Bret

Nice workout.

I just gave you some free advice over on Bam's blog. I wish I knew that guys name!

Thanks - I saw that. Glad to be of use as an example - and appreciate the recommendations. I am in agreement and have been searching for a half marathon in October that's not going to require me to leave the state. Happens to be one the week before NYC in St. Pete but I don't want to race one week before the marathon.

I have the Lore of Running (I think you introduced me to it last year as a matter of fact) - to me it tries to be an encylopedia of all things running without necessarily getting really granual on some subjects. Good reference material. Anyway, I do think the old school guys raced way more frequently than now. Indeed there may have been some discussions on this board about how elites nowadays only chose a couple of races per year -The issue is how can they expect to be good at racing if they don't even have an opportunity to learn/experience it. One may argue correctly that a race (if not the one peaked-for) is a simply a workout in the overall training plan.

Reminds me of that published version of Steve Scott's running log from 81-82. Where he pretty much raced year round and found time to train and set records.

Ah, but you see chaps, they didn't wake up one morning and suddenly say, "Today I'm an elite; I must race every other day" and then put on their flats/spikes and start racing the world.

Bret, I'm sure you've read the Coe book (Peter Coe on Seb's training and stuff). He goes on about the importance of not racing too much. I think the important thing is the timing of the races and how you use the races. There's nowt wrong with racing, it's the whole point of what we do - to a certain extent.

My 2 cents worth: race a half 4-6 weeks before your marathon. You shouldn't be 5k/10k fit 6 weeks before a marathon, if you are, something's wrong with your marathon training - that is, according to Canova and I agree with him.