I'll take it...

...as it comes. Runs like yesterday's fascinate me. I had planned to do 8.5 miles on the MLK Jr. - East River loop with the PhillyRunners folks. Found myself trotting along with John and Steve, two others from the group. They mentioned their plan to extend the group's route up through the hills of West Fairmount Park, and I was soon contemplating a 16 miler. I had tentatively planned 16 miles for today, but I decided to listen to my gut and get the miles in while I had the company. Crazy right? After whining all week about my left knee and ankle and coming down with a cold. Yet somehow I found it in me to get in an excellent long run. No ankle or knee pain at all. No sniffles. I guess the rest on Friday paid its dues. The miles ticked by fairly quickly as there never seemed to be too much of a lull in our conversation. My legs felt stiff after the run. You know, like I'd just run 16 miles. But I was amazed, and still am, at how easily I recovered post-run. Left me smiling for the rest of the day. 15.5 miles in 2:02, 16 including 1/2-mile warmup. Average HR a bit high, 169.


Today, on the other hand, was a different story. I'll preface with the fact that I feel good now. Good and tired, the satisfied kind of tired. But I'm not sure a 9.5-mile "easy" run in today's blustery conditions qualifies as "recovery" time. I waited until after 3 PM to hit the road to maximize the down time between yesterday's run and today's. My legs were snappy for the first mile or two, but I soon faded, and I knew what kind of run it'd be.

I typically run a medium effort (in terms of pace and distance) on Saturdays and reserve Sundays for LSD. Since I'd gotten my long and slow yesterday I figured I'd just flip my usual routine around. Apparently it's not as simple as that. Yesterday's 16 left me depleted, and shortly into today's run I was out of gas.

Difficult as it was to finish, however, I never really experienced any serious pain. More sluggishness than anything. Surprising as well since I'd expected some irritation in the left knee. My 152 average HR was also more reasonable than yesterday's. In the past few months I've experimented with ice baths, as I've found they help to alleviate the post-run crampiness I tend to experience. Today it was 9.5 miles in 1:18 and 12 minutes in the chiller.