Quote of the Week...from Arthur Lydiard

When aerobic running becomes a daily habit, strength and confidence follow.    ---Arthur Lydiard

Arthur Lydiard was perhaps the greatest running coach in history, guiding his New Zealand runners to world championships in the 1960s.  Not only did he strongly believe in aerobic running (as opposed to the high-speed anaerobic running that builds up oxygen debt in the runner), but he also popularized jogging back then as a health benefit when many around him disagreed.  He also said "I have a saying: train don't strain," which he believed to be much more effective than the relatively masochistic, commonly-espoused American mantra "no pain, no gain".  I owe a debt to him for his studies and innovations in running training...not that I am an athlete by any reasonable measure.  I like to run and the longer the distance and the more regularly, the better.  I've managed to cover two marathons (one official) and some eleven official half-marathon races in the last 8-9 years.  I don't do marathons anymore, but I do try to get in at least one half-marathon per year.  But what I want the most is to reestablish a more regular routine of personal distance running training, something I've drifted away from lately...partially because of the constraints of time and partially because of various injuries and maladies I've experienced.  And now, because it is the first day of June, I'll insert here my personal running report for May...

In May, 2018 I ran a total of 64 miles with 3.3 miles being my longest single run...both figures pretty low by the standards I want to follow. I did manage to train more regularly, missing only two days during the month...my health was pretty good in May.  I didn't participate in any races, and quite frankly the warm and muggy...if not stormy...weather conditions that typified this past month didn't make doing so all that attractive a prospect, anyway.  On June 9 there is a 5K race in Gainesville...I guess I'll just have to see how I feel about running it when the time approaches.  My main goal is to increase both my total monthly mileage as well as lengthen my individual runs...nothing dramatic, but as Coach Lydiard would agree, a gradual stepping-up into a higher level of training...