“The Young Man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions” wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes. Coaches, Experts, Friends and Fellow Runners all seem to agree that “slowly and carefully ramping up your mileage” is a reasonable approach for our training. Just as the mighty oak begins it’s life as a weak and tiny acorn, my return to the road has to be rooted a slow and cautious increase in miles and duration. A tree isn’t ruled by a ten percent growth rate. I’m not trying to convince you to follow or ignore any rules but I do think that we should train with the patience, strength and persistence of a tree. Maybe, the best way to increase my mileage is to just get out there, running down the road ignoring time and space, and focusing more on living my life the top. Links: Thanks to Coach Jeff Smith for sharing his thoughts on training and the 10% rule. You can hear much more from Jeff over at http://www.coachjeff.com.au Intervals between episodes and the complete conversation with Coach Jeff can be heard over at steverunnerblog.com Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com The song “Run” was by Stephen Fretwell off the album Magpie. Check him out at http://www.stephenfretwell.com. Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/ Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com and RunKeeper.steverunner.com. ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts. Thank you: Vera, Katie, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, James, Norm, Simon, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Trey, Steve, Angie, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Jim, Joe, Martin, Rich, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Andrea, Brad, Dave, Desiree, Jens, Claudia, Jill, Elizabeth, Pat, Marc, Evelyn, Chris, Dino, Michael, Clay, George, Matthew, Terence, Tom, Louis, Toni, Margaret, Janina, Joe, Fred, Joerg, Erik and Wendee. {http://support.steverunner.com} Follow me on: Blog: SteveRunnerBlog.com Stream: http://stitcher.steverunner.com Apple App: http://iapp.steverunner.com Android App: http://android.steverunner.com Support: http://support.steverunner.com Health: Health.SteveRunner.com Running: RunKeeper.SteveRunner.com Video: YouTube.SteveRunner.com