The three day a week running schedule has been enough to get my mileage in and up, but not so much that I don’t have time to focus on strength training and other fun stuff like hiking. It’s important to me that I incorporate lots of cross training so that I don’t get bored or suffer an overuse injury. I’ve also loved and hated incorporating more hill training into my runs. Those days are very challenging, but make me much stronger for the flatter terrain days.

I had a minor setback the first weeks of training. The back of my knee was getting inflamed after my runs. I have great shoes that fit properly and are still in good condition, so I knew that wasn’t the cause. After a bit of research and experimentation, I figured out my poor hamstring was so tight it was tugging at the insertion point behind my knee. A bit of daily and post run stretching solved that problem. I must confess: I am HORRIBLE about stretching. This was a great reminder of how endurance, strength, and flexibility all have to work together for maximum results. My advice to you: don’t neglect the STRETCH!

Are you currently prepping for a race? How’s your training going?