Taking it Easy

Taking it easy is something that most runners hate. You get into a good rhythm, progress in your fitness, feel good for a long time, then invariably something happens that requires you to take it easy for a bit.

This is not generally a big problem, fitness-wise. In the scheme of things, taking it easy for a few days or a week will not make that much of a difference, and may in fact significantly help your running health. But it never feels right. The runner starts to feel guilty, like they should be out there running even though rest is the best thing for them.

It just feels wrong to take it easy.

Naturally, given this post, I have opted to take it easy for the last week or so. I woke up on Monday and could not turn my head to the right, my neck was so sore. I got a massage that afternoon, which helped considerably. Still, I decided that maybe my long, snowy run up Green the day before had maybe tweaked something.

So I have been taking it easy. Granted, I still ran Green on Sunday after doing a bit of Tele skiing in the morning (my first of the season). A side note: I can never go Tele skiing without thinking back to my days as a high school XC skier, with Scott Jurek yelling "Practice your Tele turns" whenever we went down a larger, wide-open hill.

But I have been taking it easy outside of that. And I think I"m back. My plan is to do a quick run up, or partway up, Flagstaff tomorrow morning and see how I feel, and go from there. Hopefully I can get bak into the swing of things quickly.

I'll need to, if my plan for next year pans out. I have one race I definitely want to do now: the Moab Trail Marathon on November 3rd. It also happens to be the trail national championships for the year. And while I don't intend to become a member of the USATF and actually compete, it would be awesome to race head to head with, or at least briefly see the backsides of, the best in the country.

Aside from that, I have a Sanitarado run planned for the coming January. February and March are open so far. I think I'll run the Horsetooth Half in April, which should help prep me for either the Greenland Trail 50k or the Golden Gate Park 50k in May. June might see the Leadville Marathon again, or perhaps the Steamboat Marathon. July, there is a distinct possibility, should my training go well, of the Silver Rush 50 miler. August I think I will devote to getting into the high country for some classic runs. That leaves the Golden Leaf in Aspen in September, the Coal Creek Challenge (5 miles!) in October, and the Moabl in November.

It is looking to be a good year!