"Feelin' All Right, Oh Yeah": Post-Manchester Week #1

Having survived the Manchester pacing experience despite the inauspicious buildup, a funny thing seems to have happened.  I feel like I've "come out the other side" of the weirdness of the past few weeks, at least in terms of the that hard-to-define physical feeling of simply being a bit "off".  While things aren't 100% normal (whatever that may mean), it's as if my system needed a long run - say, 26.2 miles at about 8:23/mile pace - to find its equilibrium.

Here's how the week looked:

• Monday - 30 mins recumbent bike, very little resistance
• Tuesday - 30 mins recumbent bike; light weights, stretching and core
• Wednesday - 4.9 miles easy
• Thursday - 5.2 miles on trails
• Friday - 5.9 miles
• Saturday - 5.25 miles on trails
• Sunday - 12.25 miles, with about 5 on trails

All my mileage was "easy", with an average pace for the week of about 9:00/mile.  That's actually pretty good considering the trail mileage.  Most importantly (to me) is that I feel good overall.  I've vowed to get my base mileage back up to ~60 miles per week, but will not run anything fast unless and until all residual soreness is gone.  I paid dearly for pushing the pace on that 10-mile run on October 24th, and do not plan to make that mistake again.

This week, I expect to be around 50 miles, though it's already shaping up to be a busy one.  Aren't they all, though?

There's some personal stuff that's really gnawing at me, and I'm going to need to deal with it.  Details are not really appropriate for the blog, but I will share that I've been doing a lot of soul-searching, about religion/spirituality, priorities, connection, meaning, love, etc.  Of course, such reflection generates multitudinous questions but precious few answers, at least early on in the search.  So, once again, the lessons of running are instructive: patience, discipline, hard work . . . .  Knowing when to push and when to back off, though, may be the key to figuring out what twists and turns my life will take going forward.

Thanks for reading. -ESG/Ron