Wednesday, February 29, 2012

something different

I am doing a run in June and have decided to try to help out the St. Jude charity.  I would appreciate your support, and if you can donate, do so here.  Just type in Andrew Bates and they will appreciate anything you can give.

As you were.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The latest in traning

I have been a bad blogger.  If I could, I would smack my nose with a rolled up newspaper.  I keep promising pictures of my hull development, and I keep posting about running.  I will change this, but not right now.

So, I just read another book.


Born to Run  by Christopher McDougall.  It's pretty amazing.  For runners, I think you can't live without it.  For every other athlete: it will expand the way you think about your body.  If you just like really good books: outstanding read.  In short, everyone, but this.  It's really good.
End of book report.

This is a story that has to do with learning from nature and traditional ways and questioning technology.  In boats, this is not as big an issue.  The boat -canoe's specifically -are very old.  We have been making floating vessels for a long time and we have been refining them.  Pretty much every culture has a form of human powered boat.  But, running has gone in a different way.  In running, we invented the shoe and then the running shoe.  But the running shoe is really a new thing by comparison.  And really, it is still in an early stage.  If this book is to be believed (and I do, though I want to look into it) the running shoe we think of is probably hurting us more than helping.  The traditional runners are faster and win more.  In many ways, we are re-discovering what we used to know.  To do this, we are looking at people who have maintained the traditional ways.  You probably want to ask, so I will just say: so what?

Well, I am testing a new footwear to test how our footwear has changed our strides.  Many of you know that I have run three marathons, and I pay for it often.  After my last marathon, which was more than two years ago, I have had almost constant pain in my left ankle.  Stopping running didn't help, so I am trying a new shoe based on an old way to correct whatever I messed up.
These weird little babies are an attempt to get better while not hurting myself.  And it got me to thinking.

I was at the gym tonight after being told not to run in these shoes right away (I have had them since lunch) and I ran a couple of miles.  They worked.  I ran differently.  Maybe not faster, but my ankle doesn't hurt really, and my back is fine (it went out for the first time I can remember the day after my last half marathon).  And as I was trying to run naturally and not think about my feet, I started thinking about how boats are really the same as they have always been.
The canoe is still a canoe.  Sure, materials have changed and we use them for recreation or sport rather than survival, but they look like canoes.  The later development of things like surfski boats are remarkable similar to dugouts of the south pacific, complete with outriggers.  Paddles are still paddles.
So, we are in touch with the heritage.  And our studies of human bodies have given us a wealth of understanding.  And from this (plus a quick two miles) I am feeling a renewed vigor toward my boat.

Think about this: the largest muscle groups are in the legs.  We were meant to propel ourselves with our legs.  Why should it make any difference if it's on land or in water?  I mean, the bike works pretty good, right.

Stay tuned.  I have a 5K this weekend and I really want to test these shoes in a race.