Pumping Iron

I never lift weights. Should I?
The New York Times suggests doing more than push ups and sit ups might be a good idea. Many elite athletes -- from rowers like Mark Flickinger to runners like Ryan Hall -- devote hours a week to strength training.
Nevertheless, not everyone believes getting huge means getting fast. When runners ask Kevin Hanson, a coach at the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, about leg exercises, he responds: "You let me know if you think we are not working your legs enough. . . . There’s a lot more we can do to beat you up. But you don’t have to lift weights."

Classic Inspiration VIII

The labor we delight in physics pain.

William Shakespeare
Macbeth, in Macbeth, act 2, sc. 3.

CRASH-B Sprints

Is my coach, the 1976 Boston Marathon Men's Champion, a Charles River All-Star Has-Been? Yes. He raced a hard 2000 meters today at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in a proud debut for the official 2008 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge singlet. I want to give him some much deserved credit. Nice racing, Coach!

Week 8

Sunday February 24 through Saturday March 1

Sunday -- 4 miles (30:00)

Monday -- 2 miles (20:00)

Tuesday -- Rest

Wednesday -- 4 miles (32:00)

Thursday -- 4 miles (30:00)

Friday -- 3 miles (25:00)

Saturday -- 4 miles (31:00)

Classic Inspiration VII

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

. . .

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling, If

Tufts Track Run (19 Feb)

8 x 1000m, 400 rest.

1000m ___ 400m
3:40 ______ 1:54
3:40 ______ 1:54
3:41 ______ 1:52
3:41 ______ 1:52
3:38 ______ 1:52
3:34 ______ 1:49
3:29 ______ 1:49
3:18 ______ 2:10

Classic Inspiration VI

Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing. That’s my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.

George Eliot, Janet's Repentance

Week 9

Sunday February 17 through Saturday February 23

Sunday -- 2 miles (20:00)

Monday -- 7 miles (58:00)

Tuesday -- Tufts Track Run

Wednesday -- Rest

Thursday -- 4 miles (32:00)

Friday -- 4 miles (32:00)

Saturday -- 4 miles (30:00)

Classic Inspiration, Valentine's Day

Why must she be scampering about the country . . . . To [run] three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is . . . ! what could she mean by it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most countrytown indifference to decorum.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Muscle Fatigue

The New York Times suggests my legs are not tired -- rather my skeletal muscles have leaky calcium channels.
Although an "antifatigue" drug worked in mice, one doctor urged caution: "[W]e have to ask whether it would be prudent to . . . circumvent[] this mechanism. . . . Maybe this is a protective mechanism. . . . Maybe fatigue is saying that you are getting ready to go into a danger zone. So it is cutting you off. If you could will yourself to run as fast and as long as you could, some people would run until they keeled over and died."
I am far too soft to be in danger, but some people do not need drugs to push that hard. Although overexertion did not kill him, elite marathoner Ryan Shay comes to mind.

Tufts Track Run (12 Feb)

8 x 800m, 200m rest, 200m fast, 400m rest.

800m __ 200m __ 200m __ 400m
2:58 ____ 1:07 ___ 0:40 ___ 2:05
2:50 ____ 0:58 ___ 0:40 ___ 1:53
2:50 ____ 0:53 ___ 0:40 ___ 1:43
2:49 ____ 0:54 ___ 0:42 ___ 1:47
2:46 ____ 0:53 ___ 0:41 ___ 1:47
2:48 ____ 0:52 ___ 0:42 ___ 1:49
2:50 ____ 0:53 ___ 0:42 ___ 1:45
2:50 ____ 0:52 ___ 0:39 ___ 1:58

Tufts Track

Every Tuesday night, DFMC runs at the Tufts University track. Last night was my first time there. Running with the team was great, and afterwards we went to Red Bones. See my results from last night above.

The Colder the Better?

I keep hearing this from runners on and off the Dana-Farber team. But I do not feel this way. Although I prefer cold bright winter days to hot humid summer days, I will always take forty degrees over four.

Week 10

Sunday February 10 through Saturday February 16

Sunday -- 18 miles (2:10:00)

Monday -- 3 miles (24:00)

Tuesday -- Tufts Track Run

Wednesday -- Rest

Thursday -- 5 miles (39:00)

Friday -- 3 miles (24:00)

Saturday -- 15 miles (1:45:00)

The Dana-Farber turns 60!

Happy Birthday Dana-Farber.
Founded in 1947, the Dana-Farber has a fascinating history.
To learn more, check out Dana-Farber in the News.

Classic Inspiration IV

Ruby wine is drunk by knaves,
Sugar spends to fatten slaves,
Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons;
Thunderclouds are Jove's festoons,
Drooping oft in wreaths of dread
Lightning-knotted round his head;
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Heroism

This looks official

Search for "Arbeit" here to see confirmation of my entry in the 112th Boston Marathon.

Week 11

Sunday February 3 through Saturday February 9

Sunday -- 7 miles (54:00)

Monday -- 3 miles (24:00)

Tuesday -- 5 miles (41:00)

Wednesday -- 3 miles (25:00)

Thursday -- Rest

Friday -- 6 miles (48:00)

Saturday -- Rest