Day Before
Whenever possible, pick up your bib number, timing chip, and goody bag the day before the race. This way, you won't have to worry about rushing to get it on the morning of the race. (Added bonus - you will be more likely to get your desired race T-shirt size if you pick it up early!)
Once you have your bib number, pin it to the front of the shirt you will wear on race day. (Don't pin it to the back). Most races will have boxes of safety pins for your use. Take four so that you can fasten all 4 corners.
Dressing The Part
For race attire, consider some "throw away" warmups for the start. These will protect you from the elements if it is cold or rainy. Old socks can come in handy for keeping your hands warm. Some runners will even wear the t-shirt for the first couple miles of the race until they warm up and then pull it off and throw it away. This is a good strategy to prepare for all temperatures.
Once the race starts, you WILL warm up. Be prepared by wearing lighter clothes underneath your "thow away" sweats. A good rule of thumb: Dress as if the weather is 15 degrees warmer than it is. That's how much you'll warm up once you start running.
Hydration
Drink Gatorade (or any sports drink that doesn’t include protein) and/or water frequently to assure you are hydrated before the race. Clear urine is a good sign. At some point (usually 10-20 minutes) prior to the race stop drinking so you can empty your bladder before the start.
Breakfast
We always recommend eating breakfast and an essential, light breakfast is important on race day. 2-3 hours before the race, try to consume 200-400 calories of food you are accustomed to and can easily digest. Your body will need that fuel in the latter stages of the race.
Don't try a new food the morning of the race. Instead, experiment with different foods beforehand or stick to things that have worked for you in the past. The best breakfast foods contain both complex and simple carbohydrates and high-quality protein (in small amounts). Your breakfast should include some healthy fats, but also in small amounts.
Heading to the Start Line
There will often be race day traffic so allow plenty of time to get to the starting area. You will need time to stretch out, do a warm up jog, and use the bathroom. (Warning: The lines for the bathrooms at road races are always long. Don't wait until the last minute to go!)
Pace
Remember this is an endurance race and the key to success is pace. As soon as the gun goes off remind yourself that you have a long race ahead of you. Check your breathing, body tension and other physical markers to gauge your pace. If you are running faster than a pace you can maintain throughout the whole distance, slow down immediately. The goal of any successful race is to run every mile within 10% of your average pace.
Remember the 3 ‘C’s’
Confidence: Have confidence in your ability and your training. Remember all those hard workouts you did. Remember those early mornings, late nights, sore calves, tight hamstrings etc. - they weren’t in jest.
Control: Feel comfortable with the pace for the first 1-2 miles. Stay relaxed and controlled.
Collection: Keep your thoughts collected and on your objective. In the typical big city race there will be thousands of distractions along the way. The further you get in this race the more you need to focus on yourself, goals and race strategy. Don’t let the fans and competitors into your zone.
You Always Have One Cup Left
That’s right – you always have one cup of energy left. The difference is that some people find it and some don’t. Remember what normal, untrained people do when they feel discomfort – they slow down and feel better. You are not a normal un-trained person.
You are a running machine!
As a machine you will have to dig down at the end to determine if you will have a good effort that you can be satisfied with or not.
Go get that last cup!
In July, many athletes begin training in earnest for a fall goal race. We’re glad that this year, more runners than ever are doing so with runcoach.
A runner announces their new training cycle with a fresh pair of shoes brought home from the running store, or an acknowledgement they are about to embark on their first official long training run. Then, he or she often gets the fun questions to answer – Wow! When / how did you decide to run a marathon? Why did you choose that race? What time do you want to run? In contrast, runcoach wants you to be able to answer the questions no one will ask – Wow! What is your predicted half marathon time? Do you have access to a treadmill? Can you run on Thursdays?
In short, one of the significant ways runcoach is different than almost any other training solution is the amount of focus we place on you and your current profile, rather than your hypothetical goals and hypothetical self. Don’t get us wrong – we are completely invested in providing a path to progress your running as far as you can go. However, instead of taking a random target and working back from it, we take your actual current profile / performances (or if there are no current or relevant races, we instruct you how to produce a hard effort to approximate a race). From this, we forge an appropriate, sustainable path forward. Achieve mastery at your present level, then recover, adapt, and perform at peak productivity.
