On My Nightstand (In Honor of Dr. Seuss' 107th Birthday)

I literally can't remember a day in my life when I didn't have a book in front of my nose. Oh I'm sure there were some, there must have been. I mean, I wasn't born reading or anything. I remember the "Aha!" moment when I knew I could read though, as crystal clear as if it was yesterday.

I was sitting on my mom's lap and she had Hop on Pop open in front of us. She'd probably read it to me a thousand times. I looked down at the page, and all of a sudden I knew that the words on the page were the words she was saying. I knew what each word meant. I think I was about four years old and from then on I could read. It was just a matter of accumulating more words. By first grade, they didn't know what to do with me, so they put me in a fourth grade class for reading. I loved it. By 6th grade I had consumed everything on my parents' bookshelves from pop psychology's  I'm Ok You're Ok to my dad's hefty historical tomes like Miracle at Midway. Yes, I've even read War and Peace. Books have been my friends as long as I can remember.

So today we honor that wonderful man known affectionately as Dr. Seuss. When I was in college on this day, my friends and I used to stand on the "free speech mound" in front of the student center and have an all-day read-aloud Seuss-a-thon. We would bring bubbles to blow and take turns reading our favorites. Mine are The Lorax (but you knew my tree-hugging self would love that) and The Sneetches and Other Stories (but you knew my non-conformist self would love that).

I still read nearly constantly. Being a very fast reader sometimes is a disadvantage. A good fiction book doesn't take me very long to devour. But it also means that I can usually make it through several books a week, just reading during my morning tea and at bedtime.

This week's picks are:

NON FICTION:

Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit This is honestly one of the best biographies I've read in a long time. Instead of just sensationalizing on the whole Bruce Lee memory, the author Bruce Thomas captures the essence of Lee himself. In addition to an extremely thorough bio of Lee's life through all its stages, Thomas delves into Lee's philosophies, both of training and of life, and the evolution of his approach to training, fighting, and the mental aspect of his arts. He doesn't just report on them either, he interprets and indeed expands on them. For anyone interested in the martial arts, I'd say this book is a must read. It's impossible to underestimate the impact that Bruce Lee has had on modern martial arts.

Be Iron Fit - Okay, this is a re-read for me. But I found this book invaluable in preparing for my Ironman, and since I'm coaching triathletes (including half-Iron and Iron distance athletes), I thought it would be worth checking out again. Though I've checked it out from the library multiple times, this one has gone on my Amazon "to buy" list. The simple straight-forward advice in this book, and the three training plans for Ironman make it worth a purchase for any athlete looking at going this distance.

Winning With American Kata - Okay, this is an esoteric little book that only a martial artist interested in improving their kata (or forms) would read. But it fit what I was looking for precisely. The first part of the book is dedicated to creating your own new kata, which at this point I'm not interested in at all. But the second half contains lots of great tips on improving your kata for tournaments or tests.  And the pictures are priceless. This guy has the ultimate fierce look DOWN.

FICTION:

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins This book is aimed at young adults, but it looked intriguing and I picked it up. Although it's a fictional story of the lives of several young people, written in first person, it's written in poetry not prose. At first that was hard to get used to, but eventually the book's format started growing on me. As a parent of a teenager, the theme of the book was both intriguing and horrifying. Without giving too much away, it's partly about the many ways that young people can get themselves into bad situations. It's good to go into parenting teens with your eyes wide open. This book is a fast read that sucks you into the lives of the characters.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest I probably don't need to recap this one. You either love this series of books (a trilogy, along with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire) or not. Translated from their original Swedish, they're a hard-hitting series with a kick-ass female protagonist. I like that. However, they're also chock full of nitty gritty details (what each character ate, what underwear they put on before putting on their charcoal grey worsted wool slacks, that kind of detail). And the plot, with its unfamiliar place names (to those of us who have not lived in Sweden) and Swedish surnames takes a bit of brain power to keep straight. Still, I've really enjoyed this series, and was on the wait list at the library a long time before this copy got into my hands. I didn't like it as much as #2, but better than #1.

Yarg. Four Hour Trainer Rides Stink But Good Conversation Rules

Biking home from kickboxing the other night, I stood up on the pedals to go up and over a bridge and whammo! I got a cramp on my instep that stopped me cold. It went away, thought nothing of it, but it's been plaguing me ever since. Damned aging body.

So the weekend long ride/long run was down the toilet. Can't run at all, foot hurts too much. Couldn't really ride as hills hurt too much and there are NO flat rides here. So yeah. Four hours on the trainer. Suckaroo! I don't know how people train for early season IMs by doing all their long rides indoors. Really, this is seppuku territory here.

