3rd Workout- Dec. 31, 2009

We returned from JBU, ate lasagna and now I'm writing in this fitness journal while the endorphins are still with me and the feeling of acomplishment from having run 3 miles, biked 2 and lifted weights. This time I listened to Jars of Clay's The Long Fall Back to Earth which was a great improvement over the Stones! I was careful to walk two laps briskly before running to warm up. And then take take it easy and cruise during the run. Distance running is about incremental, gradual progress. The trick is to stress your body (i. e. train) so subtlely and gradually that you hardly feel it. Like the kid who starting lifting a baby calf and kept lifting it every day until he was a man and it was a cow. Our bodies are truly amazing in being adaptive. Distance runners' bodies are adapted to store more glycogen in reserves and to burn it slowly, unlike other athletes even. I'm writing this as much for my daughters as for myself. I want to share what I learned from all the running books I've read, the running magazines and especially the experience gained from running four marathons and countless shorter distance races. I want them to know the thrill of running. Wendy asked me to coach her in her goal of running the Dogwood Run in April. Tomorrow she will run with me at JBU. It will be fun.