Speed and/or Enjoyment

While I was on holidays in Port Douglas and the Daintree I read two quite different running books. One was an e-book by Sage Canaday called "The Sage Running Secret: A Guide to Speedy Ultras". The other was Richard Askwith's new book called "Running Free". Both purport to have the right recipe for runners to increase both their speed and enjoyment of running. However, their approaches are diametrically opposed and, even though they may not agree, their definitions of enjoyment are also quite different.

Canaday's main focus is on incorporating high intensity sessions into ultra marathon training via very deliberate and specific training sessions which are timed and % heart rate focussed. Askwith on the other hand, thinks that speed increases without deliberate intensity or speed sessions. Rather, he advocates that his speed has increased by running how he feels and pushing out hard sessions on days when he feels like it, and never wearing a watch or monitoring his heart rate.

In terms of the enjoyment of running, Canaday implies that increased enjoyment comes with increased speed, as if improved performances and enjoyment are almost one in the same thing. Conversely, Askwith suggests that enjoyment comes with running as you feel and for running's own sake.

My own take is that a degree of enjoyment does come from doing some systemised hard training and seeing that translate into better performances . Even if those performances decline per se as part of the ageing runner process, if the age/gender relativities are taken into account and performances are good or decent, then there is some intrinsic satisfaction in that. However, let's face it, some of the time (sometimes a lot of the time) we just want to run easy and casual, and not have every training session be a competition with self.

In many respects I think the differences in Canaday's and Askwith's approaches are a reflection of their relative ages and experience as runners. Canaday is still a competitive young gun and Askwith has transitioned through his PBs and into a happy running place which happens to sometimes involve fast running.

I think both books are worth reading and I think it's worth reading them consecutively or simultaneously.