Training Adam, 101

I've decided (after an outpouring of interest from those following this blog - I put the official estimate at half of my followers!) to do a short series on the training philosophy that I am following.  Parts of this may be wrong, parts of it may have been misinterpreted by me during my research, but I don't especially care.  What I'm doing works for me - I've seen the results.  I've just never been able to put together a consistent span of actually following the plan until now.

Today, a brief overview of what is to come, and a shot bit on nutrition (including beer!).  For those of you reading, feel free to blame this entire series of posts/pontifications on Alecia (tin can treader) - you practically slid the soapbox under my feet for me.

Broadly speaking, my training runs are broken down into the following categories (which will comprise the topics for each post):

Part 1:  My Philosophy, and Easy Runs/Junk Miles
Part 2:  The Long Run, and Days Off
Part 3:  Fartleks and Hill Workouts
Part 4:  Tempo Running
Part 5:  Interval Running, Speed Work
Part 6:  Warming Up, Cooling Down, Stretching, Racing

I'm going to try to post one per day.  I'll keep them short and to the point, as vague as possible in terms of science (since I don't always understand it completely myself), and as free from insults against other philosophies as possible (no promises on that one, especially if I see a chance for a cheap laugh).


Part 0:  Nutrition

This is the easiest topic for me to discuss, because I only follow a handful of broad rules:

1 - lots of fruits and veggies
2 - avoid fast food
3 - don't overhydrate
4 - don't stress about it

#1 should go without saying.  We should all eat lots of these, we all know it, we don't always do it.
#2 is another obvious one that Americans in general obviously don't subscribe to.  Why does Taco Bell have to be so damn good?
#3 is something that I've come to believe in through years of experience as well as talking to many younger runners.  High school middle distance runners have somehow come to believe that they need to drink 2 gallons of water/Gatorade a day to stay hydrated for a race that lasts 20 minutes.  They're young, they don't think, they should be excused for this - their coaches should not.  All that water only makes you have to pee more, or makes your stomach cramp when running.  You only need to drink when you're thirsty, or to replace lost fluids - such as after practice, or during a very long run.  You don't need a water bottle attached to your hand like a tumor.
#4 is my excuse for ignoring the other 3 rules.  To me, a specialized diet as a hobby runner is akin to buying expensive golf balls as a weekend duffer - until that's the thing that is holding my game back, I'm not going to worry about it or change it.  If you're training hard, you can get by with a lot.  Which brings me to the final point:

Beer.  Ah beer, how I love your cold, bubbly wonderfulness.  In my last post, there was a comment concerning beer - specifically, it's use in cooking and drinking.  Generally speaking, no, the cheap beers mentioned aren't good for cooking or drinking.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind using beer in cooking - real cooking, like making a sauce or something.  But I was making a pre-mixed, pre-packaged bread dough with it.  While the bread turned out pretty good, it still felt like a waste, tossing that empty bottle in the trash felt like slapping a childhood friend.  As for cheap beer, if you are drinking a brand of beer which is available in a can, you are either A) in college, or B) someone who really doesn't need to be spending their time and/or money on drinking beer.  Learning to enjoy good beer is a smart move, because the price keeps you from drinking too much of it.  And with that, I'll sign off till tomorrow.