SF Marathon Race Recap: I did it all for the hoodie

The only reason I ran the SF Marathon was to get a hoodie. SFM does a lot of "Challenges" or offering of special *prizes* to get you to pay more money to sign up for your races. ("You sneeeeaky race".) One of them, the 52 Club, is for people crazy enough to run 52 miles of races through San Francisco (the first two halves then the full in three consecutive years) and are rewarded with a hoodie. Clearly, I had to have it. 

The 1st Half was my first intimate introduction to many of the roads that would become my favorite jogging paths: the Bridge, Marina Green, Ft. Mason. I ran it with my best friend, Anne, a mere 6 weeks after moving to the Bay (I was still living in Oakland at the time) and reveled sharing both my new city and love of running with her more than I realized at the time. It was also tough, and I quickly learned that running in SF is not for anyone who doesn't want well-defined quads and butt that come from running hills on a daily basis. 

We do love sweat.

I signed up for the 2nd Half at the Expo, before even stepping foot on the SFM course, and pleasantly surprised myself a year later by running a hot, hilly course only 2 minutes off of my PR. Having completed the Half It All Challenge (which comes with a sweet medal), I dropped a $100 last December to complete the marathon and receive the most expensive sweatshirt I own.

After running Nike Women's in October, I was dreading running another marathon in SF. It's hilly, it's hard. As my summer travel schedule shaped up, I knew training for a decent time was out of the picture, and relegated myself to training to finish.  There would be no 50 mile weeks or runs longer than 20 miles. Life is bigger than running, and spending July 4th with my family, going on weekend trips with my friends and hiking Yosemite were all greater priorities than obsessing over a training schedule. I have my sights set on bigger, faster things, and have already registered for the notoriously speedy CIM in December. Bouncing back quickly is a priority, and I didn't want to find myself in a position of being out of training for a month post race.

My motto going into SFM was "have a good time, not get a good time" and set out to run with other members of my club who were also running to gain entry into the 52 Club. I knew that by treating it more as a training run, my recovery would be quicker, and as much as running in the city can suck, I do still love this place, and wanted to enjoy all it had to offer.

I met up with Amanda, Jenni, April, and Matthew at the start. My new BFF, Katelynn, was running her first marathon ever, and lined up two corrals ahead of me. As much as I would have loved to run with her, I did not want to push myself too hard and wanted her to go for the sub-4 I know she could achieve.

Pre-race selfie. So many smiles, so much excitement.

I had never run with Matthew, a 3:34 marathoner, before, but he was hilarious. He had duck confit for dinner the night before and called SFM the "Stupid F-ing Marathon." He was also trying a new arm band, new race fuel and wearing new shorts, a running caricature of what you're not supposed to do for a marathon.

My race plan was to run the first half in 2:10 then speed up for the second half and finish with a negative split, something I had never done before. We started at a much quicker pace, running the flat segments of the race in 9:00-9:15, but stopping for a bathroom break and at the top of hills to catch up to each other. We waved excitedly to speedier friends going the other way on the bridge. (Rachel, Katelynn and Susan - you all looked amazing!) We were having a great time, exchanging our most embarrassing moments, bad first date stories, and checking out men. We made up our own Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" lines and commented on our favorite signs. At one point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I was definitely having a great time.

We lost April at Mile 7 and crossed the first half at 2:09. It was around my race plan pace, but wasn't running consistent splits. It was insanely humid and warm, not a great combo for me. Humidity has always gotten me, and some of my worst races have been really humid weather (Baltimore Half 2009, Baltimore 10 2010, Jingle All the Way 2010.) At 14, we all started hurting, and went to 8 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking, which are the intervals we do in our training runs. It was clear none of us were having great race days and despite the slow start, looked like a slower finish was in the cards. My legs and joints hurt, although my breathing wasn't labored. I'm not sure if I didn't taper well enough, but I was already in pain and was mentally starting to lose it. Around this part, the 2nd half of the marathon merges in, and we were almost stampeded by fast halfers. I felt bad, I remember last year being frustrated by slow marathoners, but kept our slower pace. This is also the west end of Golden Gate Park, where you turn around to come out and have a slow 3 mile uphill. After so many training runs through it, I've come to hate the park, and had been dreading this part of the race.

