Movies, Books, Interviews, and more ...

I used to do movie and book reviews all the time on the Carrot but as training increased these review opportunities decreased accordingly.  It has now been over six weeks since Ironman Texas and the time in training has been cut drastically.  Over this period I've been able to enjoy a couple of books and a bunch of movies and figured I'd revert back to the good ol' days!

But first, I was interviewed by a site called Tri For Time about how to effectively manage training into your day-to-day life.  Take a minute and check out the interview HERE.  Leave a comment and let the author know of your quick tips for making training work!



Book #1:  I'm Here to Win  by Chris "Macca" McCormack

I received this book a couple months ago and put it to the side as I was not really that interested in reading.  I have always thought Macca was one heck of an athlete and respected his abilities as one of the best triathletes in the world.  However, I always felt he was kinda of a douchebag.  His interviews and press conferences always came across as brash and selfish and have made him the black hat wearing villain of professional triathletes.  

I finally picked up the book and after a few pages didn't want to put it down.  The writing style was much like you get on this and many other endurance blogs - more stream of consciousness writing over structured foundation.  This style made me feel like it was a couple of guys sitting around a table with a pint of beer just telling some stories.   Very engaging.

The content of the book brought us back to when Macca was just getting started in triathlon.  It told us of some tragic losses in his life and gave us some insight into why he has the work ethic that he does.   It gives us a look inside of the professional and business side of Triathlon that I found extremely interesting.  And in traditional Macca fashion, he pulls no punches when discussing some other professional Triathletes, both good and bad.   And some of the information shared on training and racing are worth their weight in gold.

After fininshing  I'm Here to Win my personal feelings towards him have changed completely.  He is sort of like Mike Tyson - completely misunderstood!  BUT I still see him as the black hat villain, the only difference is I now know that this image is by his choice.

Ranking:  8.5/10 Carrots




Book #2:  Born to Run  by Christopher McDougal

I do realize that I am the 2nd to last person in the endurance community to read this book (Kevin @Ironman by Thirty will be the last).  Here is the description by Amazon:

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

This first thing that jumped out to me is that Christopher McDougal is an excellent writer and amazing storyteller.  I had been avoiding this book because of the barefoot running "fad" that has been popping up among the running world over the last couple of years.  This book is responsible for the boom.  Sometimes I prefer to take an ignorance is bliss approach to things in the endurance community and the barefoot running debate was #1 on my list of things to remain un-knowledgeable about!  And I am completely aware I used the term "fad" to describe barefoot running.  We can have the argument on whether it was used in the correct context 2-3 years from now!

Anyway, I absolutely loved the book.  I was expecting a sermon on the minimalist approach to running and that was actually just a small undertone to what turned out to be a remarkable story with compelling and likable characters.  McDougal strings together a story of his injury history with out beloved sport  by becoming intertwined with some of the world's best ultramarathon runners.  He regal's us with tells of the Leadville 100 and ends with a race among an ancient tribe, the Tarahumara Indians, who are considered the greatest distance running tribe of all time.

McDougal asks the question of how this ancient tribe can run through the brutal terrain of the Copper Canyons of Mexico day-after-day in rubber sandals and limited nutrition and not become injured?  He takes us to scientists, professional runners, and coaches to try and answer this question.  However, what I really liked is that McDougal did not let the science overtake the story he was trying to tell.   This book could have got extremely technical but it stayed focused on the characters, which kept me reading.

FWIW, I ordered a new pair of running shoes the same day I finished this book and they were not Vibram Five Fingers!  Ha!

Ranking:  9/10 Carrots




Movie #1:  Super 8

Last Sunday Annie and I were finished with training and it was too hot to hang in the outdoors so we headed to the movie theater.  She didn't want to see an action flick and I was opposed to anything that would make chicks cry.  So Super 8 it was.  Here is the IMDB description:

After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.

 I will make this review short and to the point - Super 8 was fantastic!  Acting, directing, cinematography, production, story ... it was all just top notch.  The best way to describe it is to say it is a combination of The Goonies, Cloverfield, and ET.   It probably won't win any awards but it was a very enjoyable day at the movies and I highly recommend seeing it at the theater.

Ranking:  9.5/10


Movie #2:  Transformers 3:  Dark of the Moon

On Thursday night I went with a few friends to see the new Transformers Flick.  It was in 3D and I had high expectations that it was going to be as cool as Avatar.

The story starts out with an Autobots shuttle crashing on the moon in the early 1960's.  NASA was aware of the crash and thus the story takes off from here.  It takes us back to JFK, and him and his administration pushing for man to walk on the moon.  However, once we land Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have a much different agenda then what the American public knows - explore the crashed spaceship!  Of course this leads to a major find and then a major cover-up and then to present day and thus our story begins ...

The 3rd Transformers brings back all the cast of character from the first two movies and recycles some of the same humor and relationship dynamics that seem to be the norm in most sequels.  The only notable missing character was  Sam Witwicky's girlfriend played by Megan Fox, who is smoking hot.  However, the actress they got to replace her, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is even hotter!  


Okay, as seems to be the norm with Transformers movies the storyline was thin and, IMO, stupid.  As not to be a Spoiler, I will not go into more detail on the story . The acting was good and quite a few funny one liners kept the mode light.  The last hour of the movie was action-packed and once again pushed the limits in terms of special effects.  


However, with a running time of 157 minutes I found myself looking at my watch and wondering when this was going to be over on more than one occasion.  Oh, and the 3D was lazy when compared to Avatar.  A bar has been set and no other 3D move has yet been able to attain that level since.  My take on Transformers 3 is  if you have a few hours to kill and have already seen Super 8 then go see it.  If not, wait for it on Netflix.


Ranking:  6/10

I hope everyone is having a most excellent 4th of July Weekend!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff