C. Welton Gaddy | csmonitor.com

A good article about religious freedom

Working my way back

Six years ago, if someone had told me that I was going to be a runner - that I was going to REGULARLY seek a high degree of exercise, I would have called them crazy. Exercise was something I avoided, like the plague. But five years ago, in the summer of 2000, my uncle invited me out to his ranch in Colorado. My uncle is a runaholic and he got me started, gradually, on a running schedule. I started out running only 25 minutes a day, doubling to 50 minutes once a week. I gradually worked my time up until my schedule of short runs/long runs was 45/90. Shortly after I began running, I moved to California, where my running really went full blast. There were some great hills to run on, and a huge park to explore behind my house. I worked my long run up 2 hrs (at the same time my short run dropped to 25 minutes; not good.) But running is not a constant. I don't care if you are Marion Jones, nobody can improve in a straight line. Injuries, illness, weather, and travel cause dips, slumps, and sometimes complete sabbaticals from a regular running schedule. Back in December, I was running close to the best I'd ever run, with a regular long run and fartlek (speed) workouts that made me feel really strong. But travel and bad weather at Christmas, combined with an illness in January, and the need to break in two pairs of running shoes, have all seemed to conspire to drive my running down. A few weeks ago, I had trouble completing a 90 minute run. So I decided to call a "time out." I was going to do 30 minutes a day, almost every day, of jogging. There would be no epic runs through the hills, there would be no workouts. It was just thirty minutes a day of plain old jogging - and you know what? It has worked. Wednesday was my first really good medium run, still only about 88 minutes (I would like it to be at least 90), and this morning, Friday, I finally did my first fartlek since December. I still have a ways to go, I want to get that long run back up to 120 minutes and even a little bit beyond that (2.5-3 hrs. is the goal) and I would like to perform better on the fartlek workouts, but that will come with time and diligence.