Since the first weekend in December, I have been doing this all wrong! In my feeble attempt to stay in condition while nursing my Plantar Fasciitis at the same time, I have reduced my weekday running to almost nothing. On the weekends, however, I have been getting my long runs in. Although this this has kept me from losing as much conditioning as it might have, I have still lost quite a bit and I have not really given my PF a chance to really heal.
Since the first of the year, I have participated in 9 races totaling 190.4 miles, but only trained 16 days for a total of 153.6 miles… and I feel it. My biggest mistake has been not taking enough time off from running after the AR 50.
I completed the Dirty Secret Trail Run, in Cool, this past weekend. This is one of my favorite trails and it was my first real trail run, so I use it to gauge my progress. I was 10 minutes slower over the 10.5 miles than I was last year. I attribute this, mostly, to not being fully recovered and lack of training. It was still fun and I love running with these amazing people… 
but I could feel my legs after just a couple of miles and I just couldn’t make them move any faster.
My plan now is to not run for about three or 4 weeks and then start up again… slowly. I’m concerned about my condition because I don’t really enjoy anything but running and mountain biking. Meanwhile, my caloric intake hasn’t really subsided with the decrease in running and that takes a toll on me as well. My next race will be Blood, Sweat and Beers on July 27th and I don’t plan to run at all until June. I wonder how fat I’ll be by then. I am planning on volunteering at Western States 100 and possibly another race or two between now and then. I will also be climbing Half Dome two days before Blood Sweat and Beers, so that should be interesting.
Truth be told, sometimes you just need to rest and recover. I hope I can do so without too much loss.
