Thanks!

Thanks for the guesses and encouragement! I'm hoping that sleep the night before a marathon is overrated, because not much of it happened last night for this marathon rookie. Got out of bed at 4:00 for a light breakfast and coffee. Looks like a beautiful, if not a bit too warm, day ahead. I'm a little nervous but also very excited. Even though there are MANY more races to come, it feels like the last few months of training are being boiled down to this one day (thus the nerves, I guess). I know that the earth won't leave its axis if I have an off day. Still, like all of us, I want the race to go according to plan and to be able to report a good result. But good or bad, it'll be here for the reading!

Again, thanks for joining me on this journey so far.

Monday Hill Run

Man, it's FOGGY this morning! It's supposed to burn off, but the mornings are starting to look and feel like autumn already.
I ran my favorite little 1-mile hilly trail around a local park this morning, for a total of 5 miles (40:11). I didn't intend to, but I ran each lap (mile) increasingly faster:

• 8:17
• 8:07
• 8:03
• 8:00
• 7:42

Finishing heart rate was 132. I felt surprisingly strong this morning, especially considering how horribly I slept last night. I felt like I was holding back, even on the last lap. I guess that's a good sign, given how wiped out I felt on Saturday after my 8-miler. This whole week will center around Friday's long run of 12 miles. I haven't run that far since 1991. I'm really looking forward to it!

EDIT: After posting this entry, I noticed in my "official running spreadsheet" that today's run put me at exactly 7,000 lifetime running miles. While that number isn't 100% accurate (I ran some modest miles during 7th and 8th grade track that weren't recorded, and about half of my '95 miles are estimated since I had a hard drive crash that year), it's what I'm officially recognizing. For someone who has run on and off for 26 years, that's a pretty paltry amount. Just goes to show how much time I've taken off during that time due either to injuries or disinterest (mostly the injuries). But it also means, hopefully, that I haven't beaten up my legs and joints that much, relatively speaking. Here's hoping for many thousands more miles of running to come!

Thoughts on Recovery

Today is a scheduled day off for me - from both running AND work. I made note on my Facebook page that this month, I've worked more hours than the previous three months (May, June, July) COMBINED! Although I must admit that in May, I worked a grand total of 9 hours. I'm self-employed, and with the current economy, my business has taken a beating. Fortunately, things seem to be turning around, for now, anyway. I say all this to bring up the issue of recovery. This month, as my work has increased dramatically, I've also increased my running mileage and intensity quite a bit. I don't know if it's just me, but I don't seem to recover as quickly as I think I should. Granted, I'm in my 40's now, have a family and, as I mentioned, have the stress of self-employment. Yesterday morning, I ran 8 miles at a fairly easy pace. It started feeling harder as the run progressed. I wasn't actually struggling to finish it, but I could tell that fatigue was setting in - more so than in previous long runs. I'm pretty sure that Thursday's speed session took a lot out of me. Yesterday I ended up taking TWO naps during the day. I was wiped out. I'd like to do some strength training today, but I don't know if I have the energy.

What are your thoughts on recovery - particularly if you're in my age group? How do you deal with balancing an increase in mileage and/or intensity with the need to stay fresh enough to run effectively...and not get injured and/or sick?

Rest Day

Well, I do feel a bit better this morning, but I can tell I definitely need a rest day. After spending several days out of town, not sleeping especially well and running a hilly course 3 times in 4 days, my body is sending me a message. After dinner last night, I laid on the couch to read and rest and quickly fell into a deep sleep. I ended up going to bed at 9pm. My throat isn't sore like it was last night, so I'm hoping it was just fatigue and not a cold. That soreness in my tendon behind my left knee is still there, so there's another reason to rest. Like I hinted at a few posts ago, the boost in running mileage after doing more cycling than running might take a more gradual effort on my part, given the injuries I've dealt with in the past.

If I feel up to it tomorrow, I'll do some sort of tempo/speed/fartlek workout, then maybe take Friday off, then do my long run on Saturday.