Fridays Off
One of the things I've done differently on the build to my first 50 miler is taken a fair amount of time off work. In fact, by the time I toe the line on March 19, I will have taken off 5 days for Friday long runs, including this past weekend. The reasons are simple: 1.) Five hour runs are difficult, both emotionally and physically. When I do them when the family is at work and school, it's easier for me and, I suspect, for them. By the time they get home, though, I'm showered and ready to enjoy the weekend, same as them. 2.) When it comes to taking off work, in the words of Jim Rome , "I get a lot of time, so I take a lot of time." Not an insane amount of time, mind you. I couldn't, for instance, take a week off work to train every season. But this is a year when I get a 2 week sabbatical in addition to my already generous vacation plan, so when coupled with #1, it made sense to do so. The long runs themselves are going fine, though not like I'd expected...