Motivation Monday - Running With The Buffaloes

After yesterday's Long Run, I spent most of the day lying on the floor or the couch with my back completely locked up. By the time I went to bed, it was starting to feel a little better and today wasn't horrible. I was even able to mow the lawn tonight.

I'm still thinking it's a muscle problem, not something more serious, but it's going to be a problem if I can't get a handle on it. I still plan to see a doctor about it, but I also looked up some good stretches and trigger point therapy to try and loosen things up.

I'll see how I feel in the morning. I have 6 Miles on the schedule but Liz and I are also planning a swim tomorrow night. If I'm still hurting in the morning, I might wait to do an easy run at the gym tomorrow night.

In the meantime, I thought this was a perfect time to look at another one of my trusty running motivational tools. I've been re-reading the book Running With The Buffaloes: A Season Inside With Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men's Cross-Country Team.

It sounds like a dissertation title and the book probably reads like a dissertation to most people. I recommend plenty of books about running that I think anyone would enjoy. Then I have books about running that I think people interested in running would enjoy. This is a book that only a specific portion of even the running population would like.

Written by Chris Lear, the book follows CU's cross country team through the 1998 season as they try to win the national title. Coach Mark Wetmore is a fun character and it's great to get inside the head of a well-respected coach. The star of the team is Adam Goucher and the '98 season was his attempt to become the national champion while propelling his team to the championship as well. I found Goucher cocky and arrogant and not the kind of guy I want to root for, but the rest of his team is likable enough to make up for it. Since college, Adam's career has been riddled with injuries and he hasn't fulfilled his potential. However, his wife, Kara, has become a world-class runner and now outshines him. In fact, Liz is reading Kara Goucher's book, Running For Women, right now.

Reading Running With The Buffaloes for a second time, it reminds me of this blog. It's an almost-daily report of the team's training. The book holds my interest because it's similar to my own training but on a whole different level. I like reading about the workouts and the stats and numbers. It amazes me what kind of times these guys run. To the casual reader, the distances might not make sense and the workouts might be harder to visualize. The training might be too foreign of an experience for some readers to connect with.

Ironically, a lot of the season involved runners struggling with a variety of injuries. Since this has been the most injury-prone I've ever been, I can feel their pain.

So, if you want to read about the day in, day out training of a high-caliber collegiate cross-country team, I definitely recommend Running With The Buffaloes. But if you're just looking for a good book about running, hang in there... I'll have plenty of better recommendations.

Monday
Goal For The Day: Rest.

Daily Miles: 0.00 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 156.84 Miles.
  Bike - 67.68 Miles.
  Swim - 4,450+ meters.