Luckily, I watched In the Valley of Elah with Mackenzie while I was riding the second half. That was a damned fine movie with some very subtle themes that provided good discussion fodder. I've wanted to see it for quite awhile now. Having a very thoughtful and interesting almost-14 year old is pretty cool. He is very introspective and likes to think about how things work (not just mechanical or computery things, but plots, stories, people, etc.) which makes him an excellent movie-watching and discussion companion. We're also book buddies, currently both reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas right now and discussing. We've been delving pretty heavily into the Holocaust in recent months. I wondered when that might come up in our homeschooling, and apparently this is the appropriate age. But that's probably a whole book-length post for my homeschooling blog on another day!

As for me, I'll be darned happy if I can get off this trainer this week, and actually run as well. One of these years, I might have to give up these dangerous sports ;-)

Happy Towel Day!

Happy Towel Day everyone, a most auspicious day to do an open water swim! Or, if you did a triathlon today, I bet you at least carried a towel to your transition area? It's always good to be prepared.

"...any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."


                           -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the funniest books ever written here on planet earth!

Question of the Day

It's been a very long time coming, but I am kicking around some chapters for an Ironmom book. You see, I have this crazy idea that not everyone out there wants the ridiculous quick-fix fitness solutions that are the main offerings on the shelves of bookstores. One look down the fitness aisle will land you with dozens of variations on "Get Fit Fast, Without Hardly Having To Do Anything!" but very few books that are reasonable time-tested approaches to achieving real health and fitness. A couple of my favorites that are out there are John Bingham's The Courage to Start and The Slow Fat Triathlete: Pursue Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now by Jayne Willliams.

The former is a great book but is just about running, and after a good start the last half of the book kind of depressed me. The latter is an awesome and terrific book but I swear I can't get anyone to read it just because of the title alone. Picture this conversation:

Me, to friend who really wants to do triathlons: "There's this great book you should read! It's called the Slow Fat Triathlete"

See the problem there?

So I think maybe just maybe there's still a need out there for an Ironmom-y kind of a book. So if there's anything that you ever wished was in a book like that, a book that helps people get from Point A (unhealthy and out of shape) to point B (ultimately healthy and fit and loving it) in the real world where they have things like jobs, babies, and households, let me know!

Along those lines, I got a comment on a post the other day from Becky who was wondering what kind of trainer I have. I'm currently using a Cycleops Fluid trainer (and I'm using it an awful lot these days since it's one workout I can actually do with a broken arm!) I like it because with the fluid it automatically changes resistance so you can just pedal away and not have to worry about adjusting tension like in the old-style wind trainers. It's relatively quiet so I can watch a movie while cycling, and it folds up so I can take it to races to use for warming up, or I can store it out of the way. It's stable and I've only fallen off of it once (that was when I was foolish enough to watch 28 Days Later while pedaling and when a zombie leaped out at the camera I jumped so high I came unclipped and fell off of the trainer). All in all, though I'd love it if a Computrainer fell out of the sky and into my workout room, I'm happy with the Cycleops.

Life as a Crazed Marsupial

I'm currently reading the novel Once a Runner by John L. Parker. Of course, living here in Track Town USA, I was 28th on the library's On-Hold waiting list to read the copies of the finally in-print new edition that they just got in. If you're a competitive athlete and have never read this cult classic, you absolutely must do so, if only for quotes like this one:

Tired as he was, Monday was a twenty-three mile day.... He lived from workout to workout, hanging on like a crazed marsupial on a branch in a flash flood."

Now who among us who has ever gone through the Ironman wringer cannot relate to that feeling??? It's only one of the little gems from this funny, poignant, fascinating book.

At the same time, I'm reading New Moon, since my teen is reading it and I want to discuss plot points. Let's just say that the prose in that hefty tome is, well, severely lacking in comparison. So seriously, if you like to read and you like to run and you have managed to not read Once a Runner so far in your life, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy!

Tale of Two Books

When I used to skydive, we had a nickname for those non-skydivers who didn't really understand the lifestyle of those of us who lived to jump out of airplanes 12,000 feet in the air. We called them "Whuffos", as in "Wha-fo' you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" (there's no such thing as a perfectly good airplane, but I digress). It's a good question, and one that any sports nut or extreme athlete considers at times. Of course it's a question you get asked, whether it's "Wha-fo' you want to swim 2 and a half miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon?" or "Wha-fo' you want to climb that mountain?" but it's also a question you ask yourself. Often in the darkest moments of self-induced athletic torture, say at the infamous mile 21 of the marathon, you have undoubtably asked yourself something along the lines of "Why the hell am I doing this???" Usually, your brain is too fogged over to come up with any kind of meaningful answer in the moment, but the next time you sign up, the question remains.

