OF SCRAPED CHEST, LEG CRAMPS AND RAW TOES

Cutting back for a few days. 

I’ve run three “twenty mile jaunts” in the past two weeks. 

My chest bears two red lines where my running bra etched scrape marks. A leg cramp hit with the sudden impact of a gun shot, jerking me up from a nap. My little toe is rubbed raw. 

So, I cut back to eight miles Saturday and twelve miles on Wednesday. Of course, I sneaked in a twenty on Tuesday. 

Why the heck go so many miles? I ran my fastest marathon when I’d completed just one 18-mile work out.  

This time, my volunteer coach, Jake, told me that I’d gain endurance with 50-mile-weeks so, for the first time in my life, I’m counting miles. Turns out I can make myself stay upright for enough hours during the week to total 50 miles, but let me tell you, many of those miles are barely faster than a walk.

On the other hand, I notice that running five miles seems like nothing. Even ten miles is a vacation. So, maybe the weekly drudgery is paying off IN ENDURANCE but WHAT ABOUT PACE? I almost never run 10-minute-miles and I’m supposed to run through
 26 of them to complete my marathon with a time of 4 hours and 24 minutes.

I am able to run four ten-minute-miles during speed-work on the track, but then I rest. On marathon day, I don’t  plan to rest. The point of race-day is to keep on running. Will I find the energy somewhere?

OK getting back to the chapped chest, sore toe and leg cramps, guess what! The day off helped everything. Not saying I’m back to normal but, as I type this, nothing hurts. I’ve heard that we rip up our muscles with activity but with rest, the muscles repair and become stronger. 

I sure hope muscle repair is what’s happening because it it’s the opposite, my doctor will be correct. One year she entered the room where I waited for my annual check-up, saying, “You know, Carrie, marathoners die younger. 

Cutting down on mileage makes me happy. I’m counting on getting stronger AND hoping to live a long life…