Flip the Switch

Over the past two or three weeks, I feel like I’ve had several light bulbs come on when it comes to training. From the book I’ve been reading, to talking to some good runners, to looking back at my old training logs, to reading a recent interview with Brad Hudson, I’ve started to lean towards doing a certain thing, and it’s being reinforced almost daily. I honestly feel like the blinders have come off and I can see something that’s been obvious all along. Sometimes we get so locked into a certain way of thinking that it becomes very hard to make a change. I think that’s where I was and I’m excited to be getting past it.

In reality, I’m not going to be doing anything revolutionary nor will I be doing anything I haven’t done in the past. In fact, I’m going to be returning to more of the sort of training I was doing when I ran the majority of my PR’s. However, this training can be summarized with the phrase “Keep it simple!” Basically my goal is to become an aerobic monster, sprinkle in short periods of speed and specific work here and there leading up to more important races, then repeat. I’ll race throughout the process simply because that keeps me motivated and the efforts make for good workouts and good feedback on my progress, but there won’t be too many events that I really get specific for. When it comes to the majority of my training, I’m going to play to my strengths and see what happens.

In any event, I don’t know for sure how things will work out, but I’ve got to do something to break the injury cycle while still being able to obtain the sort of fitness level I want, and I think this might do the trick. I’m already starting to see some results, and I really like the direction things are headed right now. I’m looking forward to a good fall and winter of training, with a few races mixed in mostly for fun, followed by a really solid spring of training and racing thereafter. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be going back somewhere I haven’t been in years and it’s exciting to see if I’ve still got it. On I run!