It felt like forever, but happily saw the SFRRC cheer station at Mile 18. I was buoyed by cowbells and Donnie's spandex-clad hip thrusting. After this, the end of the park was in sight, and I started to feel better. As we exited the park, Amanda was feeling lightheaded and needed to slow down to walk. She encouraged us to continue on, so Matthew, Jenni and I ran down Haight Street together. We danced to music provided by a man with a boombox on his bike. There was someone with a bubble machine and the faint odor of marijuana. You know, typical SF. 

Thanks Donnie for providing me with much needed Mile 18 smiles.

The fog had lifted by Haight, and the sun was bright. It was also 9:30-10 am and starting to get hot. SF has been experiencing a (relative) heat wave and the clear skies weren't helping. After the bubbles, Matthew decided he needed to walk too, so Jenni and I continued on together. There was a big downhill past the 20 mile marker, and Jenni was pulling ahead of me. I thought about how much I wanted to walk, and calculated the time it would take. I could run the last 6 miles in an hour and finish around a 4:30 or I could walk and finish in 5 hours. Or I could do a combo of the two, and finish somewhere in between... At this point, my body took over and I just ran. Around 20.5, some SFRRC members had an unofficial aid station set up with pretzels and Gatorade, so I stopped to snack with Jenni. The salty pretzels were great, and they earnestly told us that we looked amazing, despite our protests that we felt otherwise. 

So much club love. Road Runners rock.

Jenni ran ahead of me, and I was left alone for the last 10k of the race. I had been looking forward to having friends for the end and there I was, alone. Left only with my thoughts, I just kept on running. I knew the course, and told myself where I could walk, but I didn't. Not on Potrero Hill, not up into the Dogpatch. The sun was hot, I was so sweaty, but I actually felt better than I ever had at the end of a marathon, and thought I might be able to salvage the race into not my slowest ever. Mile 25 was sub 9:30, however, my last mile+ was slow. I could have pushed myself, but I saw several people prone on the sidewalk receiving medical attention and knew it wasn't worth it. I wanted to finish, but I also wanted to be safe. It was really hot, almost 11 am and I was running in the hottest part of the city. Mark handed me a water bottle at 26, which I greatly appreciated, and loved seeing him there.

Blowing kisses of appreciation to Mark at Mile 26

I crossed at 4:20, but I had stopped my watch at one of our pee breaks so didn't know what my official clock time was. I knew I'd be cutting it close for slowest ever and was so frustrated. I wanted this to be a slow race, but a slow race that felt good, not one that elicited me saying/thinking obscenities countless times over the day. 

I found Jenni quickly, and texted Katelynn. She had finished, but had pulled her calf at Mile 11. Susan found me (again, magically) while I was getting chocolate milk, and I headed to reunite with Katelynn and the rest of the Road Runners. 

Obligatory post-race pics

I was completely soaked in sweat and covered in salt. I was so dehydrated, and after hanging out a little post-race (taking tons of pics), headed home. I declined brunch with Katelynn and our friends and texted Lindsay from the bus to draw me a cold bath so I could hop in as soon as I got home. I limped in the door, mixed my chocolate milk with protein powder, then hopped in the bath with my shake and instagrammed my pics without dropping my phone in the bath. I had a snack, then showered for real and laid in bed for a nap. I went to the Giants game with the newly-formed Terps alumni club and got myself post-race garlic fries AND tacos for dinner. Afterward, I met Katelynn for celebratory Loving Cup. We split rice pudding as a "dessertizer" while they made our FroYo and chatted about our epic upcoming Friday night out.

I didn't share. 

In retrospect, I have a lot I should be happy about with that race. 

1. I did it. Running one marathon is special, running five is very special. 

2. SF is hard. I know this. I wasn't in shape to run fast, which I knew. The weather was working against me. There were 0 signs pointing to me having a great race day, so beating myself up over not magically running a 4 hour marathon is ridiculous. I didn't follow my race plan, but wouldn't have traded the fun I had for the first 19 miles for running consistent splits and not stopping, but being alone. I had a great time.

3. I kept going. I could have given up at 20, but I didn't, and finished so much stronger than I thought I would. At 20, I was optimistically hoping for a 4:30 and thought about walking, but finished in 4:23. Miles 14-20 were terrible, and 20-26 the best I've ever had in a marathon.

