I haven’t done a link love-type post for awhile but there’s definitely some cool stuff that I’ve come across lately, some cool eBooks, articles and assorted loveliness.
First things first…I don’t know if there are any long distance runners in the crowd, (looking in your general direction SimplyJo and David Damron) but I find myself very frustrated with my training. This morning was supposed to be a 7 mile run (am training for a full marathon race to be held on May 30th) and I decided that, since this was the first day where temps were supposed to be above freezing, that I’d do it outside.
I know from past years that training outside on the pavement beats the pants of any treadmill training you can do.
And I also admit that I am 30 lbs heavier than I would ideally like to be, 24 lbs from making a serious go at this race without injuring myself. I’m prone to hip pain after runs, rather substantial pain that lingers and affects my ability to walk the following day.
And yes, I’m turning 37 in two weeks so I don’t seem to recover as easily as I used to.
So, anyway, I tried my seven mile run, which I can do on a treadmill. I’m out there with a knit hat, thermal top and bottom, running shorts, good toonage on the IPod and…I crap out after a mile and a quarter. I manager to walk a remaining one and three quarter miles around my “track” to get back home, but man…I don’t know what to do. I am having a helluva time breaking through my running barriers and I only have about 11 weeks left till the race.
For the record, I’ve run two half marathons before, in 2007 and 2009, so I’m not new to the sport, but I am just seriously discouraged with my ability to get it going this year. Now I think I have to jump on the treadmill later just to try to get a good five miles in.
My training program is posted at myradicaltransparency.com if you want to see what I am trying to do. Don’t get too used to that site, I am thinking of porting it over to charleyforness.com. Also note that I missed three and a half weeks of training due to a hip injury and persistent chest cold but I have been running again for the last two weeks
Looking for tips, tricks, good resources on the web and a swift ass-kicking from you other runners if you would be so gracious to share in the comments.
Coolio eBooks:
- File this under the category of, “I should have told you Friday,” but Karol Gajda is a pretty amazing dude. He’s a location-independent entrepreneur who, no disrespect to the young guys who are fresh out of school doing this, has been making money online for the better part of a decade.
He put out an eBook about being location independent including how to fund your new lifestyle by making money online. Called How to Live Anywhere (NOT an affiliate link), the price started at ten cents on Friday at midnight and goes up ten cents for each copy sold. I logged in right at midnite and bagged a copy for $1.30…I feel just a little bit guilty for basically stealing this eBook…a little bit…ok, it’s gone now.
It’s selling at around $15 right now so don’t dawdle. This eBook is meaty, ever evolving as it lives on the web (HTML book), and there are a couple of chapters on how to make money online that I had not previously heard of before.
- Everett Bogue put out a short eBook today, about 20 pages that looks to be about 1500 – 2000 words or so and as such, is a nice quick read. It’s called How to Create a Movement and it’s FREE with no strings attached so have at it.
- Ms. Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens put out a nice eBook on Car Free Living called Simply Car Free (NOT an affiliate link…do I have to keep saying that?). I admit that my family cannot do this at this stage of our life, 3 babies that can’t sit up yet, living in one of the snowiest areas of the US (good ole Buffalo), but I do ride my Trek bike to work most days between mid April and mid October, and my car has been paid off for five years now, so it doesn’t cost me much in gas with a 5 1/2 mile commute, but this would be helpful for a large cross-section of the population.
I’ve read it and I highly recommend it.
New (to me) Blogs
Rock Star Triathlete – I don’t recall how I ended up on this eMail list but these guys send out one or more hour long interviews a week on Triathlon training. If I spent as much time training as I did listening to these interviews I might do all right. I’m a new(wanna)be triathlete so I don’t know jackshyt about it but I’ve learned a ton listening to these guys. I think if you just sign up for the email list you get the freebie audios coming regularly and the interviews are with top professional triathletes. Here, I’ll do you one better, I found a link to the audios page.
Pursuit of Change – This is a personal development blog that’s new to me as of today so I’ve just started fishing around on there for material to steal and claim that it’s mine. I’m liking what I’m seeing and if you’re into the 100 Thing Challenge, the author happens to have a page on the site devoted to his own quest.
Blog Articles
The Iron – Karol Gujda is gonna start thinking I’m a man-Stalker but I’m not…seriously. Because if I was, I wouldn’t have misspelled his last name in the last sentence. A stalker wouldn’t do that, would they (laughs nervously)?
It’s Karol Gajda. And he writes a great blog at Ridiculously Extraordinary.
