Break Time?

If my body could talk, I would imagine that it screamed this the weeks following my races:

“Haven’t you had enough? Why do you keep doing this to me? Stop it, please!”

Then, it remembered that I love running so much that I will only take a break if I get sick. Take Monday, for example:

“Aha! Take that! Body casts cold." 

It's not very effective.

I had my best run of the week on Tuesday: a tempo workout with 3-minute repeats at 8:30 – until that started to feel easy and I increased the speed to an 8:00 pace. Zoooooooom!

“Holy hell, what is your problem!? Stop this. What? You’re going to run again? And, try to do it quickly? Nope, I don’t think so!”

Wednesday’s Ladies Night Run did not go nearly as well as Tuesday's workout. The five miles started out great, and I was able to keep up with some of the faster women. After running the first two miles at an average 8:30 pace, I fell behind and finished the last three with an average pace of 10 minute-miles. Each step was painful, and my head was definitely not in the game. I allowed myself a chocolate and strawberry shake and spent the rest of the night tending to my wounded ego (and sore muscles).

But, I wasn't about to go out like that.

After work this evening, I laced up my shoes, turned up the K-Pop, fell in love with beautiful homes of Kalorama, and had a great run.

Of course, this week has made me think that it might be time for a small break from running -- just to make sure that I don't burn out. DC's expecting rain this weekend, so it might be a good time to hang inside and focus on strength work and low-impact cardio. I may just see how I feel this weekend, finish out the week as planned, and take a rest next week.