Book is a treasure, but one thing I'm not understanding:
He recommends (I think more than once) running on out-and-back courses in order to neutralize elevation variation. But doesn't say exactly how that works. I don't have a page reference atm because I binge read it in one sitting like most of you.
Is he recommending, let's say for a 6x6min, running 3 reps out, and then 3 reps back. Or running 1 out, 1 back, repeat 3x? Or hairpin turning in the middle of the actual reps themselves? It's not clear to me.
I feel like the only way to truly neutralize elevation variation is to hairpin during the reps themselves, but that makes my hip hurt just thinking about it! So much to the point, when I run something like 3x10 on the rails-to-trails, I set my workout up with an additional 10 sec rest in the middle of the middle rep in order to execute the hairpin leisurely.
I prefer doing my quality stuff on a 0.4 mile loop around the neighborhood park (I call it my "ed whitlock course", could only be better if it were a cemetery), there's some minimal elevation variation but since all loops are long enough to cover the whole thing, is it really an issue?