Advice

I spend my working life giving people advice. Well, selling them advice anyway. Now it's payback time. In SA everyone has done marathons, Two Oceans, Comrades, and the latest craze seems to be iron man triathlons. At the 40th I was at a month or two ago, all the guys seemed to be in training for something dramatic: iron man, swimming to Robben Island, Everest base camp. I feel a bit puny with my first marathon. It's quite tricky to choose the right advice to follow. The normal sceptic's rule applies, obviously: consider the source.

A friend has now lent me a copy of Tim Noakes's book "The Lore of Running". This tome is 1200 pages long, and is generally considered to be the last word in running guidance. It covers everything from diet to training to shoes to all kinds of ultra stuff I will never touch. It is truly comprehensive. The only thing it is lacking is a large legend on the front: "Don't Panic".