TITLE: The Body Adapts Slowly, Especially Now
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 21, 2009  5:58 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I mentioned
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-05.html#e2009-05-20T16_26_48.htm">
   last time</A>
that I successfully completed five AM runs last week.
That is my standard schedule, except when I stick in
a sixth morning run during the heaviest stage of marathon
training.  But after low mileage for so many months,
five runs in a week
<!A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOOs-MqDOI0">
   feels like an accomplishment</A>.

To make the accomplishment even greater, I added a
mid-week 5-miler.  What's the big deal?  My standard
five-day schedule is 5-8-5-8 on Tuesday through
Thursday, with speed workouts on Friday and maybe
Wednesday, and &ge; 12 miles on Sunday.  But after
those down months, I started back in February by
doing mostly 3s, with an occasional 5 thrown in for
an afternoon or evening run just before running the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-05.html#e2009-05-04T07_59_29.htm">
   500 Festival half</A>.

I had planned to add a second 5-miler this week.  I
figured I'd do them on Tuesday and Thursday, because
I have important meetings on Wednesday and Fridays
for the next couple of week.  It seemed like a good
idea to take it easier on those days, so that if the
extra miles led to a down day, I'd be down on days
that mattered less.

Indeed, it was a very good idea.  But Tuesday's run
felt so good...  Impatience rose up.  I ran a second
5-miler on Wednesday and again felt good, so I ran
a little faster.  Afterwards, I still felt good --
until about 8:00 AM.  (Remember, I start early.)
I felt progressively worse as time passed, and in
the end the run killed my day.

You would think that, after health problems had
affected my running for over a year, I would be more
patient.  But it's hard not to get excited, and I
gave in to temptation.  Impatience exacted its price.

I'll do better from now on, at least until the next
time I succumb.  I will script my runs for the next
few weeks -- and stick to the plan.  Another bright
line "Thou shalt not..." is what I need right now.

All that said, I am hopeful that with patience I'll
be able to get back to my standard schedule within
a couple of months.  If I do, I am entertaining the
idea of taking on a race in the fall.
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