Two autobiographical books that chronicle the different adventures of very different athletic extremists are Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes, and Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest by Lincoln Hall. Both of them take on this question of Why as they tell their stories of pushing themselves to the edge of human endeavor.


Of the two, I really enjoyed Dead Lucky a lot. For one thing, Lincoln Hall, though one of the world's top mountain climbers is an incredibly centered and introspective human. His Buddhist practices show through in the way he steadfastedly refuses to pass judgement on himself or on the actions of others. In this way, he is able to show us clearly through his own eyes, his amazing ordeal on Mt. Everest. After a successful summit attempt, he experienced mounting confusion (probably associated with cerebral edema, a not uncommon side effect of extreme elevations) and despite the valiant attempt of sherpas to get him down the mountain, he was eventually left for dead only a thousand feet below the summit. Climbers the next day were amazed to find him still alive, and his rescue and eventual recovery (minus some fingers and toes) make for a compelling story.

One of my favorite quotes:

Of course, all mountain landscapes are immutable and emotionless. There is a purity that exists in the absence of life there, and perhaps it is to make that beauty a part of ourselves that we climb mountains. Looking from afar is not enough. As climbers, we need to sacrifice or comfort, our safety, and arguably our sanity, as a tithe to the mountain. But no matter what homage we pay, we are the losers, spurned in love. A summit reached can be a one-night stand, big on experience but empty of meaning -- except to our egos. We need the mountains, but the mountains do not need us.

He also explains very well that feeling of rapture, often described as a "runner's high" that happens to many athletes when pushing their bodies and minds the furthest:

I had experienced thi kind of connection to a world beyond oneself on the hardest of mountains, when danger had put all of my senses on red alert. Afterward, as I descended from the last of the snow and steep rock, my senses remained tuned to the present moment. The sounds were more insistent, the colors were brighter, and my eyes seemed to take in everything around me without my mind asking them to look. It was an extraordinary feeling -- one of the reasons I climb.

I liked UltraMarathon Man a lot less, though there were moments of humor and insight. Though in many ways, the forces that drive someone to run 200 straight miles and the forces that compell them to climb the world's tallest mountain might seem similar, Dean Karnazes seems a lot more ego-driven and it shows in his writing. Not two paragraphs into the book, we're treated with "At less than 5 percent body fat, my body is ripped like a prizefighter's", a fact that he manages to repeat several more times throughout the text.

The quality of writing is also on a lower scale, with prose like "The night air was dry and fresh... I was able to enjoy the tranquility of the surroundings. It was a rare moment of serenity in an otherwise frenetic life."

The most interesting part of the book for me was the descriptions of the Western States Endurance Run, which I'd never heard of (probably like many folks). The course sounds intense and brutal, and the elevation chart in the text comparing it to the Boston Marathon is highly entertaining. However, some exaggeration on the part of the author lets skepticism sneak in to the reading of the rest of the pages. He ought to know better than to type something about his shoes falling off and shirt "dangling by threads" only to be followed with an actual photo of him at the finish with all clothing miraculously intact.

All in all, it's a quick read and with some interesting bits (the South Pole marathon is one of them) but overall the author's smug tone and continuous self-praise ("Sure I'm ripped, but it's not for the sake of vanity" is one gem) gets tiring after a while. Though ultra-endurance sports are appealing to me, this book sadly was not.

Book Review: The Slow Fat Triathlete

Slow Fat Triathlete: Live Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now

Don't let the title put you off, this is one of the best triathlon books around, and definitely the first one I would want to give someone just getting into the sport. It's inspirational, funny, and contains a heck of a lot of good information. There's just that darned title getting in the way. I recommended it to a friend of mine and watched her kind of cringe - it's like when you tell someone they should read this book you can hear them thinking "Does she think I'm slow, and fat???" I love the way the author explains the title in the first page, it really makes sense with the rest of the book, still I worry that it keeps more than a few athletes-to-be from picking this little gem up.

The author, Jayne Williams is just a gifted writer. She has that ability to turn her own experiences into something that everyone can relate to. On top of giving you her insights into her own first races and eventual immersion in the sport, she passes on a whole lot of wisdom on everything from what to take to your first race to how to survive putting on a wetsuit for the first time. She handles it all with humor and an upbeat quirkiness that conveys the awesomeness and beauty of the sport without descending to the maudlin. With chapters on equipment, training, your first race, how to be a supportive spouse or partner, injuries, illness, and eating, this book pretty much covers almost everything I'd want to tell a first-time triathlete.

So pick this book up and give it a read. Even if you've been in the sport forever, it's sure to touch more than a few memories and give you a smile. And give it to your noobie friends, just tell them to ignore the title. No really, you're not slow and you're not fat, just read the book already!

