Sublime

I began using the heart rate to evaluate all exercising patients, and by the early 1980s developed a formula that anyone could use with their heart monitor to help build an aerobic base. This “180 Formula” enables athletes to find the ideal maximum aerobic heart rate in which to base all aerobic training.

Trade floppy fins for bum knees, collapsed arches, eroded hips, tight hamstrings, leaky pelvic floors, collapsed ankles, you name it—and consider our load profile. Walking on a treadmill an hour a day creates an entirely different load profile than walking over the ground for an hour. Wearing shoes to walk that hour creates a different load profile

very hard to predict performance improvements but here’s what I’ve found: 1) New runners can expect improvements of 3-10% each year in their goal races until they get more experienced in the sport. 2) Runners who switch to a new event that matches their strength can expect improvements in the 2-7% range for the first 2-3 years, after which performa

Easy running enhances capillary development and aerobic enzyme activity—introduce an anaerobic stimulus to the mix, and it all gets mucked up.

I’ll be happy if running and I can grow old together.

Training for Endurance, by Phil Maffetone. Stamford, New York: David Barmore Productions, 1996. In Fitness and In Health, Phil Maffetone. Stamford, New York: David Barmore Productions, 1997. Cheng Hsin: the Principles of Effortless Power, by Peter Ralston. Berkeley: Blue Snake Books, 1989. Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, by Gary Taubes. Ne

what if the starting point of building a lifelong happy runner is contemplation of the fragility of the human body and the finish line that awaits everyone, long before you’re forced to by injury or decline? What if affirmation of life comes most honestly from contemplation of death?

Two thousand years ago, Philostratus presented a portrait of the ideal runner that borders on discrimination against those of us who are not ideal: To run well, one first needs to know how to stand upright. For the body to be in perfect proportion, the legs must be in line with the shoulders, the chest smaller than average and able to keep the stom