Photo by aarmono

In this series, LAVA talks to the authors of the latest publications on the swimming, biking, and running circuit. Heard about a new training program or nutritional bombshell? You'll find a sneak peak here of what it has to offer. So while you're relaxing after your long run, read this before you run to the bookstore.

One of the newest books on the endurance fitness scene doesn’t seem to offer much at first glance. Beneath the word Run, scrolled across the cover in reflective-green capital letters, the subtitle more clearly defines author Matt Fitzgerald’s message: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel is a call to runners to toss their training plans and try something new.

Fitzgerald describes Run in the preface as a more fine-tuned follow up to his last book on mental fitness, Brain Training for Runners. He says that the new book rests on the same premise, however: that the brain is the seat of all our possibilities and limitations as runners. In Run, Fitzgerald uses the latest research in exercise science to highlight the importance and effectiveness of running by feel rather than formula.

Fitzgerald said two factors motivated him to write the book. First, he’s fascinated by the role of the brain in athletic performance—still a relatively new, and fast-growing field within exercise science. He simply wanted to share the more practical applications of what he was learning with everyday runners. Second, Fitzgerald had begun to notice something in his frequent conversations with elite runners. “Aside from being genetically gifted, what separates them from us is their very refined mind-body connection.”

The book quickly reveals that this isn’t just some kind of yogic transcendence, awkwardly stretched to fit running. Fitzgerald firmly believes, and convincingly argues, that if runners ignore this connection they will never realize their full potential. He said that endurance sports has traditionally been very separate from the mind-body realm, but that almost every aspect of the sport has an element of having to listen closely to your body. Pacing yourself over a given distance, for example, is largely done "by feel," not by precise, on the go calculations.

“Each of us has a unique body,” Fitzgerald said. “The same general methods work for everyone, but to keep improving, you have to find what works for you. This makes endurance sports mind-body sports ... I’m just trying to get people to recognize that.”

Triathlon by Feel

One of the main threads throughout Run is that collective wisdom has already taught us everything we need to know about running. We can faithfully lay our miles on the time-honored training methods discovered over the history of running. There’s no need to discover the next greatest method—it’s already been done.

When I asked Fitzgerald how his approach could be applied to the much younger, less field-tested sport of triathlon, he told me about some time he spent training in Boulder recently with six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott—one of the people Fitzgerald said figured out how to train for triathlon: “He went out there and just trained hard. He’d ride the same roads every time. He’d keep it super simple—a total caveman approach, but perfect. Fast-forward and we’re not going any faster,” Fitzgerald said.

Though triathlon is a more complex sport than running, he believes triathletes can benefit from the same “keep it simple” approach in his book. In terms of specifics, Fitzgerald said that with basic common sense, triathletes could apply his advice to each component and to the overall sport. He cautioned against a mindless cut-and-paste method, however. “In swimming, for example, you can swim hard every time you swim. If you do that with running you’ll be laid up in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Triathletes are notorious for being plan-oriented, goal driven Type A personalities. Some of you might be wondering how on earth Fitzgerald could suggest such a person trade their beloved 20-week 70.3 road map in for laissez-faire “do what feels good” drivel. Fitzgerald’s response is that plans do have their place. It’s once you’ve “acquired the lore of the sport,” learned the basics, and moved beyond the beginner stage that you can procede to toss your plan like a Guu gel wrapper on a tough bike leg.

For some athletes, Fitzgerald said the process might be more of a gentle weaning, since some very advanced athletes rely on them psychologically. But he suggests no athlete treat their training plan as gospel. Why? Because plans try to predict the future: “In 10 weeks from Tuesday, how do you know this will be the workout that’s perfect for you? What if you wake up that day and you have a sore throat and pain in your knee? The smart thing to do there is to deviate from your plan,” he added. Like jazz, general structure is important, but the courage to improvise is equally so.

Fitzgerald writes about his discoveries in a playful, joyful tone. He clearly enjoys the process of guiding people to their potential. Take his comments about the only “bad news” in his method: if you’re an absolute beginner, that you don’t yet posses the accumulated knowledge about your body. To this, Fitzgerald is quick to chime in with the good news: “But it starts right away and that’s the exciting part. If you simply pay attention, you’re going to learn something every single day.”

Fitzgerald doesn’t claim to make you faster in 12 “easy” weeks. He doesn’t preach or prescribe. Instead, he speaks from his own experience (as somewhat of a training plan junkie), talks to the world’s best runners, and presents his findings. What he discovers is quite simple: when it comes to one of the most physically involved activities on the planet, the mind matters more than most of us think it does.

Click here to read an excerpt from the book.