What if your goal was to break 4:00 hours for the marathon, but in 20 weeks, it turns out you might be actually better prepared to run 3:45? What if you had in mind a 1:35 half marathon time, but forgot to factor in the crazy hills and stiff headwinds notorious on that course. Goal setting is an important motivational cornerstone, but we know at runcoach that each person begins at a different spot – in their experience level, in their current fitness, in their weekly schedules, and in their natural strengths and weaknesses. Our system provides our athletes with a program that is unique to each person, because each person is indeed unique.
As with any new coach/ athlete relationship, initially an athlete might be skeptical if the assigned workouts differ from what is expected. Often we hear from runners who are used to a “go until you can’t go any more” approach to workouts, or a pattern of going hard everyday out on the roads. Other athletes have never followed a structured plan before and maybe sell themselves short on what they can do over various distances. Hundreds of thousands of workouts and successful goal races have reinforced for us that an approach including proper stress based on your current fitness profile, followed by sensible recovery, will lead to racing at peak performance.
Today, an aggressive approach and an ASAP mentality are present in many of the products we buy. It is easy to be antsy over a five-minute wait when you are used to getting your Starbucks latté made in two. Remember when traveling across the continent or the ocean meant a risky wagon or boat ride and the very real possibility that waving goodbye to home was forever? Now, we are grumpy when a five hour plane ride is delayed one hour. Patience is in short supply. At runcoach, we want you have fun answering the enjoyable questions from friends and family, but we also want you to be knowledgeable and confident enough about your present fitness to answer the tough questions as well. We’re ok being the ones with the answers to the unpopular questions, and we’re excited that as our athletes achieve these goals, these unpopular questions are becoming much less so.
At runcoach, we love the enthusiasm of runners fired up after a successful first marathon or long goal race. Many athletes find the cycle of goal setting, progressive workouts, and solid race performance to be an enticing combination, one which quickly beckons them again. As a runner becomes more confident in the ability to complete the training cycle, execute the race, and recover, he or she may begin to look further down the road and plan two or three goal races ahead. But, how many marathons are too many?
Each athlete comes equipped with an experience level, injury history (or lack thereof), and other daily commitments specific to them. Each race also has its challenges and advantages – course difficulty, transportation set-up, weather, etc. A tough combination of these factors might produce a decision to take things one goal race at a time, but if things are aligning well, we suggest taking about three-four months between marathons. At most we recommend 4 marathons per year.
Many avid marathoners have found a rhythm with an annual fall or spring marathon, or maybe two marathons per year with plenty of time to recycle and train between each. Other runners prefer to include goal races of different lengths interspersed between marathon attempts. That could mean a target half marathon in the spring and a big marathon goal for the fall, or a season of running shorter races such as 5Ks and 10Ks to work on speed, while leaving a longer distance race for later in a particular year. There is no “one size fits all” answer for these race choices, except our desire to make sure you leave enough time to train properly and arrive at race day ready to do your best.
It is not uncommon for runners to go through a period of time where enthusiasm is high and things are coming together so nicely a successful string of narrowly scheduled races can come off well. However, it is also not uncommon for runners to change that pattern by necessity only after something has not gone well or nagging soreness has turned into an injury. Your runcoach schedule is designed to progress you toward your short-term goals but also keep you healthy so that you can keep striving toward other long-term goals. It is far better to have six excellent experiences over the course of two years with more to look forward to, than three experiences followed by a long string of injury and uncertainty.
Yes, there are those that can manage a spectacular workload and race frequency, but there are also those who must take the greatest of care to arrive intact at one goal race per year. Most of us are between the two, and are hoping to continue our running and racing for years and decades to come. Stay patient, and keep a sane race schedule. We’ll help you train well, and together we can plan for many congratulations and “high-fives” ahead.
Each week on the runcoach Blog, we draw your attention to a different issue related to running. If you’ve never had a chance to really mine all the topics on the blog or if it has been a while, now might be a good time to revisit a few of the more basic topics we haven’t covered in a while.
Although you may prefer flat and fast courses, eventually you’ll need to scale a hill or two. Read up on our tips for getting both up and down here.
While the relative luxury of long daylight hours and seasonal temperatures have caused you to temporarily forget about winter running in the dark , cold, and storms, as well as the hot weather ahead this summer, it is never a bad time to review a few ideas for how to manage those more tricky weather conditions ahead.
