I’ve been really good and worked really hard this season because I’ve never done a marathon and want to ensure a good finish. But we’re a little past the midpoint of our training season and I have a gap in my schedule filled with things that are bad for my training.
The first thing is this weekend. I’m spending three days on my feet at the Outside Lands music festival. I really wanted to run this morning to follow the training schedule, but I am so drained and my feet are so sore that I think I’d better not push myself. I might over-extend my training, dehydrate and cramp up (these festivals are known for drinking beer, not water) or just wear myself down and get sick. None of those things would help me in the long run (no pun intended).
So, I’m going to listen to my coaches, who’ve been saying, “when in doubt, don’t,” for the past two weeks. Maybe I’ll get an extra run in on Monday evening to kind of make up for it.
The second thing will be my annual camping trip with my old college buddies. I’m supposed to run 14 miles the weekend it’s going on. These things always turn into a multi-day drinking marathon, so there’s no way I’m doing it during or immediately afterward. So I am trying to figure out a way to do that before my trip.
If you’d have asked me three years ago if I was going to plan runs around my vacations, I’d have thought you were crazy. Now, it appears as if I’m the one who’s crazy!