Random thought

An old axiom in baseball is that you can't run off of the Dominican Republic.

It's because it's an island.  This is how they explained all the hitters that came from Dominican and so few base stealers.

I've thought about this during this marathon training season.

You can't read your way to the finish of a marathon.  You have to run.

 

The thing about training for a marathon--much like training on the bike--is that it's not something that can be done purely in an intellectual setting, but it has to be physically done.  "Duh", you say.  Right.  It's a bit of a no brainer, especially to runners.  But for cycling you can shop for gear, better bikes, techniques that racers use, shifting strategies, team strategies, how to attack hills, how to attack other riders, how to attack groups, how to defend attacks, and all kinds of other things that you can read, research, examine, and internalize.  You can examine these things on your down time between rides.

When I first started dabbling with the guitar there were chords, scales, fret board charts, strumming techniques, music to read, and all kinds of other resources you could examine and read and research while you weren't playing.  Then you could go home and just let what you've read flow into the strings.

There's not really a lot of that kind of stuff for running--at least none that I've found.

I suppose there's only so many ways to write "left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right...".  That's a little annoying.  ALL of the processes of getting better at running--longer, faster, stronger--must happen in the gym or on the road.  You can't read yourself into a marathon.  You have to run.

 

I think I read somewhere that the most sure fire way to identify people at the starting line who wouldn't finish the marathon was to see who had the clean shoes. 

 

Or maybe I made that one up.  I can't remember.

 

The challenge, of course, is not just knowing that you have to run, but actually acting on that knowledge.  But I guess that's the challenge in most everything we do.  You know the crap you pour down your throat makes you a disgusting blob of fat, yet in order for that knowledge to actually improve your health you have to quit pouring crap down your throat.