Regardless of the weather or the terrain, while you are out on the roads, you’ll want to move more efficiently. Sometimes things we take for granted can make an impact if we invest a little energy in improving their effectiveness. Arm swing, breathing patterns, well fitting shoes that suit your feet – all of these can make a huge difference.
Even the most efficient runner must learn how to manage the occasional ache and pain, and wise habits to prevent as many of these as possible can help a great deal. In the blog, we have compiled some good advice from practitioners who have had a great deal of experience with common ailments such as achilles tendonitis , plantar fasciitis, sciatica, high hamstring tendinopathy, shin splints, and IT Band Syndrome.
When you finally get to the race itself, consider some of the factors that can have a big impact on your experience between the starting gun and the finishing tape. We’ve covered topics ranging from planning your travel, managing race day stress preparing for mental toughness, getting sleep the night before when nerves take over, and recovering when the job is well done.
Whether this is your first time training for a goal race or you have been running for decades, the details can always make a difference. A few minutes spent refreshing the basics can mean avoiding a much larger problem down the road!
40 years ago, the Boston and New York Marathons had only a couple thousand finishers between them, and the average running shoe was pretty spare (we’d say “minimal” today), without a great deal of cushioning and support. Today, the average wall of a specialty running store yields a bewildering array of shoes. Options include maximum cushioning, support, stability, and motion control. Meanwhile, New York will likely have upwards of 45,000 finishers this year, and the increased popularity of Boston means that having a qualifier no longer means you will actually be able to secure a spot in the race.
These trends are related.
The increased technological complexity of running shoe design has provided a gateway to the sport of running for many individuals who are outside the physical “ideal” for world class running. In fact, the definition of “ideal” itself has arguably been shifted as many recreational runners who strive for personal bests and accomplishment take pride in the capabilities of their bodies to finish, regardless of how fast. Along the way, the number of runners who may not be built for speed in the Olympic sense have been protected from injury by new technologies offering previously unheard of support and cushioning in a shoe. That said, the shoes they wear may also have unintended consequences.
One of the major ways in which the average running shoe has changed from a generation ago is the amount of heel cushioning coupled with a higher incline off the ground for the back of the foot. While many runners have a natural stride that lends itself to landing first on the heel, these shoes make it much more easy for anyone to land first on the heel. Here’s why:
Hitting the ground first with your heel can have a couple of problematic results.
Essentially, landing heel first isn’t the most efficient way to get from Point A to Point B.
Preferably for most of us, the first surface to touch ground on each stride should be the midfoot to forefoot, or right around where your shoe is the widest. This is for a couple reasons: one, it is really hard to land that far forward on your foot when your foot is extended out in front of you. In fact, unless you are a ballet dancer, it is hard to even walk like this. So, in order for you to land on this part of your foot, it will be closer to your body, or ideally, pretty much right underneath your body. This means that you will spend less time horizontally transferring your weight over your foot before push off, and can use the large muscles of your body to both land with everything aligned, and push off immediately, lessening the chance for the type injuries caused by your hip and knees absorbing chain reaction forces when heel striking. Two, if you are taking steps that allow for your foot to land under or close to underneath your body, you are likely taking more frequent steps, what we might call a quicker cadence. Although it might be tempting to think of long extended strides as the way to pick up speed, all that time in the air is just spent slowing down. So, a quicker cadence means you are likely making more rapid progress in the direction you want to go.
“Minimalist” shoes, which have come into vogue over the last few years, have a much lower heel profile. This discourages heelstriking Particularly for anyone who makes the big jump from a highly cushioned shoe into a minimal model without a gradual transition, the extra work required for your calves can be felt without much need for explanation upon waking the next morning. For some runners, these shoes are a good supplemental tool or solution if their bodies are ready for that type of transition and their stride naturally might lend itself to a more midfoot to forefoot strike already. For heel strikers, these shoes might be a supplemental tool to help encourage good posture and start to work on running form, but should be used with caution. If the support of the current shoe has been a positive injury prevention tool, it should continue to part of a runner’s arsenal.
Sometimes, we think of ourselves as a completely different brand of runner than the African athletes we might see at the front of the pack in races. However, when researchers studied the foot strike patterns of Kenyans, they found that those who grew up running to and from school without shoes were more often forefoot strikers than those who grew up wearing shoes. So, even among a group that we as recreational runners tend to see as homogenous, significant differences have been found based on their history of footwear.
