he was not afraid. There was no alternative, it just had to be done.
Worth a read when you need to mix in something fast ,easy, and entertaining into a non-fiction reading list.
Haw River West “Scramble”
I’ve wanted to attempt this run for a while… Turns out it is much more of a scramble than a run, as there is not a whole lot of trail. Lots of bushwhacking, bouldering, and even a couple cliff climbs.
Here is what I wrote on Daily Mile:
Ouch! Brutal! Loved it!
That was much harder than I thought, even though I have done much of the southern sections of this route before, though not all at once. I had not been on the last 2.5 miles or so of the north part before the turn around at Bynum…
Lots of bushwhacking, a few cliff climbs, bouldering. In fact I’d guess that less than 35% of this is on a real trail. And once you pass the power line north of 64, there is NO trail.
I made it to about a quarter mile south of the old Bynum bridge, and I could see the dam at 15/501. But I turned there because I reached someone’s personal property. There were yellow signs showing the “state park” land but with the water as high as it was, I didn’t feel like trespassing. Never know who might pull a shot gun on you! (Next time I’ll just jump on Bynum Beech Road, which I ran next to for a bit.)
I experimented with Chia “fresca” as my only fuel. Two 20 oz bottles of 3-4 TB of chia seeds, a little lime juice, and a little honey, and the rest water.. I will need to try this again. I felt pretty dead by the end, but I can’t tell if that was the course beating it out of me or if it was Chia not fueling me as much as my normal fuel, pPerpetuem.
About 9 minutes slower on the way back, but some of that was route selection. Instead of going “up and over” I went down by the water and with the water level it more bouldering and climbing than I expected!
Looking forward to trying this on the “east” side soon!
Same Kind of Different As Me. Ron Hall, Denver Moore.
This is another example of how dangerous the Kindle is! Being able to sample a book, a book I probably would not have glanced at a 2nd time anywhere else, can get you hooked! I saw this mentioned in blog post by John Piper, where all he said was:
If you want to crawl inside the possible world that opens when a dirt-poor, illiterate, former-share-cropin’, homeless 50-something enters the life of a swank, upscale, southern, Christian art dealer, read Same Kind of Different As Me. These two men tell their increasingly interwoven stories in alternating short chapters that kept me coming back night after night.
So I downloaded the sample, and was hooked a few minutes later. It was really a great story, well told by the two men who are completely different and write in completely different ways. Ron, the “rich art dealer,” really strikes a chord with me personally, in how he shows how easy it is to give charitably, but in a distanced manner where you don’t have to risk getting too close, to personally involved. How true that is!
And Denver is full of wisdom, yet is a person you would never expect it from:
- There was found in the city a certain poor man who was wise and by his wisdom he saved the city.
- But you go on down to Louisiana right now, and take a drive on down the back roads in Red River Parish, and you might be able to see how a colored man that couldn’t read and didn’t have no radio, no car, no telephone, and not even ‘lectricity might fall through a crack in time and get stuck, like a clock that done wound down and quit.
- the more I became convinced we’d enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less
- on saying yes to being a friend: “Don’t catch and release no matter how difficult it gets.”
- A successful person is one who is living a joyful life with the hand he or she was dealt.
- A successful person is one who can thank God for nothin’, and then He’ll give him everything!
