The shorter days of fall have hit me by surprise. I feel like I am not riding my bike hardly any at all. I have started running quite a bit more since I can squeeze in a good run in an hour's time before it gets dark outside. I've also been hitting the track at Vestavia and the Lakeshore Trail to avoid traffic and minimize the risk of running in darkness.

I did only a few training runs this summer. I realize now that if I want to run in the summer, I will have to get up at sunrise to run, and I'm willing to do that next summer.

My times in the races reflect my lack of training. I can eke out slightly over an 8 minute mile during a sprint triathlon with no training. I could potentially realize the largest time savings by working on getting faster. Over the last three weeks, I have been putting in two or three five mile runs per week, and the October 1 duathlon results proved that just that small amount of training has improved my time. Late in the summer, I ran a seven minute mile and then a second 7.5 minute mile afterwards. In the duathlon, my first three miles were run at a 7.5 minute pace. With some speedwork I think I can get my average speed down to seven minutes. My body seems to respond quickly to run training. I am somewhat diminutive in size (5'5", 125 lbs), so I should be able to use this more to my advantage.

This fall, I decided to work on running. Actually I have no idea what the correct technique is or the best way to do intervals. Running at my pain threshold seems to be helping, though.

I need to read a book on running. I subscribed to Runners World a couple of months ago.

People sometimes ask me, "How can you enjoy running? It sucks." I don't enjoy running nearly as much as cycling. It is not a social sport and it involves constant pain for most of the run. But there is something nice about it - it seems to cleanse me of my stressors. And I love making progress. Every time I can prove that I ran faster, I feel good about it.