Fight the Tyranny of the Training Log!

Summer training: there always comes a point where my brain goes on vacation, but my legs keep running and my training log seems to be doing my thinking for me. The miles start piling up, and my life seems to be settle into a routine of running, eating, thinking about my next run, running again, eating again, sleeping... and then writing it all down in the pages of my stern and demanding training log.

This is the peculiar, and not very healthy state of no-mind characteristic of the distance runner building a base. Other things happen in the world, but they leave only a faint impression on one's consciousness, which is wholly occupied with the questions of which pair of shoes is least disgusting.

I know intellectually that those numbers in the training log aren't real, they're just marks on paper, but they have a tendency to become bigger than life, beguiling me into running that extra mile, or skipping that important rest day. I should throw away the log, run how I feel... save myself from injury, but...

Oregon coach Bill Bowerman was famous for keeping his athletes on a short leash and keeping them from over-training. He arranged for them to have ridiculously dangerous and demanding jobs over the summer so they wouldn't be tempted to pile up miles. His runners did pretty well after Spending their summers pulling 10-hour shifts at the lumber mill.

Without having Bowerman himself looking over my shoulder, I have only a few strategies for fighting the tyranny of the training log, but I'll share them with you:

1. Run with reasonable people

It's easier to run easier when you are running with a person who takes a long-term view of summer training.

2. The absolutely no exceptions already-on-the schedule easy day.

Mine is Saturday. Three miles at 8:00 pace. That's it. No matter what my log tells me it wants.

3. Stay away from other people's training logs!

Do not under any circumstances get sucked into someone else's mileage orgy. You probably know that you should be running only so-and-so miles per week. Stick with it, no matter what and plug your ears when other people start talking about their 80-mile weeks.

4. Do strides.

Remember, it's not all about miles. Run a few strides after 2-3 runs a week to remind yourself that freshness and fast-twitch muscle fitness matter, too.