Rest Is Best

Tomorrow's going to be awesome.

I had a great run today, all things considered. I've been having confidence issues related to my endurance lately, so I wasn't really looking forward to doing a ten-miler today. The fact that it came at the end of a particularly long work day didn't help. But I laced up and headed out.

The temperature had dropped since the hottest part of the day, but it was still rather toasty. I let myself take it easy and did my best not to push the pace. With about three and a half miles to go, something occurred to me that carried me the rest of the way. Tomorrow, for the first time in a very long while, I will be taking a planned rest day. That's gonna be nice.

So as I turned off my 8-mile course onto my 3-mile course, I smiled at the fact that I wouldn't be running it tomorrow. Every hill was smaller, every wind gust lighter, because I knew that tomorrow, I would rest.

There are very few problems for runners that cannot be fixed with a little rest. It took a little effort to overcome my pride and back down on my mileage, but the only real evidence I needed was to look at last April. I was shocked to see just how little work I had done before the best marathon of my life. Combine that with how quick (and yet effortless) my weekday runs have been, I know that I'm physically strong enough to succeed.

The struggle, at the moment, is that I do not have the mental toughness to succeed in the long run (no pun intended). My endurance is there, I believe, but my brain just doesn't believe that 90 minutes into the a run. I have to run near or over 3 hours at least once, and preferably twice, before I get to race day in just a few weeks. That means that I WILL complete my 17-mile course on Saturday, and a 20-miler next week. If all goes well in those, I will take my shot at 22-23 the following week before my taper.

My legs know I can do this. My lungs know I can do this. I need only convince my brain, and nothing's going to stop me. This weekend's going to be a huge success.

But tomorrow's going to be awesome.

Tuesday's workout:
85 degrees, sunny
10.31 Miles