My new rule: I may read the latest Wheel of Time book only while climbing the stairmill faster than 8 floors a minute.

My new rule: I can only read the latest Wheel of Time book while climbing the stairmill faster than 8 floors a minute.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Workout Types(s): Tempo run; core workout; heat training

Miles ran: 7.5

Where: The Gym
Temperature: Room temperature 
What I wore: North Coast 24 Hour shirt from 2011, Adidas leggings, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315
How I felt: Kind of faint towards the end.  I think I need to drink more water when I am in the sauna.
What I thought about while running: I should do my taxes.
Food consumed: None.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Workout Type(s): Climbing on the stairmill; heat training

Miles ran: 1.09; 575 floors

Where: The Gym

Temperature: Room temperature

Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

Miles ran: 1.09; 575 floors
What I wore: Cotton tshirt, Adidas leggings, ice breaker socks
How I felt: Okay.
What I thought about running: How much I want the Last Battle (http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Tarmon_Gai'don) to finally happen.  I've been waiting nearly twenty years for this.

Food consumed: Zone energy bar.  They was a sale at Costco and I bought fifty of them.

Friday, January 25, 2013

None, yet.

Training Notes:

This will not be so much of a running post, but a reading post. 

On my very first day at geek camp when I was in middle school, I picked up a free edition of Robert Jordan’s, The Eye of the World, The Wheel of Time series’ first volume.  The free edition had perhaps only the first ten chapters or so (I think the characters reach Shadar Logoth) and was entertaining, but I felt that Robert Jordan was too long winded and so I decided not to buy the full book right away.  At around this point of my life, I was more into Battlefield Earth, Ender’s Game and the Foundation series-type books; I was ambivalent about fantasy as I wanted to read about science, not magic. 

Then a couple of years later, while at the bookstore, I saw the complete version of The Eye of the World, all 782 pages of it.  I was well over my fantasy grudge; my biggest gripe with books was that they ended.  And here was a large-ish book that promised not to end right away!  So I took it home and devoured it.  I may have gone to school and slept and ate, but by the time I was twelve, I had perfected the art of reading in class without being caught, reading while eating and showering, and reading instead of sleeping.  All I remember was just being incredibly caught up in this fantastic, fantastic story about Rand al’Thor and his Two River friends.  The writing was still as long winded as ever, but for whatever reason, I didn’t care so much this time.  I needed to know what was going to happen.  I bought or borrowed all the available books in the series until I caught up with the author and then waited for the next one to come out.  The books were published every two or three years, and on each day of their release, I rushed out to the bookstore and all productivity ceased for the next day or so.

Then Robert Jordan died and I thought that was the end.  Thankfully, Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series, was chosen by Jordan’s estate to complete The Wheel of Time.  (Incidentally, Brandon Sanderson was also college roommates with Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame.)  Although I was initially hesitant about continuing the series with a different author, I decided to give Sanderson a try and found that . . . this new guy was better.  Sanderson produced better content in one book than Jordan did in his last three. 

Anyway, this is a running blog and not a fantasy novel blog, so how does all this tie in to my Grand Slam training?  Well, the very last book in the series, A Memory of Light, was published two weeks ago. 

And I did not order it right away. 

Not that I didn’t want to.  I really, really, really, really did.  When the book was released, I initially told my boyfriend that I was going to be MIA for the next couple of days, just so that I could spend every evening after work, reading and savoring the last volume without any interruptions.

But then reality set in.  I have a life.  I have a job that I enjoy.  And good golly, I have to train.  So I didn’t order the book until last week and when it arrived, I kept it in its box.

Until last night.  I made the decision that I am only allowed to read A Memory of Light when I am on the stairmill, climbing at least 8 stories a minute.  I think this is a solid rule because:

(a) Multitasking is good. 

(b) This will encourage me to climb a lot more.  Although today is supposed to be a cross training day, I really want to climb stairs.

(c) I will read slower.  Reading on a stairmill is a lot tougher than say, reading magazines on an elliptical. 

So after last night’s climb, I am on page 120.  800ish pages to go.  I do hope I manage to stick to this rule.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Anyone else a science fiction or fantasy novel fan?  

My poor niece is as addicted to books as I am.
She recently announced that she was going to be an ultrarunner, too.