4. My aerobic capacity felt great, it was my legs that hurt. Even at the top of hills, I was never gasping for breath. I'm going to give myself a break, get a massage this week and taper smarter for my next race. And treat my legs better. More ice, more foam rolling, more strength training.

5. Everyone has bad days. I was with 4 other very strong, fast runners, and finished 2nd of our group. There were two five hour finishes and a 4:37. It was a rough day for a lot of people, and nothing to be ashamed of. I ran 3:50 at Nike a few months ago, and have a 3:48 PR. I haven't tried running on a course with my ideal conditions since Philly in 2010. I know I'm a stronger runner than 4 years ago and will be even stronger come December. Once I have a course and weather I can do better with, I will.

Hard-earned hoodie and medal.
Also of note, I finished 10th in the 2014 52 Club for women.

6. Next year, I'm running the SFM 5k.

Ragnar + Fall Racing Goals

Ok, ok, so I haven't posted in almost a year, but grad school consumes my life and I make no promises I will post again anytime soon.  BUT I want to, because I feel like I train better and am more in the running mindset when I write about it and think about it more frequently than just my daily runs.


In less than two weeks, I'm running the Ragnar Relay with my awesome friend Hannah and 10 complete strangers.  I'm really excited, despite the fact that I have the hardest leg of the race (1200 feet elevation gain in 4 miles, yikes!)  I've been doing some hill work, some long runs (hitting 14 miles last week) and then this past week, I ran 18 miles over the course of three runs within 24 hours.  As someone who has trained for marathons, I know that 18 miles at one time is tough, but it was almost worse to spread it out over three runs.  Once you take a break, it's a lot tougher to get going again, especially when you shower, read for class, sleep etc between those runs.  I'm glad I did it so I have at least some prep for the race.

My other fall races are the Richmond Half Marathon and the Hot Chocolate 15k.  My very lofty goal for Richmond is to break 1:40 so today I'm hitting the gym for 800s.  It's two months from today, but I've already hit 14 miles with plans to do two 16 milers after Ragnar, but my speedwork has been lacking.  I'm also going to try to step up my strength training and yoga routines.  It all sounds good on paper, hopefully school won't get in the way!

Things I posted on runnersworld.com

I'm horrible at posting, and since I'm so enraptured in school, I haven't figured out how to pull a post from Runnersworld.com loop to this.  Here are my recent entries on the loop:

Confessions of a Former Gym Rat

10/21/2010 7:49 PM CDT

Prior to my running days, I was a big fan of the gym.  As an undergrad, I worked as a lifeguard at the Campus Rec Center, so was always at the gym.  I loved doing cardio for an hour, lifting then stretching out in the matroom.  Although I wasn't running as much, I was certainly more rounded.  When I get back from a run, it's a lot harder to motivate myself to lift, stretch or do abs in the living room than it is when everything is right there.
This past week, I've been doing the ellipitcal instead of some of my running miles as a recovery from the half last week.  I've been doing the elliptical a lot, but today I tried something new.  I'm not sure what it was, but it was freaking hard!  I only last five minutes, although it was a lot more of a running motion than the elliptical.  Since I'm trying to give myself a little bit of a rest, I let that be my excuse to move back to the elliptical.
While the next month will be dedicated to running (1 month from today!!) I can definitely see myself going back to a lot more crosstraining once I'm done.

Baltimore Domination: The Best Race of My Life

10/19/2010 8:03 PM CDT Tags: boston marathon, baltimore half marathon, PR, utter domination

