Felicia, you bring up good points about cross training and especially strength training. I would slightly disagree on the mileage subject. I believe that pace has more to do with injuries than distance. Joe Henderson's book, Long Slow Distance, details how five runners increased their racing results by keeping mileage up and slowing pace down. One of those, Amy Burfoot won the Boston Marathon and another finished 4th in the Olympic marathon trials.

I have also researched training methods by the Kenyan marathoners and found that they run prodigious mileage but a full 80% of it is at a very slow pace.

The late Ed Whitlock was another that slowly shuffled through high mileage and still raced fast. He was the first person to run a sub 3 hour marathon at over 70 years old.

We each have to find our own way and the method that works best for us. I enjoy your articles. Keep it up.