Category Archives: Training

The Long Habit

Posted on December 31, 2018 by

“If the nearnesse of our last necessity, brought a nearer conformity unto it, there were a happinesse in hoary hairs, and no calamity in half senses. But the long habit of living indisposeth us for dying…” – Sir Thomas Browne … Continue reading →

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Time on my feet

Posted on August 6, 2018 by

It was a sweltering Sunday morning, and I was about ten miles into what I had hoped would be a twelve-mile run on the usual Battle Road loop. Although I had only a couple of miles to go, I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Injuries & Health, Training, Weather and Seasons | 2 Comments

Good advice… and why you should ignore it

Posted on March 26, 2018 by

             “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.” – Shakespeare, King Lear On the final Sunday of March, three weeks and one day until the 122nd Boston Marathon, Commonwealth Ave. in Newton is teeming … Continue reading →

Posted in Marathon, Training | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Wait…was that a normal week?

Posted on February 19, 2018 by

Sometimes, the absence of surprises can be the most surprising thing of all. When I returned from Africa two weeks ago I had no running routine, no strength routine, no base, and a strangely persistent case of jet lag that … Continue reading →

Posted in Injuries & Health, Training, Weather and Seasons | Tagged | 1 Comment

Cabin Fever and the Value of Exercise on Long-Haul Flights

Posted on February 12, 2018 by

I didn’t experience my first really long plane flight until I was in my 50s. Until then, my longest trips had involved flying across the United States from coast to coast, or flying from the East Coast of the U.S. … Continue reading →

Posted in Training, Travel | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The more you spend, the more you have

Posted on January 22, 2018 by

I’ve always been impressed by runners who celebrate birthdays by “running their age,” for example, running 30 miles on their 30th birthday, 40 miles on their 40th birthday, and so on. I have read that BAA Marathon Race Director Dave … Continue reading →

Posted in Injuries & Health, Training | 2 Comments

The Old Man and the Hills – Part 1 of 3

Posted on June 26, 2017 by

About six weeks ago, when the track season was still in full swing and summer still seemed far off, I agreed to fill one of the spots on a team planning to compete at the Ragnar Trail Relay at Northfield … Continue reading →

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You CAN get there from here

Posted on June 9, 2017 by

Photo: Jimmy Chin for National Geographic “On Saturday morning, 31-year-old Alex Honnold stunned the climbing world when he became the first person to free solo Yosemite’s mighty El Capitan, climbing the 3,000-foot granite monolith using only a pair of climbing … Continue reading →

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Red-Letter Days

Posted on May 3, 2017 by

There they are, prominent among countless undistinguished runs dutifully recorded within one’s physical or virtual training log, the workouts that tower above the rest like monuments. They are the long, long runs, or the special blocks, or the hardest track workouts you’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching, Training | 1 Comment

No Brain, No Train(ing)

Posted on July 18, 2016 by

  More great news from the world of science, and by “great” I mean news to make runners feel better about themselves. Writing in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds summarizes recent research that links vigorous exercise to increased neurogenesis … Continue reading →

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