Two years ago the Baltimore Half Marathon was my first race ever. 
I had no idea what I was doing, I just wanted to beat 2 hours.  I had done one run over 10 miles, without any water, Gu or saltsticks, was probably averaging about 15-20 miles a week and had bought my shoes over the internet.  Somehow, I managed to run in 1:52:59, propelling me into a love affair with distance running.
A year later, I had two more halfs, a ten miler, and an actual training plan under my belt.  I was ready to dominate, PR and move onto to bigger things (like marathons), but I didn't.  I had a horrible race day and finished a few seconds worse than the year before.  No PR, no domination, just a lot of angry feelings and cursing the heat, humidity, and my boyfriend's roommate's friends who had kept me up the night before.
Over the course of the past year, I ran a marathon and decided to register for marathon round 2 in Philly, which conveniently falls about 5 weeks after Baltimore.  Perfect.  I'll be in great marathon shape, finally break 1:50 in Baltimore, go on my merry way and improve on my first marathon time when I run Philly in November.
As the summer turned to fall, I decided that I'd if I'm going to be working my butt off, I might as well try to BQ while I'm at it.  I hadn't raced since June and as I've mentioned before, had a pretty frustrating summer.  I decided that if I actually have a shot at BQ-ing, I should be around 1:45 in Baltimore.
I have to admit, I wasn't super confident.  The course if eff-ing tough, that tme is over 4 minutes faster than my PR and 8 minutes faster than I've ever run Baltimore.  But I had a score to settle.  I wanted redemption.  Normally when I race, I find a cute hair ribbon to match my outfit.  Not this time.  I wore a black ribbon, to remind myself how BA I am.
The weather was perfect.  I was pumped.  My only issue in the race was that I hit the wrong button on my Garmin and therefore didn't start timing until Mile 2, so I actually had no idea what my overall time was (I conservatively added nine minutes to get an estimate).  My mile splits were ranging from 7:50s-8:10s.   I felt incredible.  There's a picture of me at mile 8 with the biggest grin on my face, and three guys grimacing in the background.  I usually mug for the race photographers, but for once, I felt as amazing as I looked. 
I finished with a clock time of 1:47:50 ish, 1:37:16 on my Garmin.  After getting food and water, I bee-lined it to the results tent.  1:45:26. (18 of 604 in my division.)  I was completely estatic!  I PR'ed by over 4 minutes, got my revenge on Baltimore, and gave me confidence that I can BQ in Philly.  If I can run that fast on an extremely hard course, I have a lot of faith in my abilities in a flatter, faster city.
So naturally, my BMore high had to end at some point, and that was today when I checked out runnersworld.com and saw that Boston had filled in record time.  I was already prepared to not be able to run until 2012 anyway (should I qualify), but now I'm worried that I will and then the standards will change, leaving me in awkward Boston limbo.  So maybe I'll be able to tell everyone that I BQ'ed, but before I ever got to race, the qualifications changed.  (Of course, this is assuming I will or else all of this will be a moot point). 
My idea, since there seem to be an abundance floating around RW.com, is to give preference to first time BQers.  I might not make a lot of friends with this, but I think it should be something that all runners (who qualify) should experience, and therefore, there should be limits on how often you can run.  Like maybe only once every five years or something.
For now, I'm going to work hard for the next few weeks.  Since I know I have the speed, my focus is going to the be long runs.  I'm crosstraining a lot this week to recover, with another hard week and then my Philly taper.  Bring it City of Brotherly Love.

Marathon Fresh Scent

9/22/2010 9:21 PM CDT Tags: deodorant

I was in Target this afternoon, and per usual during Target trips, I ended up browsing aisles entirely unrelated to my shopping list.  In addition to a toothbrush, multi-vitamins and blister band-aids (hello, I'm such a runner), I ended up with the Secret Clinical Strength deordorant.  I've always contemplated buying this in the past, but I've noticed lately [POSSIBLE TMI DISCLAIMER] just how ridiculously sweaty I get, working out and in general.  Since summer is making a comeback, I decided it would be nice, not only for exercising, but also my walks to class.  Because, honestly, I'm ok with sweating on a run or at the gym, but no one wants to be that girl who has wet spots on her polos.
Despite the fact that I was a marketing major, I'm still easily swayed by packaging, thus went for the box with the runner's silhouette on it.  It was after I got home that I realized that my new super deodorant is scented "marathon fresh scent".  So I'm pretty sure there is nothing "fresh" about a marathon scent.  I bet the marketers at Secret mean that the fresh scent will last you through a marathon, but the entendre made me chuckle a little.

