Knowing When to Sleep In

There's always the balance in running between structure and flexibility. To train hard, you need to follow a schedule and sometimes be a wet blanket about it. Even more important, you need to know when to push through and when to hold back. Last week's trip to Washington, along with the festivities there, took their toll on me. I ran 69 miles in the week, then never got enough sleep. This was exacerbated by going on to watch football with college friends on Sunday. Even Monday was a late night because of the Eagles game. It all added up to exhaustion and the stuffiness of a cold by Tuesday. What's more, my Achilles started to ache. Last night, I got to bed before 10pm. When my alarm went off at 6:30, I was still tired and stuffy. So I skipped and went back to sleep. I got another hour and felt a lot better at work today. It wasn't too much of a loss because I brought my stuff to work and ran home, doing 11 miles and finally hitting my tempo time of 6:30 over six miles. It was good to run fast. The rest did me good. The Achilles is a little achy, but it'll be fine. I also experienced one of the more unfortunate "signs you're a serious runner."

11 miles, 1:19:03