May 23

AM: weights, core, stretching

Let me first say that I don't like taking days off from running. They usually make me feel listless, and there's the issue that I really like to run. It's something that's so routine for me at this point, I just get an uncomfortable "off" feeling.

That is, of course, unless I really need a day off, and I'm 99% sure that today is one of those days.

Excluding the days after Boston and my October stress fracture, today is the first voluntary day off I've taken in more than a year (4/25/07 was the last one...I had to go back and check the log). My legs have just been toast all week, and I'm concerned at this point that I might be overtraining/overtrained. 70-80 miles/week shouldn't be a taxing load for me by any means.

I got a good piece of advice from Klim yesterday:

"What you don't want to do (again IMO) is to run half-ass, grind through and feel like poopy for the next 2 months as you try and "shake" the legs free. This might work...but it also might not. Time is on your side...now."

And he's totally right about this. The occassional day off now will, I hope, mean lots of days "on" later. With the way the last few weeks have gone, I'm starting to get pretty concerned about the downward spiral of overtraining.

Fortunately, I feel like I'm only a few good weeks from being race sharp, so the 5k Monday and the 8k next weekend should be good rust-busters for me. I have to treat them that way at this point, or else I risk getting overly discouraged, which would just mean playing more head games with myself. Been there, done that already.

I desperately need to show some patience right now, or else I risk taking my running over the line from "healthy, fun, competitive hobby" to "grinding, frustrating necessity." For the time being, until training ramps up later this summer, less may actually be more.



I'm headed to Bethany Beach this afternoon until Tuesday for a much needed vacation and R&R. I literally dreamt about electric reliability statistics last night...how very sad.