Our THPL journey gives us the opportunity to take on bigger and bigger challenges. Maybe we take on a big run or race, or even just want to feel better about our ability to run in our community. The key to success is having a plan, an approach, a way of improving that is tried and true and helps us so that we do not have to think about what to do, all we have to do is to follow the plan. Here is a way to make it happen.

1. Plan for enough training time so that we can properly adapt to the increase in load and stress that we will put on our body when we take on any running activity from a 5k to a marathon.

2. Focus on form – it is very important to have good form as it can save a lot of energy and keep us from getting injured

3. Run lots of slow miles – a conscious effort to run slower will make us stronger and a better runner

4. A good endurance running plan increases the amount of mileage progressively. Increase the number of miles run week over week. And also increase the frequency of running from 3 to 5 (or 6) days a week.

5. Focus on nutrition - an easy rule of thumb is that we use about 100 calories for each mile we run. And then adjust our eating to match to our activity level.

6. If there is a day that we are not feeling it; just take a day off

7. Keep track of the level of activity in a spreadsheet or anywhere we can reference the results. We can use this to see the progress we are making and then compare against ourselves over time.

8. Have fun and enjoy the runs

Loving life when I am working the plan