When I first received my plan from Derrick I
immediately began reading through it and was struck by how much more detailed
it was as compared to my previous one. Derrick's plan was like a
thick, hot juicy pastrami and corned beef sandwich with Swiss cheese and Dijon
mustard on rye bread with a side of coleslaw and a pickle too in contrast
to the simple "slap it together" processed cheese and white bread
sandwiches I had been dining on. It was complex but not overly so. Each
ingredient seemed perfectly chosen to complement the others and my
mouth simply watered spontaneously at the thought of biting in to it. 
The plan was obviously custom made with
consideration to what I have done recently and in my past. The
transition from the old to the new appeared seamless and
natural. Derrick's plan for me not only addressed the distance of the race
I am training for but he has also taken into consideration the terrain I
will be racing on and the weather I will be encountering. I don't believe I
could find a training plan anywhere so perfectly suited to
my own specific needs that would include instructions for me to
pull a tire on a trail on Monday, churn out tempo hill repeats
on a treadmill set to varying degrees of incline on Wednesday and to
perform the middle portion of a 4 hour long run in snowshoes on
Saturday. 
As I delved deeper
into my 3 month plan each workout brought about a salivary response like one might expected happened
when Gretel came upon the Gingerbread house
in the forest. Like her I felt famished and wanted nothing more then to dive in and begin eating everything in sight. The descriptions of my long runs were like the spicy gingerbread shapes which alone seem simple but when fit together create a perfect foundation to build upon. The tempo workouts were the icing
mortar holding everything together and giving strength, the tire pulling and snowshoeing sessions I likened to the meticulous icing details which add depth and character and the
intervals were the candy decorations and the delicious finishing
touch to a masterful and tasty design.
Unfortunately the one and only thing I did find
distasteful about my new plan was that it doesn’t kick in until tomorrow. I am
now like a kid on Christmas Eve night waiting for Santa and morning to come, a
horse kicking inside his stall waiting for his door to open to be put out to
be pasture. I am a runner with a new training plan who must sit and must not
run and may do anything other than the one thing I want to do, and by now perhaps you've figure out what that one thing is... I WANT TO EAT
MY TRAINING PLAN!!"
