2011 Book Review #19: War and Peace

Title: War and Peace
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Genre: Classic Literature (Sweeping historic epic)
Thingummies: 5 (for historic significance; 3 for how much I actually enjoyed it)

Synopsis: War. And Peace. And some more War. And then Peace again. And Leo Tolstoy's theory of history. (More seriously--this book consists of two intertwined novels. One is an account of two decades in the lives of five fictional noble Russian families during the Napoleonic era. The other is a fictionalized history of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, featuring fictionalized versions of entirely real people. The two wrap around each other but rarely actually touch. The last epilogue is an interminably repetitive explanation of why all historians are Wrong Wrong Wrong and why we should all be religious fatalists like Tolstoy.)

Thoughts: ( So, what did you think? )

Running

Went running for the first time in about four months. (I'm a fair-weather runner. Sue me.) It was kind of a weird sensation after the Shred videos all winter. My time turned out to be almost exactly average for me--2 1/2 miles in 22 minutes. (I tend to range between 18 and 25, almost always between 22 and 23.) The first third of a mile or so, my legs were totally happy but my lungs were very upset. Then suddenly, it was like they remembered what they were supposed to be doing and everything suddenly evened out. I spent a much, much longer time in a comfortable zone than usual--apparently my endurance is up, even if my speed isn't. I wonder how much of the speed thing is just habit and I just need to push myself harder now to get up to the same heart rate/exhaustion level.

Interestingly enough, right after I'd stopped walking myself cool, my hamstrings tried to cramp up, which is not at all normal. I stretched them out properly and they stopped being cranky. But I suspect that I've found a muscle group that I haven't been working as much as I thought I was.

In conclusion, stronger heart/quads/glutes don't seem to have increased speed, but they did allow me to hit a normal speed after 4 months off. And definitely need to stretch out those hammies more. Hopefully tomorrow doesn't suck.