Sunday, March 1, 2009

Life's highs

One thing I enjoy about running is learning about myself and, (i) what I'm capable of, and (ii) what my body prefers. Of course (ii) will change as your fitness level changes, but it's nice to see this progress.

For example, one thing I learned this weekend is that my body does not really like "time off." My legs felt incredible going into today's easy hill workout on the treadmill, but a little into the run they felt a tad stiff in the shins. Mind you, this was only with two days off. With the increase of my runs lately, I haven't had this feeling in a while until today. I really prefer one day a week off (or, if two, then they really need to be spread out--like Sunday and Friday with a longer run on Saturday).

I guess this past weekend, having Friday and Saturday off from running I felt like a bum. No kidding. I actually felt lazy, which is something I can honestly say I haven't felt in a while. But you know what else I haven't felt in a while? The feeling of running again. Ooohh the joy. I felt like a crack-head who has been off crack for a week and finally got himself a new needle in his vein. I felt strong on the incline and I just wanted to go on for hours. But I knew I had two days off in a row and I didn't wanna push it too much, so one hour was sufficient for today. Super easy run, but I needed that to "get back into it."

Let's hope the weather will warm up and stay that way. We've been getting teased with high 60's then -6ยบ wind chills. This is ridiculous. I'm ready for Spring and the shorts to be out for good.

Hope everyone's well.

2 comments:

Hone said...

I am the same way with time off. I took this weekend off to try to heal up before I get back into it. On my run this morning I felt worse than I did before the weekend.
I notice my dog is the same way. When he isnt out running everyday he kind of limps around and then when we get on it he has a lot more spring in his step. I guess active recovery is the way to go.

Anonymous said...

i can't count the number of times i've messed with a schedule for which days to run and which to rest. as of late, it's six days on with sunday off. more than two days off in a row, and my attitude tends to slide downhill. see you on the trail___mark

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