10:1 (x4)

Another fine spring day -- warm and sunny. Continuing with my commitment of running 3 days a week, I did another 10:1 (x4) in my neighbourhood after work. At the beginning I could feel the left knee with the runner's knee for a few seconds. I go slowly so it quickly disappears. I got in 5.75K, averaging 7:39 minutes/K. My year to date is now 253.3K, so I've surpassed the 1/4 mark of reaching 1000K :-)

I'm currently reading Jeff Galloway's Marathon: You Can Do It! It's packed with useful information. I like the 3 days a week of running. Here's some useful quotes from the first 3 chapters I've read so far:

"The marathon stands out as one of the most esteemed of life's achievements, but it has to be won by pulling from within oneself physical, mental, and spiritual resources over an extended period of time...an elite group: only about one-tenth of 1 percent of the population does it" (pp. xii & xiii)

"The marathon is primarily an endurance event. It is only secondarily a race" (p. 2)

"During the rest days that your muscles rebuild themselves, become stronger, and make adaptations for greater efficiency" (p. 5)

"The long run will help you more than any component of your running program. By going slowly, you can burn more fat, push back your endurance barriers, and run faster at shorter distance races" (p. 10)

"You can't run too slowly on the long runs...the day before the long run should be a no-exercise day" (p. 12)

"By alternating walking and running, from the start, there's virtually no limit to the distance you can cover...most runners will record significantly faster times when they take walk breaks because they don't slow down at the end of a long run" (p. 13)

"The title of marathoner has, from the beginning, been awarded to those who went the distance under their own powedr, whether they ran, walked, crawled, or tiptoed" (p. 15)

"You must start the walk breaks in the first mile, before you feel any fatigue. If you wait until you feel the need for a walk break, you've already reduced your potential performance" (p. 16)