One hour recovery run

We took the last two days off after the marathon. We both felt good, as far as soreness goes, on Tuesday but it was pouring rain all day. I had a little sore throat on Saturday night and I think the marathon made things a little worse. I have been congested the last two days. It actually felt good to run today and helped loosen things up a bit (legs and lungs).

I didn't take my Garmin but the stretch of parkway my dad lives on is about 3 miles around. Andi and I did 2 laps (50 minutes) and I finished off the run with an extra 10 minutes. So I am crediting myself with 7 miles for the day (we were going faster than I thought we would be able to(somewhere around 8:00-8:30 pace). It was a beautiful day. I always have to take a parkway picture when we come. See last years shots here. Below are the pictures from today.

I was thinking about my best two marathon times and what I did leading up to them. Both times I had run another marathon 2-3 months before. In 2005 I ran the LA marathon in March with Andi in 3:38 and then I ran 2:58 in June at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. In 2006 I ran the Valley of Fire Marathon with Dean Karnazes during the Endurance 50 in October in 3:59. Two months later I ran 3:04 at the Las Vegas Marathon in December.

This year I will run the California International Marathon two months after running the Twin Cities Marathon in 3:49. Will this pattern of fast marathons continue? Stay tuned! I have two months of tough training to get me there. It isn't much time but I think it is possible. The next scheduled fitness test is on October 24th. It will be a half marathon tempo run in 1 hour 30 minutes. Recovery for the next 10 days!

Good luck to all that are running the Long Beach Half Marathon this coming weekend. I am foreseeing some great times!