When Less Might Be More

Confession: I've been a negligent runner these last two weeks, due mainly to an on-going bout of newborn-itis, which won't let me sleep. There are no immediate cures, but doctors say that it naturally goes away after several months - in some extreme (and unfortunate) cases, maybe after a year. So until I'm fully cured from newborn-itis, especially on days when it's really severe, I suspect running may be doing me more harm than good. Given my goal of running farther and faster, what's a new dad to do? On the rare occasions I am fit to run, I've decided to run fast - or at least faster than I originally planned. I realize this entails some risks, not unlike crash dieting, but my newborn-itis isn't going away (yet) and I have to squeeze out as many quality miles as I can, when I can.

When I was in high school, I used to keep a running log and became obsessed about counting miles. I should have used it for something useful, like analyzing trends or seeing where I should adjust my training, but instead I became overly focused on the total mileage box at the end of each week. I maxed out at one point at 50 miles per week, an amount I probably could have cut in half and have done just as well, if not better. To balance out that overly diligent era, I ran 7 miles this week, including four I ran on a treadmill today. But I ran it quickly - quickly for me, anyway - and covered the first two miles in 14:00 flat, followed by a half mile jog, then a half mile in 3:11, a half mile jog, and then a half mile in 2:58. I haven't run this fast in a long time, which I think is due largely to my extra days of rest.

Thinking about the virtues of rest, I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self to ease up and run less. But being the stubborn teenager I was, I probably wouldn't have listened; if I had trained in my 30s, I still might not have listened, either. But since becoming a parent, I've certainly become more flexible and certainly less stubborn. Maybe I had to have a kid to stop training like a kid.