Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Sunday, Dec. 26th - crossroads . . . decision time

This was my planned long run. For my long runs, I run by feel and try to find a comfortable pace where my form and technique feels good and natural but I don't actively try to run slow. However, I had to cut this long run short as I originally planned to run for a 10 mile run but I cut it short at 8.5 miles as I had a slight pain in my right foot.

If I were smart (which I'm not right now), I should have taken today off as my foot was feeling great this morning but it could have used another rest day to fully heal. I would have also been fine if I would have run a lot slower but I found a comfortable 7:30 pace which is a bit faster than I would like to run my long run as I would prefer to run in the 8:15-8:30 range but I'm gaining strength and it's hard to run much slower.

A 7:30 pace is about 1:30 per mile slower than my race pace (5:45 - 6:00) but I'd prefer a 2:00 per mile gap between race pace and my comfortable pace. I've hit a crossroads and this is partly the reason for the slight pain in my right foot. I'm at a point where my speed is increasing and I need to figure out whether I should slow down for easy runs or figure out what adjustments to make that will allow me to run my easy runs in the 7:15 - 7:30 range which is :30 - 1:00 min. per mile faster than my easy runs over the past 2 years. It took several years of maintaining a consistent weekly base of running to get to this point.

I know need to make some big decisions on where I want to go with my running. Due to the amount of racing I do and my training schedule, I'm maintaining more of a competitive running schedule vs. a recreational running schedule. If I'm going to continue down this path, I'm probably going to have to make some adjustments. I'm not sure where to begin so I'll start by looking at my running routine, form and technique and my footwear (yet again). It's one thing to run slower every day but the paces I'm running (at my age) raises a completely different set of issues I need to address.

HHH

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