Catching up...

Well, I ended up running on Saturday for an easy 5 miles. Without Yoga and with my week long eating binge since the half marathon I felt that I had to do something to burn some calories. I could really feel some tired legs. Also, Friday while setting up for the hotdog dinner at the pool I tweaked my lower back. It isn’t a major issue and did not hurt while I was running Saturday, but I think it and my tired legs were a sign that I needed to lighten up a little.

I just read today in my new Runner’s World that people typically cut back too far or go too hard after a marathon or half marathon. I think I went too hard. I tend to underestimate the toll my body pays for running at race pace versus slower long training runs.

I am going to dedicate this week to my eating plan and resting my legs. I took yesterday off and will take today off. Depending on how my back feels tomorrow, I will either do yoga or go to the gym for some cardio work. Wednesday I want to get a tempo run in since we have a 5K on Saturday. Thursday I’ll probably run at a moderate pace for 7-8 miles. I’ll then take Friday off and race on Saturday. I had originally hoped to set at 5K PR this Saturday, but I think that is out the window now. I’m just going to enjoy the run and see how it goes. Hopefully I will be able to move back in to my normal training mode after that.

Right now, I have the 5K on Saturday and a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving on the calendar. I won’t be able to run the Greenville News Downtown run in January because of a skiing trip. I am seriously thinking about running the Paris Mountain Road Race 20K in December. It should be far enough away from my marathon that I can recover and it looks like a REAL challenging course.