This week's Digest focuses on turning points. Whether it’s a distance running prodigy who turned to strength training, or a landmark study showing how a few critical points can influence the rest of our lives, each of these articles explore how we discover, analyze and ultimately act on critical turning points in training and in life.
- Need to Try -
That’s Not Fat: How Ryan Hall Gained 40 Pounds of Muscle
Runner's World
Ryan Hall’s showing at the 2011 Boston Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:04:58, made him the fastest American-Born marathoner of all time. Tuning your body to cover so much ground in so little time can undoubtedly take its toll. After suffering constant injuries and fatigue, the marathon prodigy announced his retirement from competitive running this past January. Since then he’s made some huge changes to the way he trains and in doing so says he’s never felt better.
- Need to Ponder -
What Makes a Good Life: Revelatory Learnings from Harvard’s 75-Year Study of Human Happiness
Brain Pickings
An age-old question, perhaps THE age-old question: How can we be happier? Turns out, some bright folks at Harvard University have us covered. For the past 75 years they’ve been studying a group of 724 men from Boston, tracking and checking-in on a bi-yearly basis. Everything thing from relationship status, to income to medical records have been tracked and analyzed. The outcome? Not exactly what you’d expect.
- Need to Know -
Don't Let the Fitness Industry Tell You What to Do
Breaking Muscle
As athletes we’ve all seen pitches for quicker recoveries, bigger reps, faster laps and leaner gains. We’ve become inundated by an entire industry telling us what to do, what to take and what to eat. As it turns out, there’s no ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to fitness. Focusing on the basics and mastering them may not be the most fashionable training regimen out there but it may not be the worst either. Either way, take our word and give this article a read, or don’t.
- Need to Read -
Learning How to Go the Distance
The New Yorker
Haruki Murakami has become a household name due to the success of his novels such as Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and 1Q84. He’s sold millions of copies of these books and more since he started up his writing career in 1979. This article, written by himself, dives into the exact moment he decided to make a critical change in his life and begin crafting his first novel. It’s no coincidence that this change also lead him directly to another passion in life, long distance running.