Thursday 12 April 2012

Easy runs

I love easy runs now. It was all about slowing them down. I also learned, finally, that after a hard workout not to trust yourself the next day. 

If you wake up after a race or tough run and feel too sore to run, it may be wrong to not run at all. If you feel like you could fly, eventually you will stall. Tried flying on easy day a few times and the next day was guaranteed a fail. So simple, so deceptively simple. Like tight-rope walking: can't go too fast, can't stay still forever. Plus focus. Maybe that's why headphones don't work for me; escaping from an easy run seems redundant.

Ever see "Man on Wire"? That's part of running. You don't see that guy listening to much music either. Complete concentration, yet he's relaxed at heart. I'm no funambulist, but at least I can strive for imitation. 
On Monday I did an 8-mile tempo. Felt nothing special later that night, just hungry. The next day I was not too sore, nor too jumpy. But that day I kept the easy run at a trot pace the whole eighty minutes, not knowing what to expect from myself when I stopped. And then it hit me. When I got home I felt all the tired from the previous day. If I had run that easy stuff too fast again I would have been in a bad state for Wednesday's practice. Instead I slept for nine hours. After Wednesday's practice and today's easy outing it was the same story. Hope again for that deep sleep that seems to come only the day after for me. Feeling tired already....zzzz