It was one of those weeks where life weaseled it’s way into training…but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. My 10-miler last Sunday kicked off a cut-back week that kept me on track, but gave my body a bit of much-needed rest.

Monday to Sunday, I only ran four times and logged 34.5 miles. You’d think I’d be well-rested and ready to go again today, but I can barely keep my eye-lids open as I write out this recap. I blame that on a week’s worth of dog-sitting, a hectic work-week closing the October issue, an epic night at the Velodrome cheering on my speedy cyclist coworkers, babysitting, hosting a few good friends at my apartment for the weekend, another late night at a local music festival, and a 7 a.m. 16-miler on Sunday (without an afternoon nap!). This weekend by the numbers, I was on my feet for about 15 hours and logged maybe 10 hours of sleep. All of it was fun, but I’m zonked. Talk about the opposite of my usual lazy weekend!

I went to yoga again on Monday and was finally able to work out some of my hip soreness. Yoga has been and continues to be a huge asset to my marathon training. I always leave class feeling recovered, relaxed, and restored, especially after my Sunday long runs.

This tweet describes my Tuesday training in a nutshell:

This morning I considered bailing on my #run, but decided to go anyway. It was worth it. Always is.

— Megan Hetzel (@megrunnergirl) August 6, 2013

I ended up running four miles in the morning and five after work at the running store’s group run that doubled as my speed workout for the week. We averaged about 7:15 pace, which was tough to hold for a second run of the day. But I was glad got in a quality day.

I did an easy, exhausted four-miler on Wednesday, followed by a climb up and over the mountain behind work on Thursday. It’s the same loop we’ve done the past two weeks, and it always turns into a tempo run after the hill. At first I was reluctant to join in, but I ended up feeling okay and was able to comfortably hang with the group. Another quality day in the books!

Thanks to the aforementioned insanity that was this weekend, I didn’t run a step Friday or Saturday. Womp, womp. But thankfully, my 16-miler yesterday didn’t suck as badly as expected. Whew, and yay for not being a complete marathon newbie. Experience completing those long runs makes ’em easier and easier to complete (at least from the mental side of things.)

I also didn’t set foot in the gym this week. I just didn’t have the time to get down there. I felt a icky about not keeping up my momentum in that department, but at the same time, the rest was good. Back to business tomorrow!

This week I learned that sometimes it’s okay to let life take over your training a bit. That doesn’t mean falling off the wagon completely – if it’s an excuse to give your body a break, it’s worth it AND it’s not worth feeling guilty over skipping a run or two. I’m a firm believer that cut-back weeks are key to staving off injuries. It’s something I couldn’t really do in college, but can take full advantage of now that I rule my running life. I try my best to listen to my body – the more tweaky I feel, the more I’m inclined to dial it back a bit. There’s no reason to push through a nagging pain. Always remember fellow marathoners: The goal is to get to the line healthy!

QUOTE OF THE POST: “The most important day in any running program is rest.  Rest days give your muscles time to recover so you can run again.  Your muscles build in strength as you rest.” – Hal Higdon