December 21, 2007

Friday, December 21, 2007
Another late-night struggle. After several hours of intense (Simpsons inspired) soul searching, I decided the psychological stress of sustaining a streak of consecutive training days was beginning to outweigh the benefits. It would probably do me some good to take a day off, and today would be a good day. I still feel lousy - sneezing, coughing and dripping all the live long day. What a relief to be able to slug out all night and fall asleep early. Of course, I was imagining this sense of relief while donning my running gear and stretching. Despite my immediate desire to chill on the couch, part of my brain had considered how I would feel tomorrow, and next week, and next month. Which would I ultimately regret more, running when I felt like relaxing, or missing a day I could have run? D’oh! I don’t recall ever regretting a run, and I’ve gone on over 7,000 of ‘em.
Once on the road, though, I decided to make the run as short as possible. What’s the shortest run which I’d count? About 2 miles. So I ran one mile out and back. But as I was nearing the house, I figured there was no way I was running slower than 10 minute pace, and my definition of aerobic exercise requires more than 20 continuous minutes. So I tacked on an additional .4 miles just to make sure.
I didn’t get out until after 9:00, but it was a nice evening. Maybe 15 degrees, no wind, bright sky. You know what would have happened if I decided not to run? I would have regretted it sooner rather than later and gone out at 11:00 or 11:30 instead.
My feet and legs feel great. Of course, at about 30 miles per week, they should. Based on experience, my risk of overuse injuries becomes significant at about 45-50 miles per week, a level I shouldn’t approach until mid-March. If I’m careful (and my 6 month schedule is very conservative) and lucky I should be able to reach 55 mpw by mid-May without overuse injury. Then I plan to start serious training (race preparation) for the fall racing season.