The training plan that I’m following uses 3-week “mesocycles” that have a resting week between them. The three-week period leading up to Week 7 is one of the best running blocks I’ve ever done. The weekly volume during the cycle progressed from 65 kilometres to 80 kilometres, with approximately half of the mileage getting accumulated over the weekend runs, which in and of itself may not be anything to write home about. What makes this mesocycle special is that I didn’t feel any pain or even fatigue during the runs. That’s very unusual to me and bodes well for the upcoming weeks.

What explains this lack of pain and fatigue? A big part of the puzzle is likely to do with the training approach. Compared to other training plans I’ve done in the past, the Evoke Endurance method has two differences, which are closely related to each other:

• The plan places a lot of emphasis on muscular endurance workouts, which are done in a controlled way in a gym; and
• because of the author of the plan believes that the benefits of hard interval training can be achieved via those muscular endurance workouts, the plan doesn’t involve any fast running during its base building stage.

Given that I’ve triggered several running injuries in the past in the middle of fast (to me) intervals, it’s obvious to me that these are important factors.

A third factor is that I’m able to run on trails whenever I want, because San Diego has Balboa Park, which in my completely unbiased opinion is the best urban park in the United States. Running on a varied terrain helps to avoid injuries caused by the repetitive pounding that’s an inevitable part of road running. At the moment, I’ve settled on a rhythm where my runs during workdays are done fairly late in the evenings and on roads, while the weekend long runs take place early and on trails. This works out to about 50/50 split between road and trail running.