Review; In the Footsteps of Greatness by Josh Mathe (Audio-book)

Life is typically so busy that I really don’t have any time to sit down and read a book. I used to be an avid reader but that has long since fallen by the wayside. To that end and to stop my brain from turning into complete mush I am a keen listener of audio-books and Podcasts. A 120 mile round trip commute and 8-10 hours of running each week gives you that time!

I was fortunate to have been given an audio copy of In the Footsteps of Greatness by Josh Mathe by Josh himself. Full disclosure, Josh is the husband of the coach that Becca used last year. While we have never met “knowing” Josh added a degree of intimacy to the listening of it.

Starting with Josh growing up in Los Angeles and his move to Northern California. It touches on his relationships with his family and wife, the latter provided him with his training plan for this event. His commitment to his business and to his clients is covered and how he manages to juggle it all while training and racing himself in preparation for his venture. Finding balance is something we can all do with some help with! It covers his systematic overall  approach to the venture breaking it down into three distinct elements; Mental, Physical and Logistics.

In the book Josh tells the story of his several attempts and the ultimate completion of the John Muir Trail, (Yosemite to Mt Whitney ~212 miles). It’s a personal account which recounts Josh’s fast packing of the trail. Including fascinating technical detail of the logistics; gear choice both good and bad. It does a great job of capturing the majesty of the landscape and scenery. While only on the trail for a short time there’s no doubting that Josh encountered many interesting characters both human and non-human (bears!) and his interaction with them is perfectly captured.

The story also peels back the onion on Josh. Emotions are revealed, both the joy felt on the trail covering the miles alone with his thoughts and that of sharing a meal at the end of the day with other travelers. On the darker side Josh’s insecurities and fears are revealed including the possibility of not completing his journey when only miles from the end.

The book is well written and narrated by Josh himself, this adds much authenticity to its reading. He has an easy to listen to voice. The writing is not aimed at “endurance junkies” and posits that anything is possible if you are willing to try and try again. Josh avoids the “what you need to do is” trap, one that other athletes who have written books have fallen into. It’s more like catching up with a friend who is telling you the story over a beer!

Overall it’s a completely enjoyable listen. It contains that subliminal inspirational messaging the gets under your skin and develops over time until the point you realize your looking at the National Parks websites on how you get permits!

Available in hard and soft media versions. As an audio-book it comes it at four hours, perfect for one or two longs runs or a road trip although don’t be surprised if you find yourself listening to it at every opportunity, it’s that compelling.

This product was provided free of charge by Josh Mathe. See previous gear reviews in the Reviews tab above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

Review; A Life Without Limits by Chrissie Wellington

My talking book consumption continues and most recently I took Chrissie Wellington along for a few rides and runs with her book; A Life Without Limits.

Again (similar to the Finding Ultra review) I’ll try and keep things brief. The book covers pretty much Chrissie’s life from growing up in England and joining the local swim team to winning her 4th Ironman World Championship in Kona in 2011. Given that she has won the World Championships 4 times there is not a lot of her life that is out in the public domain already; her work in Development for the British Government and various NGOs, her cycling and trekking in the Himalayas and South America and her involvement with controversial coach Brett Sutton.

What she does put on the record is her struggle with her body and with bulimia; she is both candid and open about this issue, her vegetarian trials and how she finally arrived at a healthy and happy relationship with food.

Her careers are covered in great detail; athletic and non athletic and both offer an interesting insight into her personality, passion and drive. As a result of her travels through Africa during her gap year in University she diverted her career from one of aspiring lawyer to one of human relief and development. Her journey to triathlon took a circuitous one from gaining experience during her Nepal cycling exploits and wrestling with her body image that resulted in her running which in turn led up to her first marathon. From there an introduction to a Tri club and from there her aspiring Olympic dreams and discovery of Long Course triathlon. Both minor and major races are covered including her bursting onto the World stage in 2007 in Hawaii and the subsequent defended Championships, the withdrawal from the 2010 race. Also covered are the Challenge Roth Races for which she holds the World Record. All are described in great detail and are exciting to listen to (or of course read).

The latter chapters cover her involvement with the Blazeman Foundation and other charities, her break up with her coach Brett Sutton and the transition to her new coach Dave Scott (of numerous World Championships and Iron War fame) and her romance with Tom Lowe. What isn’t covered is what is next, I guess we will have to wait and see.

Sometimes it’s hard to get a feel for the real person by simply listening to or reading their words, but one thing I am left with after this book is that she is a genuine, compassionate and caring person, fiercely competitive but vulnerable at the same time.

Overall I really enjoyed this book; it’s well written and well narrated by Polly Lee, who like Chrissie is also British, some of the pronunciations will throw the American listener, some of them in fact threw me…and I am British but don’t worry there are not to many errant “U”s used! The intro is read by Lance Armstrong and the epilogue is read by Chrissie herself. It’s a quick listen (9.54) so with two three hour rides and a couple of 10 miles and it’s done!

This product was purchased by me. See previous gear reviews in the Reviews tab above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

A byproduct of moving...

So as a byproduct of moving I have been able to consolidate books and the like and managed to nearly locate all my running and training books, I posted a picture of the almost complete collection on Twitpic and Facebook a while ago and several people asked what the were specifically, I have still to locate a few of them and some I have given away but this is about 90% complete.

I’ll spare going through them individually but here are a few highlights (click to enlarge):

The Anatomy of Stretching: at least one stretch for every muscle broken out into specific sports and presented in an easy to understand format.

Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes; provides an easy to read (and understand) insight into correct fueling and hydration broken out across various endurance sports.

Fixing your Feet; do you suffer from blisters; learn how to avoid them, treat them and tape them, black toe nail, Morton’s toe (or you want to know what Morton’s toe is) and the like, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

A Step Beyond; A Definitive guide to Ultrarunning; the clue is in the title, pretty much anything you ever wanted to know and were afraid to ask, want to run an ultra – buy this book!

50 Trail Runs in Southern California; written by Stan Swartz the founder of the Trail Runners Club that I run with, if you’re coming to SoCal this is the book to have (of course I'll always be happy to show you), covering many of the State Parks that surround LA this book really does have 50 of the best runs.

And yes there are a few cycling and triathlon books in there as well…what can I say, I like to keep my options open!