He put up a Tumblr page of this wickedly awesome article written by the brilliant and inspiring Henry Rollins called the Iron. I used to listen to Henry Rollins spoken word audio tapes (them thingies back before CD’s. Whaddya’ mean, “what are CD’s?!?!”) back in ‘92 when I was a college idealist. This article is pasted up in my Evernote. After I read this, I immediately grabbed the car keys and hit the gym to lift minimalist weights with my puny boy arms…two days later I’m now having some difficulty picking up my car keys.
Hmmm, I was gonna add some more articles but I’m hanging out over a thousand words here and this was supposed to be a leisurely drive thru the Blogosphere so I’ll stop here. Enj0y.
Don’t forget to leave me your runner’s training tips below, please.
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I can give you one piece of running advice that is very important (and quite minimalist, I think): Keep going and don’t let one tough training session get in your way. Some days you are stong, some days you are less strong. It happens. I went out for a 13 kilometre run today and ran 17 (that’s 8 and 10.5 miles), next time this might be the case for you too.
Thanks for the interesting links!
-Ann.
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
This is from couch to 5K and is a true beginner’s guide. You may find it useful to skip a few weeks in advance, but I think this laid a good foundation in order to build up your body for harder runs. I recently started gyming it up again (I used to be a gymnast and LDR) and this has definitely help me get back “in mode”
Hey Charley!
Man, I wish I had gotten into Henry’s spoken word stuff back in the days. I was a bit of a fan of Black Flag and (barely) Rollins Band, but I didn’t know the other side of Henry. His road journals are great. My friend Nick bought me “Smile: You’re Traveling” last year and it’s a very interesting insight into the man. I took a ton of notes from that book.
Thank you for the How To Live Anywhere plug. I’m glad you liked it!
Karol
P.S. Good question, would a stalker misspell a name? Hmmm… I’ll have to do some research about this…
Yeah I love Pursuit of Change!
j/k – thanks for the link/mention. Feel free to steal whatever you want – got a couple posts brewing for this week.
Digging through your stuff right after I hit submit…
Thanks Charley!
Firstly Charley – Thank you! That is the first time I have ever been refered to in a post and it was very exciting! I don’t know whether this will help but it’s helped me. I have struggled with training – due to lack of motivation and rubbish weather over here in the UK. First thing I did was stopped timing my runs (I don’t know if you do this?), then I stopped plotting routes and distances, I don’t plan too much ahead of time. Now I know this isn’t the way to go for a lot of people – my hubby swears blind by knowing what he is doing in advance and timing every mile! yes every mile!!!! I decide I am going for a run, I make sure my iPod is charged, put my running shoes on and I try not to think about what I am about to do (because if I did I wouldn’t go). First step is the hardest (out the door!) so I say to myself I will do a couple of miles and see how I feel – then every extra mile is a bonus… This week I went out for a vague up to 10 mile run and did 11.5 as I got in the zone etc… I had no idea where I was really going. I would have gone further but am having knee problems and with 7 days till the half marathon I need to be careful. I realised this year that after the last 4 years of running that I no longer enjoyed it – so I decided to do it differently (ditched the heart rate monitor – most of the time I should have been theoretically dead anyway as my heart rate was way too fast!) and it works…. stick with it and don’t be too hard on yourself! Life’s too short! Have fun! (remember you can always walk it on the day – it’s the distance that counts not the speed)
Awesome content!! I subbed to Karol’s page and am lost in the content. Loved the Rollins piece. I miss lifting. Had to stop due to the foolishness of overtraining – tore my rotator cuff and got 2 meniscal tears. Sigh.
Thanks for the wonderful Sunday drive – I eagerly look forward to more!!
Trece
Sorry to dip back in but meant to add… I believe that running is 90% mental and 10% physical. I never attempt a run when I am down, or I have to get back for a time, or the hubby and I have had words, or the kids are screaming at home etc…etc… running for me is very isolated time and if I do not want an hour or two with my thoughts (if they are negative ones or I have a lot on workwise that needs working through) I don’t go because I know I will hit ‘The Wall’ (see ‘run fatboy run’ with Simon Pegg film for a fantastic visualisation of the said ‘Wall’) and I’ll hit it early on… never set yourself up to fail! Last comment I promise – Good luck!
Hey – thanks for the link love.
I’m glad u liked the book. Going car-free with kids is not easy. Especially if you live in a cold climate. I think it’s awesome you’re able to ride your bike in the warmer months. Rock on and keep pedaling. 
I don’t have much advice on the running side of things – I was running like crazy and decided to give it up for about 6 months. I hurt my knees. ): So I’ve been focusing on yoga and bike riding. I really miss running. Part of my injuries were because of me being lame. I kept running on my bad knee, when I knew I should have taken a break. So be sure to listen to your body and take care of yourself.
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