Could and Should

I could have not rested yesterday... I should have rested yesterday... I could have run more today... I should have run as much as I did today.... We have a lot of things that we could do.  We also have a lot of things that we should do.  There can be a difference between the two.  For example, today, I could have run twice or even three times.  Instead, I just ran once... and kept it that way.  As today was my little step day for running, I decided that I would run longer and see how much I could do when I went out for 50 minutes.  The return trip definitely was a lot faster.  It turned out that I went a little faster on the return trip, running the whole 12.97 miles in 1:38:17, an average of 7:34 min/mile.

Just like every other day, this run wasn't meant to work on my speed or anything.  This run was for me raising my aerobic threshold.  In order to do that, I needed to run below my aerobic threshold, and continue working on that to push my limit higher.  I wanted so badly, to run at a faster pace and push myself, but I knew that the best thing for my body is to get acclimated to the distance and pace, and raise my threshold.  As I'm planning on running another good lick tomorrow, I don't want to push myself too much today.  There's a lot of things that we could do, but they may not all be something we should do.

Just because we could do something does not make it something we should do.  I could have run another 10 or 20 miles, but instead, I just stuck out with a little less than a half marathon.  The word 'could' only lets the individual know what is possible at that moment, however, the word 'should' goes beyond that moment.  During my training, it's nice to know what I could do, because that helps me gauge where I am.  However, it's more important to know what I should do because it leads me to where I need to go... the path I ought to take.

I could have run an ultramarathon today.  Instead, I chose to do what I should.  Positive training technique.