Recovery

It occured to me in the pouring rain this morning during my 11 miler that this is a recovery week. I have 55 miles planned and have front loaded my week so far (12 on Tues, 8 on Wed and today's 11) so I'll have two 5 mile recovery runs in a row then only 14 miles on Sunday.

Now I'm on verge of hitting 70 miles, 55 doesn't seem so bad yet only months ago, it would be my peak mileage. In my mind, these killer midweek runs of 11 to 14 miles is suddenly not so long, and a 5 mile run feels more like 5K. I hesitate to think that 20 miles will feel routine (cause they are anything but). Still, I'm looking forward to the next four days when I can heal up this body and be ready for the schedule to heat up.

So today, in the cool rain that drives other runners to shelter, I broke down my body, only on a microscopic level, hoping that when these muscles recover and the heart gets a rest, I'll emerge stronger.
 
Next stop, 3 runs in DC.