Have a plan and do your BEST to stick to it!

I had a very enlightening run this morning. Initially my plan called for between 12-16K as I should be tapering for my race next Saturday.

After speaking it over with my best friend though, we decided to do 20K but at a very comfortable pace. When we arrived to run this morning the plans changed slightly to do 22K which was fine with me. However, we started out going faster than we should have and I didn't want to make this an uncomfortable run. The goal I've had with regards to doing my long run of 20+ is to finish them feeling like I could run 20 more. I knew that if I continued at the current pace we were going then I wouldn't accomplish that goal. When we turned around at 11K I needed to take a pit stop (bathroom break) but I also wanted the faster runners to keep going as I was happy to take it slower today.

Thankfully I had my music with me and I would have been content to just tag along behind them until I finished. However, I had a better run because my friend also wanted to run at a slower pace. We both are training for the 50K trail race and we have been running over 100KM's per week. Going fast today wasn't on the radar for either of us and I'm thankful that we both have that same mindset. We were able to talk about strategy for that race and how our pace will be much slower than even today's. It's so easy to get wrapped up in trying to run fast all the time especially because we run with a group of people who are very fast in their own right. We both are capable of running fast if we need to but it's not important to either of us right now.

It's all about having a plan and sticking to it. Sometimes it takes discipline to force myself to run at a speed which is slower than what I'm accustomed to. If I was training to improve my marathon time, then my training would be different and speed would become more of issue.

I'm very fortunate to not have a few close friends who will help me with my training. They know how important running is to me and how hard it is to taper. When I mentioned that I may go running tomorrow I got a very stern NO and because I respect this person more than anyone, I'll listen to her.

My plan this week will be to run twice (Tuesday and Wednesday) and do some other cardio on Monday (biking or eliptical) and then take Thursday and Friday off completely.

Thanks for a great run Nancy!