While more research has yet to be done on this, what can we conclude about those of us who currently heel strike? Regardless of how our foot strikes the ground, we all want to move forward efficiently. Practicing short stretches (30 seconds or 2 minutes at a time, etc) with a quicker cadence will help teach yourself how to increase speed when finishing in a race and allow you to experiment with what it feels like to land more toward the midfoot. If you are a steadfast heel striker who has relied on padded shoes to stay healthy, quicker, more frequent strides vs longer, bounding strides is still the way to go.
In short, we are in an age where shoe technology has allowed more people than ever to run for recreation. Some of that technology has also reinforced not entirely ideal habits our body may naturally have, even as it allows to stay healthy enough to run at all. We may be content to enjoy the race from our spot in the pace or we may be anxious to move up the standings. Either way, mindfulness about how our foot strikes the ground and how we can increase our efficiency can allow us to have more fun along the way.
Take Care on the Trail this Summer!
This summer, the call of the wild might draw you out of the neighborhood into your local trail system, or vacation travel might bring you closer to nature and out of your comfort zone. What are some things to look out for when venturing forth on the trail?
Poison Oak / Poison Ivy
As the old adage warns, “Leaves of three, let them be.” For both poison oak (found mostly on the west coast with variants in the mountain region and the south eastern United States) as well as poison ivy (mostly found on the east coast), even a slight brush can cause a nasty irritation for the next several days. Poison oak can feature a reddish tint, while poison ivy is mostly green. Both plants have a surface substance that causes a skin irritation ranging from a row of small bumps, to significant swelling. While on the trail, take care to avoid plants that appear like these. If you do come into contact with poison ivy or poison oak the rash may take a couple of days to appear, getting worse through about five days after exposure. Then it can take as long as a couple of weeks to resolve in bad cases. The sap of the plants doesn’t dissolve into water, so it can be tricky to treat. The blisters on the rash won’t spread if opened by scratching, but if hands or clothes that have interacted with the resin at the initial site of infection brush other areas, the rash can jump there as well. Also, burning poison oak can send the poisonous material into the air, where it can even find its way into an unsuspecting nose or throat. Let your imagination run wild with that one – definitely avoid!
Snakes
Springtime means snakes are coming out from hibernation. They may be unfamiliar with their new terrain, and may be looking for sun while it is still not warm around the clock. Be on the lookout for them in places and at times along the trail where it may be warmer and sunnier than average. These include exposed flat rocks, sunny patches in an otherwise tree-covered path, and midday sun when morning and evening are still cool. If you do see one, leave a wide berth move slowly whenever possible. Snakes typically are not aggressive, but defensive, so avoid picking at them with sticks or letting others with you do the same, even if you think the snake is not poisonous. You never know.
Ticks
Now found more widely than the traditional hotspots of the northeastern and Appalachian Trail areas of the United States, these insects can cause great havoc if left undetected. Small and black insects (usually encountering humans in nymph form), ticks grab onto the skin and eventually deposit eggs under the surface, which can lead to all sorts of diseases, but most famously, Lyme disease. In an area where ticks are known to have been a problem, take care to wear insect repellent, light colored clothing (so ticks can be easily seen against the skin), long sleeves and pants (when possible in the weather), and to do daily checks so no ticks remain on the skin for any extended period of time. Symptoms include a bullseye shaped rash, fever, chills, and muscle aches
Lightning
Spring and summer months may bring warm weather storms to your favorite local trail or far flung destination. Without external warnings, you may be left to make your own judgments as to how to safely manage the situation if you have been caught unprepared . Keep an eye on the sky to get a visual glimpse of any approaching storm or lightning flashes. If the thunder has begun to close in rapidly (count seconds after seeing lightning until thunder sounds – then divide by five to estimate how many miles away), stay away from lone tall objects such as a single tall tree or open air picnic structure. If wearing / carrying a metal object, leave it aside for the time being and try to move to a low lying place (between two boulders or hills, among a bunch of lower trees, etc). If near your car, make sure not to touch any metal while taking shelter inside. Finally, wait 15-30 minutes past when the storm has crossed over to ensure you won’t still be in range of stray lightning.
Running on the trail can be one of summer’s best treats. Stay alert and make good choices which hopefully will allow you to enjoy yourself all season long!
