The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

I'm a believer in that approach. In the past I always rushed into workouts and tried to force the fitness, and was perpetually hurt. This time around I just decided to run a ton of easy miles over the winter and the results speak for themselves. The first couple races of the season were just run on base, and they were pretty good performances for me. Then I made the shift to more race specific training once I felt I was aerobically strong enough.

But in any case, thats very impressive that you've run PRs across that whole spectrum of distances... not an easy thing to do, and speaks volumes about how much basic aerobic running can do... if you can "recover" while still running a solid amount of miles, you are giving yourself a HUGE endurance advantage.

I've followed your training a bit the last year and learned a lot from it. I kind of consider myself watching you guys and picking up what I can. Pretty cool stuff.

Steve, you've had an awfully impressive year, big things coming up for you I think.

hey- I have your dew in the fridge, ice cold, 20 ounces of succulent pleasure, waiting for saturday- I even got you the "throwback" variety that is made with REAL sugar. As opposed to the normal stuff with HFCS, yuck. I will run up the course and try to find you somewhere around mile 17-19. good luck with final preparations!

Sweet! Thanks, it will be good to have something to look forward to!

Steve:

I realize with your schedule the training will always be less than ideal, but here are some basic principles:

- Aerobic fitness for you will build almost just as well per mile covered in the 7:30-8:00 range as it will in the sub-7:00 range. However, it is easier to recover when you run slower, so you are able to run longer and more frequently.

- The ideal length of the longest run of the day is between 8 and 12 miles. Possibly even more like 10-12, but 8 is acceptable for the longest run of the day if you are doing doubles.

- Frequency of the runs is a very important factor. I put the ideal number at 15-18 runs per week, so for a working man with a family there is no such thing as running too frequently. Run at every reasonable opportunity. A short 2 mile run done as a second run or even as the only run if that is all you can get it is far better than nothing at all.

- At this point you can do just fine without any form of structured speed work especially if you are racing. Your speed in distance up to 15 K has been fine (relative to the marathon) so no need to work on it too much. Just test it once it a while to make sure it is still there, if it starts slipping then you may need to work on it some.

- Long runs are overrated and should not be done if the base mileage is not there to support them. When you have a full day, you may be better off running 16 in the AM with the last 2 at sub-6:00 and 8 in the PM with the last 2 at sub-6:00 than full 20 or more once. Your work schedule requires some creativity with long runs. The "secret" here is that contrary to popular belief weekly long runs do not build aerobic base. They do some to train your fuel system, and they give you confidence that you can run strong at the end of a marathon, but when attempted without the aerobic base there already, they are counterproductive. Your challenge is getting in the shorter runs frequently enough. You have to get creative and experiment, but where I would start is keep the length of all runs to no more than 16 while maximizing the frequency even if that means some runs are only 2 miles.

We'll talk more about it tonight.

I love all those suggestions. I printed them out to look through. In the past I have focused on getting a few long runs in (5) before each marathon and a lot of what I read this week matches up with exactly what you wrote. Good post!

Mcmillan and Vigil seem to disagree with the multiple or double days. also the use of any short runs. Those two points may be the only part I may not be on board with on.