Yesterdayoff.

Didn't run yesterday, which was planned. I've only been running 17-18 miles per week, so I want to return to training slowly and make this an easy week. Even with three miles a day four times this week and a long run of six or seven miles again next Sunday, I'll be at that amount again, but I figure knocking a half mile or so from each day's run will be adequate to ensure that I'm ready to go six or seven next Sunday.

One thing I've never really done in the past is allow myself easy weeks. I was so frustrated with the amount of mileage I could handle -- usually in the low- to mid-thirties -- I never allowed myself to step down from that amount to something even lower so that I might recover and be able to subsequently increase my mileage. Instead, because I had run over fifty miles per week consistently in the ever increasingly distant past, I theorized that I should easily be able to handle 35 mile a week without a problem. What ended up happening was that I was forever running in a funk of tired legs that never really got any better. Add in the fact that I didn't take any steps to lose weight and that I would often miss three or four consecutive days of running every couple of weeks and it becomes clear why I could never progress.

I just have to accept that this is what I'm capable of at this point and that in the months to come, as I lose weight and stay consistent, my fitness will gradually improve (as it already has) and I'll reach a point where I can do some real running and racing once again.