Learning that less is more

I've long appreciated that the three-day-a-week training plan by the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training I'm following to train for the half marathon in March will prevent me from injuring myself while training for the half marathon in March. Until today, I didn't really appreciate that the plan prevents me from burnout, too.

I take an all-or-nothing mentality in training and in life — once I've committed myself to some task, I'm in 100 percent. This is great, until it's not. I'm the type of person who plays a new song on repeat til it makes me want to scream, eat a new recipe meal after meal until I can no longer stomach any of the ingredients and run as many miles as my body can take. Note to self: Just because there's a plan that says I should run 50 to 60 miles a week leading up to a marathon doesn't mean that's what I NEED to do to train effectively.

Having a plan that limits me to three running days, with intensive cross-training the other days, gives me built-in motivation to kick butt on my running days, and leaves me excited to run again when I'm cross-training. If I'd been following a traditional training plan, I'd be a little bit dreading my run today after what felt like a super-human effort in my treadmill speed workout yesterday.

Instead, I had an awesome swim with Steve today, and I'm already looking forward to running tomorrow.