On crepes and growing up

9/20/2010 9:19 PM CDT

While this isn't directly running related, I wanted to take the time to acknowledge how time is a great equalizer.  This past weekend, I went to a wedding which was attended by several people I knew from college.  One girl in particular had always been a bit of an enemy of mine (at a party, my friend commented on how she looked pregnant - oops) and we never really got along.  I spoke with her for a while at the reception, and it turns out that she has gotten into distance running too.  It was nice to know that after a few years, we were able to put aside really stupid differences and enjoy a wedding together as adults.
Also unrelated to running,I attempted to make crepes for the first time this evening.  I was surprised at how easy and yummy they turned out.  They were a snack, so I put some fruit inside, but am excited to experiment with more savory dishes.  Does anyone have any good healthy, runner friendly ideas?
Well, I'm off to bed.  I have an early morning set of Yasso 800s to look forward to :)

Now I know how Lady Gaga feels

9/17/2010 9:21 AM CDT

I was running along a fairly secluded and unused portion of a trail this morning, when I came across a large group of foreign tourists.  Since I live near a large research university, this is not uncommon.  There was a large group walking together, but I noticed a few stragglers off in the distance, one of whom was taking pictures.  As I approached him, he shot a picture of me as well.  It was a little weird to have my picture taken during an everyday thing for me, but I guess when he goes home he can show his friends how much American women love running.  I smiled for him, I'm used to hamming it up for race photographers :)
The rest of my run was a lot less exciting.  I've been focusing on really finishing my runs (particularly long ones) strong and I did that today as well.  My last 2 miles of a 12 miles run were about a minute/mile faster than my average.  All in all, not a bad way to start a Friday.  Now if only I could be as productive with my school work...

Tech-free Long Run

9/16/2010 3:14 PM CDT

When I'm not particularly thrilled about an upcoming long run, I like to reward myself by downloading a few songs from iTunes so I'm pumped to hear them come up on my Shuffle.  This is how I ended up with a litany of songs that will some day come in handy during a 2010s party, like 3OH3, Cascada and La Roux.  
Not feeling the 18 miler on my schedule, I downloaded the new Nelly song, Just a Dream, and King of Anything by Sara Bareilles and set my iPod to charge.
At 5:45, I got dressed, checked the weather (ok, checked facebook) and headed out the door to drive to the trail.
I parked, and while I let my Garmin find it's satellites, I did little warm up around the parking lot.  It was chilly, and as someone who likens being cold with going to the dentist, I didn't want to part with my Nike pullover.  The something worse happened, I realized that I had everything but my iPod.  I had left it charging on my lap top.  I panicked... how would I ever get through 18 miles without music?  Especially without Nelly!?  Sure, I've done some short runs sans Shuffle, but never anything this long that wasn't a race (disclaimer - I always follow ALL race rules, including not taking my headphones.  It's one of my running pet peeves when people blatantly disregard the no headphones rule). 
Then, all at once, a calm came over me.  I would do this run regardless, and enjoy it.  I would observe the weather, other runners and simply do it on my own.  I also decided that I wouldn't check my Garmin.  Not. even. once. 
I really enjoyed myself.  The weather was awesome (50s-60s, low humidity, sunny) and I just focused on me.  I had planned on taking the run easy, my long run last week was awesome, but after my first attempt at running stairs in two years, I knew it would be slow.  I ran even splits (despite the downhill there, uphill back), without checking myself constantly.  I overheard some juicy conversations.  At the end, I used motivation to push through by telling myself I would be able to check my Garmin.  Nelly and Sara would have to wait until my sprint workout.

I suck at blogging

Within the past month, I stopped working full-time, moved, and started a master's program in Public Policy.  It has been an amazing month and I'm absolutely loving being back in school.  Now I don't sit at a computer all day, which is awesome, but leaves me with much less time to blog.  Since I like having a record of my running and think it helps me to share my ups and downs, I'm going to make a conscious effort going forward, especially now that my training is amping up at the same time that my class work is.

I feel like training just began, but tomorrow morning is my first 18 miler of the season.  I'm actually pretty pumped for it, the summer weather has finally broken and I should have a nice cool, low-humidity morning.  I've noticed that as the temperatures have gotten cooler, even if only moderately, my times have gotten a lot quicker.  It's very refreshing.

A few weeks ago, I was dying.  Training was becoming increasingly frustrating as I could only seem to go about 3 miles without bonking.  I knew I had to be getting into better shape but it didn't feel like that at all.  Then last Friday, I had an amazing long run.  I did an out and back course on the CCT, where I did a few runs over the winter before Snow-Pocalypse.  The only difference is that I'm starting at the other end since I moved, meaning my out is a slow decline and my back is a slow incline, not the other way around.  Last week, on a 16 mile run, I was merely aiming to keep even splits on the way back, but I completely dominated, finishing my second half at almost 40 seconds per mile quicker and that was going up hill!  It felt so good and my confidence was restored.

