WHO'S THERE?

Now my main concern is recovering from this race and this cold. I was completely wiped on Saturday. I took a nap late in the afternoon, which is usually a really bad idea if I have any hope of sleeping that evening. Well, it didn’t bother me Saturday since I was so tired. Sunday wasn’t much better, but I was able to survive without a nap. I’m finally feeling a little better. What’s a step above dog shit? That’s where I’m at now.

Basically, I’ve thrown Pfitz’s plan for the week out the window and am focusing on recovery and listening to my body.

I took Sunday off from running. Usually after a long race I’ll double up with a bunch of easy runs to help speed recover, while still getting in my miles. Typically, Monday would’ve been a couple of 5 mile runs. I managed one 5-miler in the morning. Since 9:00 pace hurt as much as 6:00 pace, I figured rest was more important than another 5 miles in the evening. This morning I made it 8 miles.

Anyway, rather than basking in the glow of my race, I’m trying to make sure I haven’t blown my wad 5 weeks too early. While I’ve entered a lot of races lately, I have raced all of them. So I’m guessing I’m still on the uphill portion of improving fitness. I’m just a little cautious because I remember running an awesome 10K early in my freshman season and then getting sick a week later. I never ran as well during the rest of that season.

I was trying to figure out some key components to (finally) racing so well. I mentioned the longer tempo runs in my race report. I think sprinkling one of those in per week during the winter really helped. In addition, Eric hit the nail on the head with his comment on consistency. Since building back up after Chicago, I haven’t missed any training due to injury. KNOCK, KNOCK. That’s 28 weeks, during which I’ve had 2 weeks below 50 miles (40 and 49). This week may be below 50 too, but that’s okay. Then I’ll have 4 weeks to focus on not screwing things up.

Quote of the day;

“You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming.” – Frank Shorter