Running Shorts

Well, this has easily been the worst training stretch of my life. Four months of constantly off and on running, never more than 45 miles in one week. No workouts, no races; no summer or fall season at all for me. But you know what? That's okay. I've been very lucky to (prior to this) never have missed more than three weeks at a time for injury. I suppose I was due for something more serious sooner or later, and I'm at least happy that it came immediately after  the Olympic Trials instead of before . Now that I'm slowly getting healthy and returning to jogging (not quite running yet, and definitely not training), there are a few lessons I've taken from this experience that I want to share. Listen to your body. When you feel something wrong, stop running -- don't try to run through it. My threshold for something wrong is this: does it change your stride? If so, then you're injured and you should not run. If not,  then you're probably just sore or ach...

So this is another edition of WOTW that I didn't do, but my high schoolers did. I do think it has value for runners of all abilities though. What is the workout? Explosive hill repeats are really simple: find a hill -- something steep, preferably grass. It doesn't have to be long, just something that takes you 8-10 seconds to bound up. (If there's not a hill near you, stadium steps work as well). Then, do hill repeats: sprint up the hill as fast as you can. Visualize yourself exploding up the hill. This is an all-out, maximum, 110% effort. At the top of the hill, walk back down and then rest for 3-5 minutes before the next one. Yes, 3-5 minutes. That part's essential -- you want to be fully recovered before you start again...this is a sprinter's workout; don't try to gain aerobic fitness on these. No, no running during rest. The first time you do this workout, only do 4-6 reps. Work your way up to 10. That's it, pretty simple. Why should you do it? M...