Running Aimlessly Around the Countryside

I'm continuing to struggle with my knee/IT band as well as the sirens that reside near my couch, but used the opportunity to take a very non-scientific look at training effect on others this week. Our local club hosted a swim meet this past weekend, and while it may not apply directly, I looked at the training my two kids have been doing, and what their results were at the meet. Anna, who is 14, trains 6 days a week. All of those days include 2 hours of swimming, with 4 days including an additional hour of dry-land training(active strength training like running stairs, hops, lunges, crunches, etc.). The swim sessions vary in intensity, but range from around 5,000-8,000 yards a day. Will, 11, trains 6 days a week. 5 days are 15 minutes of stretching followed by 1 1/2 hours of swimming, the sixth day is just 1 hour of swimming. A hard day in the pool for him is usually around 2,000-2,500 yards. School comes first and homework load occasionally wins out, but both kids make practic...

Before I wish the new year a happy welcome, I would like recap 2009. My goals for the year seemed to be fairly simple: train intelligently to remain injury free, help Jil complete her first running half-marathon, and run a fall marathon (with a PR), and break the 1000 mile barrier for the year. None of that seemed very hard and the year started off very well. I followed the 10% rule and made sure to include rest days as an important part of my schedule. My base miles tallied up and I was right were I wanted to be to pace Jil through her spring race. Things were going well even to the point that I ran a trail half for fun just 2 weeks prior to running with Jil. Success continued as I crossed the finish line with Jil as she completed her first half as a runner. It was about that time that the sweater started to unravel. My calf/shin started to bother me so I began a sequence of 2 week rest periods. And by rest, I mean complete and total rest followed by a single, pained run. At the en...