Discovering a new running cycle . .

I'm not sure how I discovered this but I've fallen into a 5 day running cycle that has been just awesome. I look at every 5 day period as a new and separate running period.

During this 5 day period, I do the following:

* 1 hard run whether that's tempo, interval, or long run with race pace
surges

* 3 easy runs and 1 of those runs are 100% barefoot (usually treadmill
during the winter)

* 1 rest day (completely off)

*Note: at the end of practically every run, I do 5-10 min. of
barefoot running as a cool down.

The results so far have been awesome. Shrinking it down to such a small period of time (5 days) has also been great mentally and works well with business travel also. I don't know which days I do which runs or which day I use as a rest day as I let me body decide it but this also accomplishes a few other things. The vast majority of my running is easy aerobic running; hard days are at a minimum (but I go "hard" on hard days) and there's a lot of easy days/rest days between hard workouts; and most importantly, I'm embracing "true rest days" . . . not recovery runs but true rest days.

Lastly, this has allowed me to incorporate core and upper body strengthening. As a result, I'm adding weight and muscle but I feel great. I've decided I much prefer to look like a 400-800 meter runner vs. a marathon runner . . . my wife agrees :)

As always, the journey continues . . .

Harry