Upcoming Three Races

So after three successive burps in my training I have finally been able to start my training anew. First I came down with a nasty cold that put me out for four days all the while it was raining, then I came down with another sickness shortly after I recovered from the first sickness, this one even worse and put me out of commission for a little over a week, and then it continued to rain for the rest of the month. A promising month turned sour.

But I would come back with a bang. Fully recovered just in time for next weekend. You see, I am planning an aggressive comeback, a weekend full of events. First on Friday will be a virtual run put on by Nancy, 9 on the 9th, one that I will use to work on my pacing. Then from there I will run a 10k on Saturday and work on my speed. But the big race of the weekend will be on Sunday when I run the Fatass Marathon in Los Gatos, my first trail marathon.

Might be a bit ambitious, and some may think I shouldn't run the two days before the marathon, but if I ever want to run the longer races then I will need to begin stressing my body and learning to deal with it.

So in preparation I ran 10 miles yesterday at an 8:21 pace, and then 6 miles today at an 8:08 pace. The point? To see how my body responded. I of course wanted to see how the 6 miler felt after 10 the day before, but the true test would be to see how my legs feel on Wednesday and see how they will hold up for the marathon. So tomorrow I will run a short 2 miles at the gym and that will be the true test.

And on a side note, we as runners often get caught up on the moment and think we need to run, run, run, as much as we can, every week, only taking a break after the event we had been training for. And the numerous marathon training schedules aid this, having you run, run, run all the way up to the race. But one thing I have always felt was take an extended break before the event, and not necessarily wait for after the race, and hand in hand with this is a rest during training. Being sick twice in a row, a dealing with rain for two weeks straight, forced me to take a week off without any running. And what do you know, the break actually felt great and my legs felt strong. The break in running didn't ruin my training, didn't set me back and force me to step it up or adjust my schedule.

The break helped, and I think runners should take more extended week long breaks during training to allow their legs to recuperate, not too mention their spirits. Breaks aren't only for after a race, but should be for during the training as well.

Anyway, hopefully things will feel great tomorrow. So far my legs felt good after 10 yesterday and 6 today, so hopefully tomorrow will tell me if I should do 3 races or limit it to 2 races.