Even the most experienced among us was once a rookie. Those of us who have raced for years at shorter distances can also feel like beginners when it comes to the humbling aspects of the longer events. Whether you are trying something new this training cycle or hope to in the future, read on to inoculate yourself against these common pitfalls.
Don’t OverEXPOse yourself
Two to three weeks of taper, deliberate sleep hours, and careful treatment of your body cannot be completely undone by spending hours walking and shopping at the expo on the day before the race, but it definitely won’t help! Resist the urge to spend hours walking up and down the aisles of the expo at your first big race. If possible, visit the expo two or three days before when there are smaller crowds. If you have things you need, like a particular souvenir for someone, some gel packets, or a container of body glide, look at the map before heading over. Then, stick to your list and keep a hard time limit after which you promise yourself (in advance) that you will leave. Combined with what may include lots of walking to get into the facility and any other activities you may do, minimizing the walking at the expo is in your best interest to keep the legs feeling fresh.
Read My Lips, No New Gear (the day before the race)
A rookie racer might be tempted to try cool new shoes (without breaking them in), a new pair of shorts (without testing if they will chafe), a new fueling item (my friend said this gel works really well for her!), and so on. The enticements of the expo can make this one even more difficult. As the saying goes, “dance with the girl you brought.” Your weeks and weeks of training have helped you to figure out the shoes, shorts, and fuel that will work best on race day. You’ll be a bit nervous anyway – no need to leave more to chance with the essentials!
Keep Anthony Boudrain away from your table
A fun new city, maybe a great dinner spot the night before your race…seems like a great time to ask the waiter what the “specials” are, right? Wrong. Running a marathon or a half marathon can be a gastro intestinal adventure with a number of twists and turns, and there is no need to court danger. Avoid adventurous eating the night or two before. Plan on eating food that your system will recognize and that you know will digest according to plan. Again, you might have some butterflies anyhow. Do not risk anything here.
Hydrate, but don’t overdo the water
One of the most common tips a newbie racer likely hears is to STAY HYDRATED. However, too much water in the final day or two before a race can wash crucial electrolytes from the system when they are needed most and leave you in the portapotty when the gun goes off. Balance your water intake with a sports drink your body trusts. Very light yellow or almost clear urine is a good sign you have consumed enough. If you proceed incrementally, you should only need to sip a bottle the morning of the race, thus lightening the near term load on your bladder.
Plan to Work and then Work the Plan
With a first big race looming on the calendar, a race plan or splits schedule towards a goal time can be helpful to ease the feeling of the unknown going into the race. When a big wave of adrenaline carries you out to sea on the first few miles of the race, do not fall prey to the urge to throw your plan out the window. Stick to the plan you have formulated when thinking logically and with plenty of time. If during the second half of the race you realize you have undershot the mark, you will still have a chance to finish strong. However, the reverse situation (going out way too fast and trying to hang on for dear life) can be much more difficult. Use your first race as an opportunity to try something new. This debut experience will then establish a baseline and create a springboard that will give you the confidence to move on to faster and more adventurous performances in the future.
Quick Guide to Running Lingo
Like athletes in many other sports, runners have a vocabulary that may seem completely foreign to beginners. Even experienced runners may be confused by some of the lingo. At runcoach, we’re here to help! Read on for a list of some common running terms.
For more info on specific terms used in your workout schedule, mouse over terms on your pace chart or contact us with your questions!
Negative Split/ Positive Split
Contrary to what these terms might imply, usually negative splits are more fun than positive splits. A negative split is when the second half of your run, race, or interval is faster than the first half. A positive split means you slowed down in the second half. It only takes a few painful positive split efforts to remind you of the difference!
Kick
This is a general term for the final part of the race when an athlete is really going for it. Another term used when talking about the kick might be “change gears.” The runner increases frequency of their stride cadence and embarks upon a faster pace or harder effort level. Don’t start kicking too early! Make sure you have enough energy left to sustain this pace through the finish line.
Shake-out
This term can be used to describe a run that is light and easy and done just to get the kinks out. We often describe the last run before a big race as a shakeout. You might hear, “I went on my three mile shakeout this afternoon, before heading to the pasta dinner.”
LSD
Although running can indeed provide that “natural high,” when athletes refer to LSD, they are usually talking about Long Slow Distance, which is known on our runcoach schedules as aerobic runs or Easy / Long pace.
