My cast has finally come off.  I am now on my way to recovery and running once again.  I have finished reading the book "Run Faster" and am now reading "Run".  

What I have learned thus far from these books is how important it is to listen to your body when you train.  It is especially important to adapt your training if you find you feel poorly.   I also found that the elite runners of the world are constantly running by feel. 

I was looking to see what the differentiators were between us (Americans) and the now dominating Africans.  I found so far that a lot has to do with this mentality that they do not stick to any exact training method and how much they incorporate time trials during training.  One last thing is they do very well that a lot of us do is incorporate hill training or for them it is mountain training. 

Now I know I have not read much on them yet but this is my understanding at this point.  I am excited to put into practice what I have been learning once I have recovered. 

I have to say even more exciting for me is that my daughters have take such an interest in running.  I will be able to use what I have learned from this to help them as well.

With training just around the corner my excitement is building even with the winter weather fast approaching.  Once I get going again I set my goal and start working towards them.   

The Beginning

 So here I am day 1, of my blog pre-training days.  I broke my ankle 3 weeks ago in a 5k race just after training for 5 weeks.  I am currently in a cast for almost another 2 weeks before I find out what the next steps are to recovery and hence my training.

                                  Day I broke it.                                                     Today

I fell into the classic blunder of not preparing and training enough for the race.  I have decided to read a number of books while I am in the healing process to better prepare and train myself when I am healed.  I will also use this information to help my children who (to my delight) have taken an interest in running.

A quick background on myself is as follows:
Started running in 6th grade.  Ran track in 7th, 8th and half season in 9th.  Ran cross country in 9th, 10th and 11th.  Outside of that I ran here and there and I never trained for more than a few months at a time with long breaks in between.  

I have remained mostly fit throughout my life and have completed P90X and Insanity the Asylum.


I am now 32 and have decided to start training full time once my ankle is healed.  This will be a record of my journey from where I am now to the future.  I will use the information I read in books/magazines as well as any solid advice I get from those who know to achieve the best results possible.  


I will document my training runs and races during this process.  If I am to be accurate I will also list my meals and try to give an accurate picture of how I feel each day.  

The first book I am reading is "Run Faster" by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald.  I have been looking for a book that puts traditional training to the test and offers different insight to training.  Let's face it, we (Americans) have fallen behind in distance running (to the African nations primarily) and have to rethink what we are doing and how we are training.   60+ pages into it and so far it is great.  

I am firm believer in changing things up and not getting stuck following a training pattern without listening to how your body feels.  I am excited to read more and hear from a great trainer (Brad Hudson) on what he has found to work and not work.    


The last thing I hope to discover during this process is what can be accomplished with training starting at my age and how long will it take before a decline begins. (My personal expectation is to see if I can continually increase into my 40's)


If you are reading this blog I hope you enjoy it and I welcome all "good" advice.