Quite Continental

Goal last week: 18 miles total (3 miles, 12 miles, 3 miles)

Actual mileage: 15.75 miles total (3.75 miles, 12 miles)

Goal this week: 20 miles total (3 miles, 14 miles, 3 miles)

Last week I was generally successful, managed to get in two runs out of the three I planned.  I had a good midweek short run, and my long run on Saturday felt great — 12 miles, but I definitely felt like I could have gone farther.  Luckily, the weather was a vast improvement from the previous week — probably 10 degrees cooler.

I’m hoping to attempt to increase my mileage to 14 this Saturday, but my right knee has been a little sore the past few days.  It begins to throb if I keep it immobile for an extended amount of time – so whenever I am sitting or sleeping – but it clears up once I get up and start moving around.  It doesn’t hurt when I run, so I definitely could attempt the long run, but I am a little concerned about turning an ache caused from slight overuse into a real injury.  I’ve been icing it and taking a low dose of an NSAID and I skipped my usual Tuesday night IntenSati class.

I am also debating whether I will enter the Bronx Half Marathon, which is in two weeks.  I know I can run the distance easily, but I am still on the fence due to the location and the course.  It would be a long train ride for a course that has double- and triple-backs.  I could always just run 13.1 miles on my own that morning, along the Hudson…

Tip #2:  Know when to rest
I didn’t go on my Sunday evening run because I just didn’t feel up to it.  That doesn’t happen to me too frequently, so whenever it does I take the cue from my body and rest.  Resting is important.  It allows your body to adapt and recover.  If you are in training you must schedule days for rest.  And don’t worry about losing all that you have worked for — you won’t lose momentum in your training until you have rested for two weeks.

Normally, I take off every Friday in order to be rested for my long runs on Saturday.  I used to be able to take Pilates on Fridays, but once my long runs got up above six miles it became very difficult to run the longer distances because my legs were already tired when I started.  I’ve since changed things around to allow total rest on Friday and it is one of the reasons why I have been successful increasing my mileage.

You can find a good article on the importance of rest here, courtesy of Runner’s World.

Happy running!