JUST A FEW MORE MILES...

There are two schools of thought about running the day after you race... especially if the race is of the longer variety like mine was yesterday. One thought is to not run at all and give your legs a break from the previous days hard effort. The second school of thought is to go out and get in a short, little run to work some of the soreness and stiffness out of your legs. I actually subscribe to both... it just depends on how I feel I guess. Since I have been putting in a ton of miles anyways, and since my legs don't get as sore as they used to after a hard race, I'm more for getting in a quick little run the day after. Don't get me wrong though, it's still takes a lot of gumption for me to get out of my nice, warm bed in the morning and force yourself to go for a piddilly little run. No matter how in shape you are, YOU ARE going to feel a little sore and stiff when you wake up in the morning, and your first few steps out of bed are going to give you second thoughts like: "How the hell am I going to run 3 to 4 miles when just walking to the bathroom seems like an Olympic event." Running the day after a race, even the shortest of miles, can be a greater challenge than actually running a race, but it's one that ultimately does help your body a bit. Even though your first few steps might be a little agonizing and achy, once you get warmed up a bit and your heart and legs get pumping, I think it ultimately helps to get some, not all, of that soreness and stiffness from the previous days race out of your body. But hey, if you want to subscribe to the theory of just resting and sleeping in the day after a race, I really can't fault you for that. After running a hard race, you deserve to sleep in and rest a bit. The sensible side of me wants to do that very same thing. The stubborn side usually wins out with me though, by saying, "Just a few more miles."

With that, I headed out early this morning to get in a short recovery run. The weather was very pleasant... nice and cool and sunny with a good breeze. Despite the Syttende Mai run yesterday, my legs felt surprisingly good. What noticable achiness I had quickly dissapated a mile or so into the run and I actually felt pretty good getting in the 4 miles that I did. It makes me feel good to know that after all the hard training and miles I've put in, that my legs are recovering a lot faster after a race than they used to. I AM taking tomorrow off though... I'm dedicated... not nuts!

A quick sidenote: after my run this morning, I met up with my brother Pete and we headed up to the LaCrosse/Onalaska area to play in a golf tournament with our parents. It was a somewhat breezy and chilly day to play golf but we had a great time playing 18 holes with our folks.

Today's workout: 4.1 miles > 33:13 > 8:06 pace

Miles this week: 50.4