You've heard the usual recommendations for so long that you accept them as gospel. And most of the advice is solid. Who can argue with putting in mileage, peaking for races and stretching after a run? But just because many coaches, sports
, swimming, and weight lifting are great most of the year, as part of low-key training months when your main goals are general fitness and injury prevention, but the heavy training month before a big race needs to be a month of living a little dangerously