Day 1

Not Day 1 of training but, rather, Day 1 of the blog. Let's get to it. I have been consistently running since April 25th. That’s a little over two weeks. In general, I had become pretty out of shape. Building up to the National Marathon, I ran two consecutive >60 Mile weeks and had never even run 1 genuine 60 before then. I topped it off the next week with a Half Marathon race - B&A Trail Half. The following Tuesday after the Half, I went out for a recovery run and basically tore the shit out of my left calf. I couldn't walk, let alone run. No Marathon for me. Long story short, I kept pushing and re-injuring and eventually ended up taking about a month off with no activity whatsoever. I was forced (luckily) to rehab smartly. I started by observing the direction of my feet. My left foot out at an acute angle. It should stick straight out. From this I gleaned that my muscles in my left leg had never fully reformed after an injury in High School (sorry, kind of a jump, but I'm trying to keep this to less than novel length). I basically ran and walked with a permanent limp. So, for the time that I could during my injury, I did exercises to build up the right muscles and regain correct motor control of the affected area. Then I started running sporadically to get myself back into the running mindset and to start to get back into shape. I weighed about 160 and felt totally lethargic after all the downtime. I knew that at this point I had PLENTY of time to train, so I began researching new training plans that allowed for the longer training duration. This is when I re-discovered the Daniels method. Jack Daniels (no relation) was named by Runner's World as the greatest track coach of all time. I read his book Daniels' Running Formula. He believes in a 24 week plan. I was, at the time, 27 weeks out. Kismet. Awesome. The first of the 4 phases of the training is the Basebuilding Phase. This is consistent with about 90% of all training programs in use today and derives mainly from the teachings of Arthur Lydiard (I went to a lecture/class given by the man himself several years back. He, unfortunately, died recently from complications of a stroke. His theories form the foundation for almost all running coaching today). Daniels basically suggests that, for as long as the calendar allows, you run absolutely no faster than conversational pace. The purpose of this is to establish a foundation for the rest of the specific training to follow. The object is to run as consistently as possible, to increase weekly mileage, but to never stress the body too much. I FINALLY have the time to do this right! In all training cycles past, I have rushed this phase and combined it with the specific faster training. And, 9 times out of 10, I have been injured during training. This coming Sunday (May 11th - Mother's Day) starts the 24-weeks-to-go thick of this training cycle.