Recovery Week

Last week was a recovery week and I have to admit it was nice not spending quite so much time running.  The only problem is that I feel more tired and sore on my recovery weeks than I ever do during a training week.  What gives?  I had 3 training weeks of 32 miles, 24 miles, and 38 miles followed by a 12 mile recover week, and I could hardly convince myself to get out of bed for most of my runs last week.  At least now that I'm about to begin another training week with a goal of 40 miles I actually feel excited to run.  I guess that's the point of a recovery week, to allow your body to recover before you beat it down again.

I had to shift around my training plan a bit to accommodate a trip to Hawaii in early September because I'm going to be the best man in a buddy's wedding!  I'm stoked about the trip, and hopefully an extra recovery week will help more than hurt.  I'll have my 1-year-old son with me so I won't be able to run while I'm HI.  It only equates to 6 days off, but I might still try to squeeze in a short run or two if I can get any of my friend's family members to babysit for awhile.

The week in Hawaii will mark the last recovery week before I put the pedal to the metal in my training for MCM 2012 in October.  I'll have two and a half taper weeks, but other than that it will be all hard running after Hawaii.  My plan is 40 miles, 42 miles, 44 miles, 46 miles, then start my taper.  I think I'm going to be exhausted after those 4 weeks, but I already worry that it's not going to be enough to get me the results I'm after in October.

It's surreal reading some of the blogs I follow where many people put in 60-100 miles per week, or more for the ultra-crazies (I mean that in the nicest way possible).  Hopefully I can continue to improve my endurance after the marathon and I'll find a mileage comfort zone to keep my running transformation going.  I started running with the hopes of completing the 100K Bangelore Ultra in November 2013.  It's still a goal of mine, but as I start to venture into uncharted territory with running it makes me wonder where my limits actually lie. Maybe I'll never break 60 miles per week, or maybe in a year I'll be one of the ultra-crazies I mentioned before.  I guess the only way to find out is to give it a try.

Running Summary for Last week:

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       2 miles; 16:05; avg. pace 8:03/mi
Wednesday:  4.04 miles; 37:50; avg. pace 9:22/mi
Thursday:      2.01 miles; 18:35; avg. pace 9:17/mi
Friday:          Off
Saturday:      4 miles; 35:45; avg. pace 8:56/mi
Sunday:        Off

Total Mileage: 12.05 miles
Total Time: 1:48:15
Average Pace: 8:59/mi

Happy Running!