Recovery is one of the most important aspects of running, and one that runners often struggle with. One helpful way to monitor your recovery is to grade your workouts. After completing each run, give it a grade in your training log: for example, great, good, fair, or bad. Three consecutive bad days indicate that you aren't getting enough recovery to perform adequately in workouts and should rest or take it easy for a day or two. A full week without any good or great workouts indicates the same.

The primary logistical barrier to exercise is time. Lack of time is the most commonly cited excuse for not exercising. But surveys suggest that those who exercise regularly are just as busy with their jobs, families, and other responsibilities as those who don't work out. So the time excuse is just that: an excuse. We're all pressed for time, yet we all have time for our highest priorities. If exercise is important to you, you will find the time to do it.

Is it just us, or is autumn the best time of year to be a runner? Still warm enough for shorts (hopefully), but just cool enough to inspire you to pick up the pace. And you've taken advantage of the long summer days to log more miles or train for a race, so you're more fit than you've been all year. But this otherwise ideal season is fleeting, and without the right focus, you could lose all you've gained as winter rolls around. So make the most of your summer fitness and build on it. Lots of runners get motivated by choosing a race as a goal, but use whatever target works for you, whether that's building up to your first 10-mile run, running five times a week, or logging 100 miles in a month. Keeping it all going through the lovely autumn is the key to staying with it through the more challenging winter.