In my opinion, you had something of a peak around the time you ran that 15k and the half marathon. You're coming down off of that peak, and the injuries and sickness are ways that your body is telling you that you need to recover. You can either fight that process and prolong it indefinitely or let it happen get it over with, get healthy, and start training again. Also: don't get me wrong. I think it's possible to run the monkey as part of the cycle of recovery. Just don't listen to anyone that says you're ready to go 3:15 or whatever. Learn the discipline: listen to your body.

Everything you just said is spot on..I think I peaked, and I think it's over. For right now. And 3:15? At the Monkey? hahahahahaha....don't worry. I'm not listening to that BS. I'm just gonna run Monkey. Just run it....and it will be what it will be. I'm listening to my body. My calves say ok. And when my toe tells me "No more than 6 miles today..." FINE. I'd like to get a 20 in before Monkey, just for my mental health sake...but that might not happen, and i'll be fine with it if it doesn't. Then im gonna rest...and after I rest, ill put all I have into Boston training.

Well Thunder... you just ran a marathon a couple weeks ago. The same day I ran my last "long" run...if you can call it that. It was so broken up that i'm not sure I can even consider it...I mean sure, I got 19 miles in, or more, but there was some stretching after the 13, a car ride to mile 20, and about 20 minutes of waiting around. Two weeks before that I did an 18 miler, and two weeks before that was Kroger to Kroger, which I was pretty consistent with the long runs before that. I think I started training too early (with the long runs), which was a mistake...because I followed the Striders training runs which are really geared toward an early October marathon. I think I need a 20 miler, not that i'll gain anything from it... but I don't think that you do. You're able to keep your mileage higher than I am. I tried for high mileage last week and my body failed. I know that I wont be able to do much more than 40-50 mpw these next two weeks before the race because im afraid to...but you will. So it'll all equal out if I do a long run. FYI...CP is going to ride beside me on his bike lol This was a better idea when I had actually planned to attempt to run well. Any thoughts of running well at the Monkey are out for me, Im pretty sure.

I can cross train. If this were a marathon I cared about. Nobody really gets that I just NEED to run right now. I need it.

Well Thunder... TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK TWEEK....

Um...okay. Whatever. Run, I'm just saying you don't need a "Long Run" of 20 miles. Chill the F out.

Idiot.

If you're honestly not hurting, then try it out. I'd recommend a really flat course (Shelby Bottoms Greenway?) and a totally slow-ass pace. The psychological aspects of it will outweigh the physical, but if you're tweaking, that may be more beneficial anyway. mta: I mean tweaking over life in general and needing to run. Not tweaking over the stupid Monkey.

intellignet

I like this.