Information, Motivation, Inspiration

In search of some information, motivation and inspiration, I turned to the books.

Distance Training for Women Athletes – Lydiard/Gilmour. The Runners Guide – British Athletics. One Step Beyond – Malcom Law

Arthur Lydiard was a revolutionary running and athletics coach who developed solid endurance running programmes and promoted jogging for health. He coached some of New Zealand’s great middle distance athletes and athletes all over the world today are coached using his methods of training. Distance Training for Women Athletes reiterated a lot of information I already knew, having had an athletics coach who believed in Lydiard’s methods, but it was interesting to note that the physiological and physical make up of a female is better suited to distance running than that of a male.
And learn to lace your shoes Lydiard style! I was a bit sceptical at first, but a shoe that gently hugs your foot rather than pushes down on the metatarsals of your foot, who am I to disagree with a legend? I re-laced my older shoes with the Lydiard Lace which knits the two sides together and (this may sound strange) my feet almost thank me for wearing my running shoes!

The Runner’s Guide by British Athletics was very similar to the Lydiard/Gilmore book, it contained information on nutrition, training programmes for various distances and degrees of competitiveness, and the physical and physiological aspects of running. The physiological reasoning behind “hitting the wall” when running marathons was the biggest thing I learned from this book. I have never run far enough to experience hitting the wall, I have reached my anaerobic limit many times competing 400m sprints and it’s the only thing I can compare it to. A lot of people think that hitting the wall is a mental hurdle marathon runners have to overcome, but The Runner’s Guide explains it as the depletion of the more readily available glycogen in the body and the shift to having to use fat stores.

I’m not really a non fiction/biography reader but when I spotted Malcom Law’s One Step Beyond in our public library, the text on the front of the book read “How an ordinary man took on the ultimate running challenge and won”, that seemed to grab my attention. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down! It tells the story how Malcom came up with the idea of his enormous running challenge, the months of training, trials and adversities he faced leading up to the event, and then the day by day account of running the event itself. Malcom’s passion for what he did drips from every word and I felt so inspired by what he achieved and what he has achieved since.
I was so inspired I felt the need to write Malcom an email to thank him for his book. And he wrote me back!
He thanked me for taking the time to give such feedback and let me know of his next big challenge: High Five-0 Challenge for Mental Health which will include a lot of action in the Central Otago/Southern Lakes region (where I live), so maybe he could persuade me to join in for a day. He and his wife are moving from Auckland to Wanaka in the new year so if we get the chance to meet then maybe we could go for a wee run together. After reading his book I think his version of wee is VERY different from my version!

Until next time, thanks for reading!