Easy Ain't So Easy

After Sunday's 22-mile run, I wasn't sure if I should brave a run today or if I should give my legs another day to rest and recover. At first, it looked like life would take care of that decision for me as I was suddenly swamped with work and family duties. I didn't have time to squeeze in a run, even if it was a short three-miler like I'd planned.

I had a soccer game to ref in the afternoon, so that would nix any afternoon run possibility. Since I don't like to run in the afternoon, that wasn't that great of an option but one nonetheless. However, it's been raining hard here in Southern California, and I really wasn't sure if I'd have a game or not. I called the school in the morning but they said the game was still on.

After picking Kennedy up from preschool and a quick stop at the grocery store, I came home and had enough time to eat lunch, change and get my stuff ready for my game. It was raining sideways at this point but the game was still on so I hurried to my mom's house to drop Kennedy off. She had the task of picking Yvie up, but while I was there I got the call: no game. Not sure if it was the flash flood watch, the tornado warning, the lightning or the torrential downpour that was the decisive factor but the game was called.

I went to get Yvie after all and came back home. So, I suddenly had time. And what to do, before tackling dinner?

Run.

I got the treadmill out and figured I'd take advantage of the extra time to get in my recovery run. I settled on three miles, even though I thought about four.

Lately, when I've gotten on the treadmill I've had a hard time getting off. Four miles have turned into five, 45 minutes have turned into 60 and my short runs have turned into longer short runs. But today I wanted to stick to three miles because I was sort of pressed for time but also because I've never recovered from a 22-mile run before so I didn't want to run too much and have it come back to hurt me or anything.

It was a tough run. It wasn't easy to keep the speed down. I wanted to crank the 'mill up to 6.5 or so, which is a comfortable pace for me (I think that's a little north of a 9-minute mile) or faster.

In the end, I ran three miles on the nose in 31:10. I was able to track my heart rate (more on this later this week) and it never got higher than 155. I tend to run in the 170s when I'm running normally, so that's definitely an "easy" run.

It was a tough time all the way through because I had to keep from giving in to the desire to stretch my legs. Oh well. I'm planning on a longer run Wednesday, and won't limit myself too much.

Good news is, though, my legs feel great!

Dinner, by the way, was wet chorizo burritos with Mexican Rice. YUM!