Today's schedule required running 3 miles of recovery run. There is nothing to it, just stretching out the legs and shaking out the kinks. I ran 2.25 miles at 9:17 min/mile pace and upon reaching a 8% grade of hill, I ran up some sprints for a 8 second repeats, with full recovery. I was careful and gradually pick up the pace at each repeat. I ended up doing five.
Since tomorrow is a full rest day, I thought these short hill sprints won't overload me. If I ran the sprints correctly, I expect to feel some soreness on my ankles and lower calves. That would be normal.
The good news is, my legs felt normal upon waking up today. That means they are adapting to the stresses that I am putting them to. This is a little bit of a surprise to me since I worked hard last night on the track. Prior to this program, I would be sore the morning after speed workout and would have to take the next day to recover--with no running. This is a tangible measure of gains here. I am taking a note of that. I know, it's still early, we are not even done with Week #2! But it's progress nonetheless.
For Saturday, I am going to hit the trails at Montana de Oro. That way I won't be tempted to run faster than the suggested pace for my level. The course that I'll run will not be the prescribed 6 miles, but the 4.75's very hilly terrain will be equivalent in effort. It will be long and challenging enough to tire me out before Sunday's 11 miler. The goal of the two days back-to-back run is to simulate the late stage fatigue in the marathon. I believe I am still in keeping with the program's goal.
Happy Trails!
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