For some, it is just another day. For others, it conjures up images of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. It is a time to get together with family and friends. It is a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.

And for some, it may even be symbolic of the start of the holiday season, or the coming of Hanukkah, or the impending economic surge of the biggest shopping day in the nation, Black Friday.

Whatever you call it, and whatever meaning you place on it, today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a day of festive family traditions. On this day, people give thanks for a plethora of things. And I am no different in this regard.

It can be pretty easy to forget about, or just overlook, all those things that make our world brighter and more vibrant on a daily or moment-to-moment basis. And we all know that it has become far easier to find fault and lay blame than to simply tell someone that they have done a good job or that they bring something special to our world.

I think it is far more important to acknowledge the greatness in our world. If we all did this, I think the world would be a better place to live. I truly believe in being thankful for and appreciate the simple things in life that make our lives more vivid and much more passionate and loving.

So for Thanksgiving 2010, I present to you a list of things for which I am thankful:

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This is the 11th in a series of RunSmart videos. The series is on-going, with a new video released on a biweekly basis. These videos complement the material presented in the book “RunSmart: A Comprehensive Approach To Injury-Free Running”. The full series of videos can be found here. A compilation of the first 10 videos will be available on Vimeo as well.

For those of you that are interested in a more interactive learning environment, consider attending a Level One (half day), Level Two (one day), or Level Three (two day) RunSmart program. The Level One program is 4 hours and focuses on basic training principles and running mechanics. The Level Two program is 8.5 hours and focuses on injury prevention and performance optimization. The Level Three program is a two day, 15 hour program that includes a comprehensive approach to running injuries. The next Level One program will be offered in Austin on March 24, 2012. The next Level Three program will be offered in Reno, Nevada on May 5 – 6, 2012 at the University of Nevada.

In this video, I discuss verbal and mental cues. Many athletes try to micromanage their running mechanics - “place the foot here, don’t toe out, tilt the pelvis slightly” and similar biomechanical specifics. But sometimes a simple verbal or mental cue will suffice.

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Here’s a question for you: If the pre-season coaches poll put the University of Texas Longhorns football team at number 4 in the nation, how much do coaches really know about football? One would have to wonder, given the depths that this team has sunk to over the past few weeks.

At least the AP poll had them at number 5 – maybe sports writers do know more about football than the coaches do. This is something they have maintained for years!

Better yet, let’s extend this thinking a bit further. If the polls are obviously so skewed from reality (we can thank the Longhorns for making that readily apparent), then how can we use their “collective wisdom” in the BCS rankings when they obviously have no relationship to much of anything?

And with that in mind, I’m left with all of the questions surrounding the Longhorns this season, and, more specifically, the questions of coaching or lack thereof on this squad. Or how about the lack of pride – or perhaps the sense of entitlement - displayed on field? Or how about a combination of the two?

It probably goes without saying that the last two weeks for the Longhorns have been the next closest thing to abysmal. Actually, it extends far beyond the last two weeks. The roots are far deeper than that.

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One of the primary bastions of endurance sports training concerns “logging in the miles”. Many call this LSD training – LSD standing for Long Slow Distance.

I always like to keep one phrase firmly in the forefront of my mind - “long slow distance makes for long slow [insert here: runners, cyclists, etc]”. The human body adapts to the training demands imposed on it. With that said, if you are training at a slow pace, then it stands to reason that you will get really good at running at a slow pace. I have yet to meet an athlete that was training to get slower.

You have probably encountered this thinking before – put in a bunch of miles at a slower pace in order to “build your aerobic energy system”. This will then lead to gains in endurance sport performance – or so the theory goes.

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