80/20

    I've been reading a book called 80/20 Running. The concept being that you do 80% of your training at an easy pace, and 20% at high intensity. It does cite a number of reputable studies done over the decades to back the concept. The studies are done on runners, as well as cyclists, swimmers, and triathletes. Of course I am intrigued.
    This season I have struggled with injuries, as I have lamented too many times in too many posts. I have also felt like my recovery rate is not what it was even a year ago. I don't know if I hit some magic milestone of age or hormone level that has my body suddenly being far less cooperative than usual. I seem to have considerably more muscle soreness, and joint stiffness, and my energy level is a little under par. It could be my job, standing around on concrete all day is a bit grueling. I have been doing more HIIT and Tabata workouts, which may contribute.
    I was subscribing to the school of thought that if you can't go long, you can get similar results with short, intense, explosive work. The problem is that my body feels more like it is imploding than exploding. It has been taking me days to recover from leg day. My upper body seems far more capable of taking abuse than my legs and hips are. My body is my lab, I am experimenting continually, trying to find the perfect formula ultra-endurance.
    Reading the 80/20 book has got me thinking back to my first year of triathlon. I was coming fresh off of knee surgery, meniscus repair (the doctor said he couldn't fix the rest of it without total knee replacement *boo*). The physical therapist told me I should never run more than "the occasional 5K." Of course, I wasn't going to totally take her word for it. It was her follow-up comment to that statement that struck a chord, "but you can swim and bike as much as you want to."  Well, now. That was all it took to remind the inner me that I wanted to do an Ironman. So, that was the first step towards triathlon training. The reason I bring this up, is because that was the first time in my life that I started to think of myself as a runner. I actually ran quite a bit, and entered a number of races. That first year I ran in absolute minimal shoes, the Zemgear Terra. They have zero cushion. Zero. Just a rubber sole about 1/4" thick. I ran my first 10K in them. I ran my first trail run in them, and bruised the bottoms of my feet on the jagged bedrock of the Multnomah Falls trail. But I never had any knee problems. I also ran slow and easy, with very little high intensity work.
    My second year of triathlon training I ran a lot more. Still slow and easy for the most part. I did mostly trail running, in the Merrill Trail Glove. Also a bare minimum shoe, but with the benefit of a rock plate in the sole to prevent bruising. Still, no knee problems. The one problem I had that year was from going too long too early. I ran two trail half-marathons, two weeks apart, and got some weird over-use muscle strain that was the root of my leg cramps in my half-Iron at the end of the season.
    So, where I am heading with this is the fact that when I was first starting to run, I was going slow and easy. Very slow. Maybe it is time to go back to the beginning, start in with slow and easy. Minimum shoes, and see where it goes. I know, I know, I have been obsessing about this very topic for some time now. But g'damn it, you can't do triathlon if you can't fucking run. And you can't do an Ironman if you can't manage marathon distance. So, I'm going to start fresh, with 80/20 and see what happens. I does kinda make me want to get some new, minimalist shoes to cheer me up, add them to the pile (yes, I am a running shoe whore *shhhh*).