Fartlek
Eeeew!!! No, no, fartlek is a term for “speedplay” in Swedish. It can mean a semi-unstructured run with varying periods of up-tempo running interspersed with easy recovery running. These days, fartleks are often structured, but unmeasured sets of work at a perceived effort, such as 8x 2minutes comfortably hard with 90 seconds of easy running in between each.
Hitting the Wall
No need for a definition if you have felt it even once. Hitting the wall can be described as a sudden and steep decrease in energy level and ability to perform at the previous pace due to the onset of fatigue, a lack of fueling, or both. Mile 23 is a fairly common place to “hit the wall” in a marathon. See “Bonked”.
Chip Time vs. Gun Time
In races where your time is recorded by wearing a computer chip that is read while traveling over mats along the pavement, you will often be given 2 different times in the race results. The gun time is the time elapsed since the race was started,. The chip time is time that begins when you actually cross the starting line mat.
PR or PB
These stand for Personal Record (usually US speaker) or Personal Best (usually everyone else).
Taper
The portion of your training cycle where you cease the really difficult workouts and attempt to get cumulative rest with lighter workouts while preparing for an upcoming race.
Bandit
A competitor running in the race without having officially entered.
Rabbit
An athlete charged with setting an early pace for the benefit of (usually) the top athletes in the race. The rabbit usually then drops out at the agreed upon time, although there are examples of races where the pacer continued on and won!
Downhill running may seem like a breeze, but runners hoping to do it effectively should consider a few tips before heading down the mountain.
Avoid stepping on the brakes
Instinctively, most runners heading downhill will extend their foot out in front of them on each stride, essentially braking themselves and preventing themselves from losing control. If on a steep hill or an area with uneven ground, this may be necessary as a safety precaution, but if on a manageable grade, this puts needless stress on the knees, hips, and quads. Instead of concentrating on slowing down via longer slower steps, try to land on the foot as similarly as possible to your regular stride. What would qualify as good running form on flat ground also qualifies downhill. Try to replicate it as much as possible.
Lean in!
It is difficult to make up ground or extend a lead over others on an uphill grade. With such a steep cost required to extend or quicken each stride, the benefits may wash away in fatigue by the time you reach the crest of the hill. On the downhill, the cost and effort is much less, and effective downhill running can provide an opportunity to change the dynamic of a race by the time level ground is reached. To run downhill effectively, you must lean forward in the direction in which you plan to go. On flat ground, the ideal body posture includes an ever so slight forward lean from the ankles. Maintain this on the downhills. This lean will also make it easier to take more frequent steps and avoid landing with your foot out in front of you, absorbing needless stress.
Pick up the cadence
The only way it will be possible to both land on your foot similarly to when running on flat ground and to lean forward at the same time is to quicken the cadence of your strides. A more rapid rhythm in your stride will help you accomplish the form cues you need to minimize needless stress and possible injuries to your body. It can also be a catalyst for you to implement these form cues to keep up with your stride rate once you have adjusted the mental metronome.
Confidence will take practice
Most runners internalize and repeat a more defensive downhill approach due to an understandable desire to stay upright and avoid just tumbling down the hill. It can pay dividends in a hilly race to consciously practice downhills of varying grades to build confidence with the feeling of leaning into the descent. Golf courses (when available to run) can be a great location to practice a more aggressive approach without a large contingent of observers and with a forgiving surface.
Although many races have famous hills – Boston’s Heartbreak Hill, Bay to Breakers 12K’s Hayes Street Hill, and the Doomsday Hill at the Lilac Bloomsday Run, many experienced athletes will cite the effective management of the downhills in these races to provide the crucial difference. At the Boston Marathon, it can be seen some of the pros running with“reckless abandonment” while navigating the final five miles of net downhill from the top of Heartbreak to the finish. This takes practice, particularly if “reckless abandonment” is not a typically appropriate description of your running style. Choose some low key tune up races with hills, include hilly terrain on a regular basis during workouts, and stay mindful of your form. This can help set aside some of the fear of falling and focus more on getting to the finish line as rapidly as possible.
Whether contending for a win at the Marathon Majors or hoping to just complete your first marathon or half, avoiding injuries and working out effectively is a shared goal by all. Reckless abandonment may continue to prove an inappropriate description for your approach down hills, but by using just a few tweaks to your approach, at the very least your PRs might have a shot to improve!
