"Have A Bitchen Summer"

[Andrew A.]

http://petemagill.blogspot.com/2009/06/morning-read-summer-of-2009.html

Another good one from Magill.

[Ed]

An enjoyable and informative article -

Thanks Andrew -

[Ryan]

Interesting read. With a couple of exceptions, I think that would be good advice for us northerners for winter running. Those exceptions would primarily be cross-country races and road races. Obviously, there aren't too many cross-country races around when you're measuring the snow on the ground in feet. In exchange, I would break one of his "DON'T" rules and go ahead with the occasional road (or indoor track!) race. As long as they aren't run too frequently, I don't see them as too harmful.

Tempo runs can be great during base building but I understand his concern. Too many people treat them as races or time trials. You should be able to finish a tempo run still feeling strong, not ready to double over in fatigue.

[Andrew A.]

Snowshoe races!

I have come to prefer progression runs to tempo runs, they seem to be more easily accomplished by feel and have more racing-specific applicability.  I strongly suspect that P.M. wrote this as his own counterpoint to a certain popularized summer training concept.  Based on my own experience of what would have worked best (and appealed most) as a youth runner when I was one long ago, I prefer Bitchen Summer to the other recommendations that I have seen -- it just makes more sense with my own background as a context.

[Ryan]

Snowshoe races, now that would be fun.

Personally, when I think about what I've been doing recently, I've been leaning toward progression runs myself so I guess I'd concur. That said, while Magill points out the potential pitfalls of running a tempo run wrong, it's also possible to run a progression wrong in similar ways (primarily running too hard). I've found it to be less likely to happen but still possible.

I think there is benefit in both. I personally wouldn't rule out either option as Magill seems to with the tempo run, though I would advise caution in doing either.

As for his thoughts in contrast to Summer of Malmo, I think there is value that can be found in both. For the youth runner, I think there are aspects of both that could be beneficial and enjoyable. I'd probably prefer some hybrid of both.

I've actually had some individuals pressure me to expand on my reference to the "Winter of Hillrunner" I referenced when mentioning Summer of Malmo in one of the articles. I don't want to seem like a bandwagon jumper but doing just that is on my list of potential future articles. Maybe I'll have to think about that. Of course, with the wisdom of Magill and Malmo already out there, I'm not sure how much I could add to the topic so such an article may go nowhere fast as I realize I'm just repeating what has already been said.

[r-at-work]

most of the article made sense in my neck of the woods (NoVA)... my favorite line ...

We anger family members by using all the ice cubes in the freezer to treat sore calves and throbbing knees.

progression runs make lots of sense to me also, as I have a poor sense of pace... on the other hand I've sorta started a new program by accident and "so far so good"... I've been taking my dog out for a quick three miles first thing in the morning... she is a medium size dog that dreams of catching a squirrel so after the first half mile (and a pit stop or two) she is trying to DRAG me the rest of the way to get to the next batch of trees in hopes of getting the jump (literally) the some varmint or other, a rabbit would be okay with her too... I've noticed that my time on my lunch route (6 miles) has become a few minutes shorter...

my outlooks has gone from 'whatever works'  and 'whatever you can get done'
-Rita