New Year, New Philosophy, and a New Start

"Take a primitive organism, any weak, pitiful organism. Say a freshman. Make it lift or jump or run. Let it rest. What happens? A little miracle. It gets a little better. It gets a little stronger or faster or more enduring. That's all training is. Stress. Recover. Improve. You'd think any damn fool could do it, even... But you don't. You work too hard and rest too little and get hurt." - Bill Bowerman

I originally read this quote in the book Bowerman and the Men of Oregon over 3 years ago. I ignored this when I read it because it seemed pretty obvious and I wasn't writing my own training schedule. My current training philosophy simplified from this quote:  

Proper Stress + Proper Recovery = Improved Performance

After this holiday season, I received some gear that will help me out as I start again, a brand new pair of running shoes and a heart rate monitor. Theoretically, if I can run based off of my heart rate (which puts a numeric value to my perceived effort) I should be able to optimize my stress and recovery and prevent over training.

I've spent the last week training on the stationary bike and aqua jogging, but soon the gym will be soon be packed with New Years Resolutionists. I will try to avoid the gym during "prime" hours to attempt to get a continuous workout in. My foot has been feeling better for the last couple days and I will test it out tomorrow. I'm going to start out slow and continue to bike and aqua jog until I get fully acclimated to training again.

I have also set the race I plan to train for this winter: the Broad Street Run. I've run this race the last couple years, but have never raced well there. Hopefully with a solid training plan, I'll be able to change those results.

Happy New Year