My training this week has been tougher, so I'm not expecting the same type of results, but hopefully with the nice weather, I'll at least enjoy myself and not sweat through all of my clothes.

It's a good thing I ran this morning...

My office just spoiled my with CalTor lunch and sundaes for dessert.  So yummy!  I'm completely full (and obviously unmotivated) and entirely grateful for such a nice bunch of co-workers who would do that for someone who is leaving.

***

Wednesday, July 28: Recovery run 3 miles, 10 min pace
Friday, July 30: Easy run 5.1 miles, 8:50 min pace
***
As I ran this morning, a refreshing rush of cool wind blew past me, and it spurred a thought.  In the summer, that cool breeze is welcome and wished for, during the winter, it's a frigid blast of cold air that seems to seep through my layers of Cold Gear.  So I started to think of other way running varies during the seasons.
1. During the winter, I'm most uncomfortable during the first 1/2 mile to mile.  During the summer, that is pretty much the only time I'm comfortable.
2. I follow a summer run by a quick, cool shower.  My winter runs are concluded by never-ending hot showers to rewarm my extremities.
3. In the summer, I contemplate wearing capris when it dips below 65.  In the winter, it's short sleeves for anything over 50.
4. I fear winter precip will leave me unable to run outside, where are in the summer, I pray for thunderstorms to cool it off.
5. I hate that my gatorade gets hot in the summer, but freezes during the winter.


As much as I'm a summer girl in every other regard, I do prefer running in the winter.  I'll take baseball, the beach, flip flops and tank tops over snow any day, but when it comes to running, I'd much rather be layered in Cold Gear, gloves and a cap.

Baking fail

One of my fairlynew hobbies is baking.  When I find a good recipe to try, I tend to bring extras into work so I don't eat everything myself.  One of my co-workers has been dropping not-so-subtle hints that he loves white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, so I decided to make him some before I leave next week.

I found a recipe online that looked good and set to make it after work.  Since I'm moving in 10 days (!) I haven't been replenishing my baking supplies, so I had to sub brown sugar for white and borrow eggs from a roommate.  No big deal on either front, and everything was fine until I went to add vanilla.  I emptied my bottle and was still a teaspoon short.  I found a bottle in the communal baking cabinet and poured it straight into the batter.  Except that it was clear and was actually peppermint!  Luckily I realized it before I added too much and think I was able to scoop a lot out.  I'm not sure if the cookies actually have a noticeable minty taste, or if it's just me because I know it's in there.

Anyway, I was hoping to post a tested recipe, but since I messed it up, I won't :(  At least I learned my lesson about checking bottles.

Why math is necessary for running

There is a high school a little bit more than a mile away from my house, but I’ve always been too scared to run on their track.  I don’t know exactly where the track is and would hate to get there and find out that it’s closed to the public for some reason.  Luckily, my street is approximately .25 miles long, and fairly flat, which makes it very convenient for speedwork.

My workout this morning was 2 x 1 mile @ 7:30 with 800 rest.  Since I’m apparently incapable of dividing 7:30 by four (my first try at division yielded 400 splits of 1:07, second try was 1:22.  I eventually realized the correct answer is around 1:50 and decided I should figure out splits the night before my run, and not when I’m still groggy at the beginning of my warm up), I ended up going out a lot faster than that pace, but kind of went with it and ended up running 7:17 and 7:19.  This was my first attempt at mile repeats.  They weren’t too bad, although only doing 2 helps with that.  I’m sure I’ll feel different in a few months when I work my way up to four.  I know my high school track coach would be amazed that I’m doing mile repeats.  I used to whine about 800s.  I also enjoy Yasso 800s and other spring work outs, but since my times favor shorter races, I know I need to work on developing longer-distance speed.  My best age-graded distance is the 5k, where my PR is in the 64% range.  If you have any good suggestions for workouts (other than tempo run and 2 x 2miles, which are already on my training schedule), let me know! 

I’m happy with my times, especially since I did a stability ball class last night that included a lot of squats and lunges.  My legs were noticeably fatigued and my quads are still raging.  I feel like its fine, as long as I can still hit my times and rest afterward to allow my legs to heal.  I also think it’s a good mental boost to know I can hit times when my legs are hurting, and that on full rest, I would be even faster.