Confession: I Cheated, Sort of

I cheated? What?!? I mean I ran fast last night even though I'm taking it easy. I pretty much decided to take the whole week off, something I don't think I've done since I sprained my ankle back in my junior year of college. I haven't been lazing around, though: I've done some strength and core work, things that get semi-neglected when I'm really training hard. 

A real life benchmark

Anyway, I said I cheated and I did. Four times a year my team has a benchmark workout where we do several "tests" to see where each person is at in terms of explosive strength, heartrate recovery, and VO2 Max. The last one was in March and it was my first benchmark workout and since the next one won't be for three more months I didn't want to miss last night's workout.

Unfortunately, as any of you on the Eastern seaboard likely know, mother nature wasn't so cooperative last night. I poured for quite a bit so the track was pretty wet. That meant we had to modify our tests so the only one I can compare to the last workout is the VO2 max test. The good news? I improved slightly since the last benchmark. The bad news? My legs still felt like crap last night. That's okay, though. I'm going to use it as an excuse to relax on the beach this weekend, catch up on crappy television, and probably visit a couple bars I've been meaning to check out. 

I promise this blog will return to real running soon but right now I'm kind of enjoying my break. 

A Tough Decision, or Taking Some Down Time

I'm kind of starting with the end on this one. I'm going to post my Brooklyn Half-Marathon race report in the next day or so, but for now let me start with what I got out of this weekend: I realized something important on Saturday during the Brooklyn half, I need to take some time off of training.

Trying out my PowerPoint skills.

In December 2010 I began training for Boston 2011. After Boston (a PR) I took a week off and then began training for Bay to Breakers 2011 which was roughly one month later on May 15. Following Bay to Breakers I did take it easy for about two weeks, but then I dove into marathon training for Chicago which dominated the rest of the summer. After Chicago (another PR) I dialed back the mileage for a week but then ramped it up again since I was running New York. Although I ran New York for fun it definitely took a lot out of me. Unfortunately, about two weeks after New York I began seriously training for the Houston Half (not a PR). After Houston I began training for Boston 2012 (anyone who reads this blog or is even slightly connected to the world of running knows how that turned out). Of course, I took a week off after Boston but then it was back to training for Brooklyn.

The point of that long paragraph? It's been a long time since I took some serious down time. After a less than stellar performance on Saturday I've realized that I need some rest. Except for one workout on Thursday (a quarterly benchmark workout that won't take too much out of me), I'm not running at all this week. Next week I'll let myself run, but my rule will be no watch, and no schedule (though I'm doing a 3 miler on next week, the Wall Street Run). Basically, the plan is to pretty much take it easy until the Portugal Day 5 Miler. I'm not going to do any speedwork between now and then and I'm going to keep my mileage light and easy. I have a feeling this is going to be tough mentally, but I think it's what my body wants.

My Miracle Cure - Rest

Like many type A people runners, I don't like taking rest days but after my Achilles tendon started bothering me over the weekend I realized that rest was my only option if I want to make it to the starting line in Boston. Well, loyal readers (hi Mom!), I am happy to report that rest seems to be working.

I've been icing my tendon twice day, taking ibuprofen (though I'm weaning myself off of that that since I started taking it 5 days ago) and taping the tendon using KT Tape (jury's still out on this one, I'll report back when the verdict is in). After an easy test run yesterday morning there was no pain. I can't tell you how ecstatic I was to be able to run 5 miles and feel, well, nothing!

Today I decided to give a long run a try with a run to work. If I run the most direct route it's 9.1 miles but there are plenty of subway stops near my run. I told myself if I felt any pain during the run I would immediately stop and head to the nearest train. Thankfully, there was no pain. In fact, after working a few cobwebs off (after three days of no running and one day of slow miles my legs felt a little unresponsive at first), I felt really good. I managed a few marathon pace (MP) miles midway through the run.

As I got closer to my office I decided to keep going. Since I work in the Financial District where Manhattan comes to a point, I can easily add miles to my run by continuing down and around instead of taking the first turn-off for my office so that's what I did. The result, 12 pain free miles! I could have jumped for joy but I didn't want to push my luck.

Now I'm not naive enough to think I'm completely out of the woods--whatever was wrong with my tendon is not completely healed--so I'll be playing it safe for the next couple of weeks. I may even throw in some extra rest days, but for now I'm just thankful to be able to run!
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Today's Run: 12 miles at 7:30 pace. It was super foggy this morning: