Rest, part II and Faster Faster Kill Kill

The soft tissues and stringy things in my feet are still unhappy with me for throwing so much at them so quickly, but I was able to do 10 comfortable miles in the vibram's at the Chinqua-Penn path yesterday. Normally I'd run through this discomfort, but I'm trying to be smart and practice preemptive resting. I might have to downgrade to a half marathon at triple lakes instead of the full, if I don't get more mileage in.

My humility needs training, too, I guess.

In my defense, I was conducting a bit of an experiment. Having lumped running shoe technology with Phrenology and Ion Bracelets, I wonder how much running lore is nothing but turtles all the way down? What about training? Surely, if I'm running more efficiently I can add miles as I please. Our ancestors didn't have the luxury of planned rest days and easy days.

And it seems like every training plan is geared towards two goals - getting faster and pain management. It's about pushing yourself. I wonder...

What about a training schedule focused on making the next marathon as fun as possible? Instead of speed or heart rate, what if every run was focused on the maximization of joy? What if I search for a way to run that makes me want to stay outside on my feet as long as possible? And then run as much as possible?

Here's the problem with joy-based training and starting to run barefoot: once my feet were conditioned enough to handle rough surfaces and I started to grok smooth form, I never wanted to stop. I lacked the discipline to take it slow.

Well, now I know. After years of no running, two marathons within seven months of starting up again is asking for an injury, barefoot or not.

"Really Sherlock? Tell me more."

So I'm taking a we'll see attitude. Every marathon is just training for the next marathon, I read somewhere. If in the next couple of weeks I don't think I'll be able to enjoy 26 miles of trails, I'll settle for 13. Maybe I'll do them barefoot instead of with the vibram's...