It’s been a little while since my last proper break from running. Over the past 13 months, I think I’ve taken a total of 9-10 days off including a week stretch in May when I was sick. This is by far the longest I’ve gone without taking a good 2 weeks to completely recover from all the nagging injuries that come with running. Really, there is never a good time to take a break since there is always a race coming that you would like to do, but sometimes, your body makes that choice for you.
I’m coming home from the US 20k Championships, which is now the site of one of my biggest blow-ups to date. My plan was to go out somewhat conservative and work my way into the top 5 towards the later stages of the race. I was actually in good position to execute the plan for the first 5 miles. The lead pack was a manageable distance away and runners were starting to come back. By 5.5 miles, I was completely cashed. The legs weren’t responding at all, and I started going backwards in a hurry. In hindsight, the 20k was probably a little ambitious after running a fairly tough Half Marathon 2 weeks before. Obviously, my legs didn’t recover in time and if I had to do it again, I would have skipped the 20k and focused on the 5k Championships that will take place in 2 weeks. Hindsight …
The Half Marathon I mentioned happened in San Diego 2 weeks ago. I ended up placing third with a time of 1:04:20 on a course that had some serious hills (up and down). I was hoping to run a little faster going into the race and was on track at 10 miles to do so (around 48:00). However, the biggest hills came at the end of the race and put a hurt on everyone. Overall, I was pleased with the result since it was a Trials qualifier in the marathon. Now, the focus will shift to preparing for the Trials in January and hoping my body will be able to handle the training necessary to do well in a marathon. We’ll see.
Also, my wife and I had our daughter August 6. Here she is:
