Wednesday, Aug. 3rd . . . nice and easy goes it . . .

Nice and easy 40 min. run. Focused on my breathing. This is exactly what my body wanted to do today. This is the perfect easy/recovery type run. I hit my stride in the last 10 min. and before I allowed my body to start to head toward race pace, I shut it down.

Harry

What's my next challenge?

I started running 4 years ago with a few goals in mind. First, enjoy my running and run as injury free as possible. Second, a sub 18:00 5k. Third, a sub 38:00 10k. Well, I've achieved those goals. I haven't been injured in 26+ months and I've achieved those race times. Now, I'm bored :). I can't believe it. I have to find a new challenge!!!

Harry

Monday, Aug. 1st . . . 40 acres and a mule . . .

I don't know, I just felt like saying that. It was a good 45 min. trail run . . . more of a recovery run after yesterday's workout.

Harry

Sunday, July 31st . . . fartlex time . .

80 min. fartlex run with varying paces including several 600-1,000 meter surges at 5k pace. All feels good.

Harry

Friday, July 29th . . . nice recovery run

Nice 45 min. medium effort run after yesterday's 2 mile race. I feel great!

Harry

Thursday, July 28th . . . 2 mile PR

Had a 2 mile trail run this morning and set a new 2 mile PR in 11:11 (5:35 pace).

It was an effortless run again. I ran hard but controlled and never lost control of my breathing. I have no idea how/ when exactly I arrived at this place in my running but my god is it awesome. It also confirms that I don't need a watch (or Garmin) to know what/how I'm running as the "running by feel" approach is working awesome for
me.

I'm also a big fan of the "Van Aaken Method" which is based on only doing "race pace running at small fractions of your racing distance each week," and specifically at a ratio of 20:1, that is 20 easy/ medium miles to 1 race pace mile. I run between 50-60 miles each week so I've cut back my race pace running to 3-4 miles per week. This is significantly less than I use to do but I haven't lost any speed and in fact, I'm running faster as a result of the focus on doing almost all my running in my aerobic zone and my aerobic pace has increased (no wonder the Kenyans are so damn fast after establishing that huge aerobic base running back and forth to school).

Harry

Is this a different Ryan Hall or what?

http://ryanhall.competitor.com/

I'm becoming a bigger Ryan Hall fan each day. He sure seems to be in a good place.

Harry

Tuesday, July 26th . . . just floating along . . .

40 min. easy/medium effort run. Nice, smooth and fun.

Harry

Monday, July 25th . . . just runnin' free . . .

40 min. semi-recovery run. Started slow but ended at 10k pace. Let my body control everything as I let it come naturally and easy. I still can't describe the bliss I experience running each day. No pain or anything. Just so effortless. I can see ever running with a watch, garmin or some pre-set/determined running schedule. I just run . . . some days fast, some days slow, some days a little of everything.

I'm starting to believe this is how it is suppose to be. I think we've let technology get the best of us when at the end of the day, no technology is as good as the human body.

Harry

Sunday, July 24th . . . long intervals

80 min. run (about 11 miles) including 4x800 meter surges at 6:00 pace, ending with 1.5 mile temp at 6:15 pace. Finished just before it got too hot. Everything felt good.

Harry

Friday, July 22nd . . . just heavenly

45 min. nice easy cruise run; felt like I was floating

Harry

Thursday, July 21st . . . all trails

55 min. all trails run including 5 min. barefoot warm-up. The common theme which I love is all my running is feeling effortless. What a great place to be. Ran through some really wet grass and the Nike XC's were awesome as they are definitely designed for XC running . . . water went in and right out and dried quickly.

Harry

Wednesday, July 20th . . . another easy day at the office

40 min. easy run; again felt effortless; it's all about understanding your body; this is essentially a recovery day for me . . . nice to work up to the point that a 40 min. run is a recovery day :)

Harry

Tuesday, July 19th . . . takin' it easy

easy 45 min. run; felt effortless . . .

Harry

Monday, July 18th . . . it's becoming effortless (with a big smile) . . .

My running is becoming effortless, and oh so enjoyable . . . a beautiful 40 minute easy run with 20 minutes of barefoot strides on a baseball field. I have to wonder if it's the 4 years of continuous committed running that I"m now benefitting from as well as learning how to listen to my body.

I've averaged 50-60 miles per week for 4 years and I've had several milestones along the way but recently, my shoe selection has been finalized and I let my body (and feet) decide which footwear and combination is best and my stride is becoming so easy and effortless.

Harry