Hi Trippers!

Decisions, decisions

A bit of a conundrum run this morning. Last Sunday I ran the OC Marathon and had a fantastic time. Now, according to my routine post race recovery schedule, today’s run should have been a very slow and fairly short run… say an easy 8 miles to ease my legs back into running.

However…

I also am only three weeks out from the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. And typically three weeks before a marathon is when I have my longest training run done at near race pace… something in the neighborhood of 20- 23 miles.

In there lies the dilemma. Long or short? Hard or easy?

Hmmm.

The magic word of the day was “compromise.”

Yup, I chose something in between. I decided on a shorter distance of 11 miles. But I also went at a harder pace, slightly under a 10 minute mile.

So, off I went to Griffith Park, sporting the “earned” tech shirt from the OC Marathon, for a little “me” time run.

At the beginning it didn’t seem like things were going to go as planned as my legs felt rather dead for the first 10 minutes or so. I even uttered an “Uh oh” to myself. But as the old running adage goes, “Never trust the first mile.”

I guess I just needed a little more time than usual for the legs to warm up and start clicking (figuratively, not literally). Once the “man gams” were finally primed, things went well.

It was a beautiful May morning and I chose a familiar route through Burbank and over to the Chandler Bike Path before hanging a U-turn and heading home. While I did feel fatigue creeping in a little near the end, all in all it was a good solid run and the right call for today.

And as for my continued prep for San Diego, it’ll be back to the gym on Monday and a my maintenance runs throughout the week before a long run of 18 miles next Saturday and then starting to taper as June 1st approaches.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to call your mom tomorrow.

Run on!