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