Variety is the spice of running

Over the past four days I have experienced a broad selection of running conditions. I rested today, as I usually do on Mondays, and noticed that my legs feel great this morning. I believe that the diversity of my runs contributed to this. It may be worthwhile to continue to keep variability in my training program.

Last Thursday I was in Philadelphia and chose to stay indoors for my workout. I did a short but fast (for me) treadmill run. On Friday I ran in my neighborhood wearing the Skechers Resistance Runners that provided a different road experience with the unstable mid-sole that proved challenging even on a relatively short (3 mile) run. Saturday I ran just short of 5 miles in my Kinvaras that, despite their minimal construction, are beginning to edge out all other running shoes in my collection. Yesterday I was back on the trails and attacking short steep hills over different surfaces.

I don't do as much cross training as I should, mostly just a weekly elliptical session. Perhaps by varying the way I run I can focus on different muscle groups and achieve some benefits that are lost when running on pavement 90% of the time. I'm planning to run two 10K races in November, one week apart, so I need to get into race training mode. It will be interesting to see how diversity and distance training will affect my performance.