Taking Today Off - Doing the "Easy" runs

I normally take Mondays off as a rest day but I had planned to do the gym instead as the rest of my week's schedule is screwed up (big event on Wednesday will preclude me from running that day so was moving my gym up from Tuesday to Monday and my run from Wednesday to Tuesday).

Anyway, I'm still a little sore and tired from the weekend so I think it's a good sign that I need some rest.

One of the big things I learned in training last year is that you have to take those "easy" runs as just that, "easy." I have this bad habit of getting out there and watching my GPS and thinking I can run harder, that I need to run harder every time out in order to meet my goals. Not only does that make it where you dread the run beforehand, but it doesn't give your cardio system the proper workout. You don't need to "redline" your cardio system every time out...it's actually better to give it a mild workout most of the time, saving the "redline" for speed sessions.

I had been ignoring this advice for years and would wind up completely burned out on running by the time the event had come. Then I wouldn't want ANYthing to do with running afterwards. Last year, I changed my strategy and in the last month of training started doing true "easy" runs when I was supposed to and I was much fresher for the 10k event, setting a PR as a result. Probably more importantly, I continued to run afterwards and even did another 10k 2 weeks later.

This year, I've found myself slipping into those old habits, especially on Saturday LSDs, and I need to nip this in the bud from here on out. I'm wearing a HR monitor for a reason, I need to listen to it.