Pace Yourself

Scene from my long day on the bike.

Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment that comes with a long and challenging day of workouts. 40 miles on the bike, some brunch and bike cleaning, a strength session, 45 more miles on the bike, and 30 minutes of running – it was certainly deserving of a little treat when I finally got home. Such a solid training day always comes at a price: 90 miles and a snickers bar later, and I’m freakin’ spent.

This morning I was supposed to do another run with some hill repeats, but two things were standing in my way: a sore tibia (formerly a stress fracture), and some fatigued legs. By my lunch time swim workout, I was fine, but you gotta play it smart people. Living to fight another day is what it’s all about, and a knockout run workout with the potential of flaring up a stress fracture were not worth the risk. Tomorrow I have a rest day to go to NYC and watch my swim coach, Aaron Weddle, run the marathon, and my Monday I have no doubt I’ll be fresh as a daisy, and ready to tackle another challenging week of training. Had I run this morning, there’s a good chance that come Monday, my shin would have been too sore to do the full run, or I would have been too fatigued to hit the distances and intensities Will has laid out for me. Cutting back on the first day of the week is no way to do things – gotta start the week on the right foot. Or maybe I push through and I’m too pooped to nail the rest of the week. Either way I think passing on the run this morning was the smart play.

Of course, the smartest play would have been not to load all that work onto a Friday. But with the chance to support some friends through a marathon, and the chance to see a handful of good friends, this week’s atypical schedule is totes (that’s short for totally) worth it. Go Weddle! Go Quinn!