Wheeler Farm Loops

I for one am glad you are blogging more. I really enjoy your blog.

Nothing wrong with being fast Jake. No need to apologize for it - I'm thinking about the 200s.

Well you know how I feel already about McDoofus and the minimal running thing. I am not anti minimalist, but I don't think it's a cure all and I don't think it's realistic.

I loved the track workout posts. As you know that is what I am doing right now and I can totally attest to the positive things it can do for a runner. I feel way more explosive in my sprints and I know that coupled with other training runs it can make for one fast runner. Love it!

Glad you can blog more. Makes me excited for the next 2 weeks and your and Andrea's OTQ marathon. Go go go!

Great post on short track reps. The Kenyans are big into their diagonals - a similar idea. I think the most important thing about short speed reps is the emphasis on form.

I noticed how the short reps fit into the jigsaw of your training. Great that you and Andrea shared this with everybody - it might help some who are struggling to improve. Tip of the hat to both of you.

You continue to amaze me the amount of miles you put in. It's truly inspiring and motivates me to do more.

Jake I enjoyed reading your blogs. Thanks for posting those! I agree 100% on both topics.

How do the all the tendons and ligaments feel? I'm amazed they hold up so well for you on such high consecutive mileage weeks. I use my foam roller and massage stick religously, just so I can make it out the door when I'm doing high mileage.

Thanks for the responses everyone. Glad you enjoyed the blogs.

Hamdog - I can't even explain it, and I don't want to jinx myself, but I've had ZERO aches and pains over the past 6-7 weeks. In September I had some random but minor things bothering me, but once we did the "mini taper" for Long Beach, everything went away. Even when I went right back up to 140 mpw w/ the harder workouts afterwards, my body has had no complaints. I can't explain it. I ice and use the stick, but not as religiously as I probably should. I guess all the strength I have accumulated throughout the year has really hardened up my body. All the mileage was either going to build me up or completely break me down... I'm glad it was the former!

Thanks for sharing that Jake. I bet it has a lot to do with the variety of cross training you do through other sports. I think you've gained a lot of strength to balance out some of those muscles and tendons running doesn't always strengthen.

I read something about how Hall and Cox avoid tendon problems through pro-active PT. Basically, they do lateral movements to strengthen the medial side of the leg to take strain of the patella tendons, IT bands, etc... Much of it is low stress not to zap energy from running, which basically means it's all body weight exercises and they essentially are warm-ups/cooldowns of 10-15 minutes. The exercises develop overall strength throughout all of the running muscles with lots of different lunges and core exercises during less serious training cycles of the year.