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UjENA FIT Club 100 Interesting Running Articles

Best Road Races and the UjENA FIT Club is publishing 100 articles about races, training, diet, shoes and coaching.   If you would like to contribute to this feature, send an email to Bob Anderson at bob@ujena.com .  We are looking for cutting edge material.

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Pleasanton: The Masters of Double Racing
Posted Wednesday, February 11th, 2015
By David Prokop Pleasanton, Calif., may be a quiet, relaxed community across the bay from San Francisco, but where Double... Read Article
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Champions of the Double
Posted Monday, September 15th, 2014
Peter Mullin has taken Double Racing® by storm. He broke the 60-64 age group world record in the first Double... Read Article
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Double Racing Has Truly Arrived!
Posted Monday, September 22nd, 2014
by David Prokop (Editor Best Road Races) Photo: Double 15k top three Double Racing® is a new sport for... Read Article
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Pritz's Honor
Posted Sunday, May 11th, 2014
By David Prokop, editor Best Road Races The world’s most unusual race met the world’s most beautiful place, in the... Read Article

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A Word on Training
Thursday, June 7th, 2012
Are you bored with Running?
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by Ujena Fit Club Coach Barry Anderson  Yes, believe it or not, it is possible to become bored at times with running. While we have discussed the importance of schedules in earlier articles to assure that we “hit the road” on a regular basis, there can be drawbacks. For many, each day of the week may become repetitive in terms of the type of workout, and the location. As an example, Monday may always be a 4 mile recovery run, Tuesday an interval workout on the track, Wednesday a 6 mile tempo run, Thursday a focus on hills and speed work, and on it goes week after week.

Workout plans such as these are necessary. They will provide the structure that is required to improve consistently as a runner and assure that you are incorporating the correct mix of aerobic, anaerobic, strength, and recovery workouts. What these plans sometimes lack is enough variety to help stave of the boredom that can come with repetition.

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Photos from the Bay to Breakers.  These runners do other things to keep running from being boring. Yes he juggled the whole way...even up Hayes Street Hills.  photos by Catherine Cross Ujena Fit Club

Based on our example of four days of workouts, here are some ways to add variety yet accomplish your training goals. On Monday, find a new 4 mile course for your recovery run. There are online tools, such as www.mapmyrun.com, that can help your easily locate and measure new courses in your area. It is a recovery run so enjoy the new scenery. Replace Tuesday’s interval workout on the track with a fartlek workout on a trail or road course. On Wednesday, if you are running a loop course, run it backwards. Or, make your tempo run time-based instead of distance based on an out and back course. If you’re running hills on the road, find a park or other grassy area that includes an incline—or if you have access to a sandy beach, substitute a beach run.

Use these simple ideas or find your own creative ways to add variety to your training program and you will reduce the chances of boredom creeping into your running.

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