Favorite Eleven Books of All Time

The question was asked elsewhere what your top ten books of all time are, and since I so love books, and so many different genres of books, it was very very hard to compile this list. Many books made the list, then got bumped by something else. All of these books reside permanently on my bookshelves, and are taken out and re-read at various intervals in my life. I never did whittle it down to ten, so this is my top eleven...

So here's mine (feel free to tell me yours!):

The Stand - Stephen King (because he is such a superb storyteller and this story is so engaging)
Illusions - Richard Bach (because every time I read it, I get something different out of it)
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (because his language is so beautiful, I've read this trilogy more times than I've read any other, including twice out loud to my kids)
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (because she has a way of capturing a sense in a phrase that is unmatched)
The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara (because I'm a Civil War buff and this is the epitome of all Civil War books ever, with the possible exception of The Red Badge of Courage)
Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson (because I've always been fascinated by big weather, by this particular storm, and this is some awesome historical storytelling)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (because it was the first book to affect me very deeply)
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (because I feel like I'm standing there in Africa again every time I read it)
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend (because I've sincerely never laughed harder while reading a book)
Into Thin Air - John Krakauer (I love Krakauer's engaging writing, the tragedy -- in the true Greek sense -- of this story and the people involved, how Krakauer makes you feel the mountain, and last but not least because I once considered going on this expedition so it always gives me the chills to read this account).
A Perfect Spy - John le Carre (hard to pick just one of his, but this is my favorite)

Faves & Raves

Favorite Pre-Workout Breakfast: I thought I had posted this one up before, but couldn't find it looking through my archives so here it is (maybe again, maybe not!) Since we have our own chickens, we have tons of lovely eggs all the time. I like eating a high-protein breakfast, since it keeps me from the carb-crash later in the morning, but I get tired of just eggs. I love oatmeal, but it doesn't seem to stick with me very long, within an hour or so I'm hungry or just feeling low in the energy department. So this is my solution:

Robin's Breakfast Oatmeal Custard:

1 Cup Organic Steel Cut oats
2 Eggs
3 Tbs Milk
Cinnamon and Nutmeg to Taste

Cook up the steel-cut oats according to directions. While the oats are cooking, which only takes a few minutes, whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon & nutmeg. Pour the cooked oats into the egg mixture in a microwaveable bowl (make sure you use a big enough bowl as this mixture will puff up as it cooks). Stir in any (or all) of the following:

Dried cranberries
Raisins
Chopped Dates
Dried unsweetened coconut
Walnuts or Pecans

Bake in the microwave for 4:30 (cooking times will vary, but it will get solid looking all the way through). Serve with milk.

Rave: A friend of mine who was training for the Eugene Marathon got hit by a car in a crosswalk two weeks ago. That's bad enough for any ordinary human, but for an avid runner to have a broken leg or two is doubly agonizing. As athletes, we know how dangerous it is to run anywhere near large two-ton hunks of moving metal, but we don't often have a choice. Remember to wear reflective gear and blinkies in the dusk, dawn, and nighttime hours. I believe my Illuminite jacket and headband saved my friend one night - we were on bikes and the car that was going to smash into her only stopped once its headlights hit my jacket - the blinkies on the front and back of her bike were not pointed in the driver's direction at the time.

Fave Music on my iPod Right Now: Aman Iman: Water is Life, by Tinariwen. I'm not always a fan of world-beat music, but this band definitely catches the ear and holds on to it. Formed in 1982 in Moammar al-Qadhafi's camps of Tuareg rebels, these musicians take musical roots from their own traditions, and combine it with bluesy guitars for a totally unique sound. The lyrics are mostly in French and Tamashek, but the beats are unescapably good, and the theme of their music is independence for their people.

Fave Book On My Nightstand: The Warrior's Path: Wisdom from Contemporary Martial Arts Masters Despite the cumbersome title, this is a gem of a book with photos and words of fifteen martial arts masters who have dedicated a lifetime to their practice. Many of them were born in Japan in the early part of the 1900s. All of them have decades of wisdom that anyone striving to better themselves in any practice can appreciate.


Favorite Quote: From the above book: "You can easily recognize whether the archer hit the target or not. But this is not what we should be judging for success. Did the archer tackle kyudo with an empty mind, one that will create a healthy body and healthy mind? That is the Way that kyudo is seeking - whether the archer has contributed to a healthy society. Of course there are targets to shoot, to aim for, but hitting the target is not the final goal. In kyudo we say "Shoot at your heart" -- shoot at your conscious thoughts. You yourself must recognize whether you exerted the utmost effort toward the target. How many arrows were shot is not important -- the contents of those arrows is what counts." -- Nobuyuki Kamogawa.

I am absorbing much from this book that is relevant to my own martial arts training, but also to triathlon and other sports, and to my endeavors as a teacher and coach to others.