Hurry Up and Wait

Tomorrow, I run 18 miles with the Runner's World group--the farthest I've run so far. Every two weeks, we bump up our distance by 2 miles. (The alternating weeks are shorter distances for recovery and other training.) For the 13 days previous to each long run, I think to myself, "I know I can do this. Why don't I just do it now." Or I think, "I know I can run x miles, so why not run an extra two for x + 2 miles and get ahead." But then there's a part of me that says, "I want to stick with the training regimen and prolong the excitement." After hitting 16.4 two weeks ago, I knew I would ultimately be able to accomplish 26.2. I think I could have just knocked out the additional 9.8 2 weeks ago for the full distance, but it would have been like finding out what you were getting for Christmas--in October. The training schedule is good because it helps prevent injury, but it also provides long term anticipation that makes it seem impossible to wait for the big day. (And that's a good thing.)