Mark ran cross country and track in high school, but did not fully understand the underlying reasoning behind the teams’ training schedule. Attending the University of Oregon, he was not at the caliber required for their running teams, so he started racing road bikes with the cycling club and found a heart rate-based training manual. This manual laid out an entire years training schedule with macro and micro cycles — he was hooked on a well designed yearlong plan. Graduate school saw more cycling and post graduate work saw the demise of much exercise at all, but he now has a beautiful daughter, wife, and a decent job as a result. Recent changes in work and family life have afforded a few extra discretionary hours a week, so Mark decided to get back into running, and he’s found another training manual such that he finally understands the point to each workout. His ultimate goal is to beat his high school cross country PR as a master’s runner. Shorter term goals include a sub-3:00:00 marathon, sub-37:00 10K, and sub-17:00 5K.