While researching and reading the Runner's World site, a pop-up advertised a year's worth of their magazine for $1 per issue. This seemed like a deal, though I now know that same advert pops up just about every time you click a link on the site. Being all new and gung-ho, I ordered the magazine subscription. When my first copy arrived, I read it voraciously. I visited their online site. I appreciated their knowledge and insight.
For several months, I read the magazine cover to cover the moment it arrived. Then, for some reason I started reading just an article at a time. This made the magazine last a week or more, but that wasn't the reason I slowed down. My interest had not waned in the sport. It had, however, in the magazine. The latest copy has sat on my desk for a week now, unopened.
I don't think this has anything to do with the woman's health magazine snippet they include in every copy of Runner's World, replete with "make him happier in bed" and "10 foods for a slimmer tummy" garbage, though that doesn't help their case. I find a lot of the copy is available on-line, for free, long before the magazine hits my mailbox. I find a lot of the copy is repetitive. The phrasing is different. The pictures are different. The message, however, is the same. I'm not learning much of anything new. Maybe an exercise here or there. What I am learning is from the blogosphere, from the Endurance Athlete Project site, from researching particulars here and there.
I'm starting to think I'm not the market they are looking for, and that having the magazine delivered is a waste of paper.
Do you read magazines? Do you still learn from them, after say a year's subscription?
Today was a cross-training day. I swam about 20 minutes easy laps (real easy, as in head above water) using my arms almost exclusively. Then water aerobics. Then 20 minutes of core work with the 3 Musketeers - Ninja, Monkey Boy, and Monkey Boy's best friend from grade school, the poster child for ADHD. I'll call him Bad Boy. He'll like that. Anyway, they kicked my butt, which was a good thing. Tomorrow, 3 miles on the park hill. The forecast says a high of 18.
2 comments:
A lot of people say that newspapers will become a thing of the past for exactly this reason. Everything is posted online for free and stories are available sometimes within minutes of events. That said, laptops and bathtubs do not mix. I have subscriptions to a few magazines because they're an essential part of the relaxing bubble bath experience. If I didn't have a big tub, they would probably go unread.
hmm I get Runner's World and have for the last year and a half. Now a days I think either the articles pertain to me or not at all. The articles are finely written, with some good perspectives. The most recent Runners World has the 7 most common injuries and bam I am an overachiever of 5/7!
What's worse is Women's Running magazine. That to me is fluff. Some of it can be informative. I like the focus on regular runners sometimes but I want to see stories over a few months of people who go from Couch to 5K or a training series for marathons or halfs following regular women. Does that make sense?
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