Books: 2018 Quarter 2

As you probably already know, I've been reading a classic a month for the last few years. It started as a one-year project in 2014, but I've enjoyed it enough to keep going with it & will probably continue until it starts to feel like a chore. You can find my past reviews by clicking on the "books" tag at the end of this post, or be my friend on Goodreads. (You can also just go to the site & hunt down my review feed without being my friend. Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings.) ICYMI, the classics I selected to read in 2018 are here.

So the biggest news book-wise is that a group of us recently started attacking Gravity's Rainbow. The plan was to read ~5 pages per day / ~35 pages per week, which would get us through by Halloween. The goal was to strike a balance between something that seemed doable and like you could possibly catch up if you fell behind while also not taking 47 years to get through it. At this point we're I think something like 8 or 9 weeks in, which is past the one-third mark. Only 130 or so pages more to the halfway point! #feelingaccomplished

And, friends, I have learned some things. Sooo many things.

Stuff I'm (Thinking of) Running This Fall

My latest email to my coach, summarized:

• Hey! Remember me? Not dead yet! :D
• 8 week running break = the best
• Running again! Not the worst!
• Marathons = yyyyyeah I'm good for a while I think.
• Short, fast stuff = BRING IT!
• What should I run between now & Christmas??????

{/end communicae}

Basically what I want to do for the next give or take year is just focus on racing short, fast stuff, getting some speed back again, & having fun. Maybe some PRs will fall, maybe they won't, but I really want to get back to racing more than once a quarter, and the way you do that is by racing stuff that doesn't take multiple months to train for & multiple weeks to recover from. I also don't want to spend a bunch of time driving super far, so it's all about what is close to home. (And, rest assured, there is *plenty*.)

Back to Micro-Blogging...

Hello friends!

Lately I've been starting blog posts and never finding time to finish them. Hopefully I *will* at some point, but in the mean time, just a quick update so that you don't think I've died.

• Running! A thing I am doing! After eight weeks completely off after Boston 2 Big Sur, I'm now wrapping up my 4th week of getting back to running. It's all easy miles right now, with 12.5 miles the first week, 22 miles in week 2, 34 in week 3, and now 40 miles this past week.

  I'm doing my best to stick to my tried-&-true base training protocol, ie, all easy miles & keeping my heart rate between 140 & 150 bpm (which sometimes means walking!). I had sort of assumed that when I ran the numbers (because, data nerd) that two months off would probably result in being in worse shape than at the beginning of previous cycles when I haven't had so much (or any) time off, but this first month of runs has looked pretty similar to previous cycles, so perhaps this is just where I bottom out.

From Scratch

OH HEY THERE RUNNING. Long time, no see.

Hi there friends! It's been a while, but these last couple of weeks I've actually gotten out on the roads & put some miles on my (frail, weak) legs.