Jul 26, 2000

My good deed for the day was talking a woman out of torturing herself. Well, that's a little strong, but at least she was dissuaded from making a hard run intolerable.

Ruthanne from Florida runs long distances. She also climbs an occasional mountain, and if you know her home state then you're aware that it isn't mountainous. She makes do, mainly by trudging up and down the stairs of her town's tallest structure, a lighthouse, while lugging 40 pounds of equipment.

She wanted to know today if her resistance work might extend into her running. "Would it build strength to wear a five-pound weight on each ankle during training runs of half-marathon length?" she asked.

I told her to keep the two training activities separate. Leave the weights at home during runs, and go out as unencumbered as possible.

My general view on adding artificial burdens in training -- from weights worn or carried, to extra-heavy shoes, to several layers of clothing on a warm day, to altitude-simulation devices -- is not to try, no matter what payoffs are promised later. Good runs are hard enough to find. Why guarantee a long, dreary slog at the start?

Ruthanne wrote back, "Perhaps I'll just leave my training program the way it is."

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