Time to Back Off

After four weeks of continued increase in both mile and intensity. it is time to ease up a bit.

The weather is breaking and the temptation to ramp up is great, but doing this so long, and thankfully without any injury due to training, my gut is telling me to back off.

I have been so so lucky in my long running career to be able to put in pretty high miles and not get hurt. The trick is to know when to back off.

You can look at your own data ( my training log ) , what you are trying to accomplish and your gut feelings. Long ago I established a base of about 60 miles a week. It was laid out with about 40% of total week in 2 days , the rest shorter and a little quicker . It worked for me, but no matter what the mileage was , I always did know when to back off.

It goes the same for work, you have to know when to back off so the end result will be what you want it to be. You can only have the pedal to the medal so long before the engine throws a rod.


We set our goals in running and biking, pretty much the same way we work. We have peaks and valleys, so the same way you ramp up training to get better, you still need to step back and take a breath at work. If you don't balance work and training the same way , things that are the most important will suffer, family and health.


We need to work , we need to exercise and run, both are healthy and when both are not at full speed 24/7 the benefits are unmeasured













So today , I backed off and finished my run in daylight. Looking to my left he sun burning thru the fog and looking right the moon high in the sky , heading west.

Today has started off great, and spring closer everyday . ( 14 days and counting )

Still 6 miles, but easy heart rate no higher than 70 bpm