Friday is a weird day, no? It’s the end of the work week, but not the end of the running week, at least not for me. On Saturdays we typically run long, which makes Friday, properly, Long Run Eve. Gotta get to be early, so Run Santa can come and leave us our Saturday legs.

So what do we do on Friday? This morning we did 5.5 miles of technical climby trail. Is that a good setup for a long run the following morning? Does it matter? Maybe every run is just going to be what it is, and my effort to curate the experience is all spasmodic tilting at windmills. That sounds right.

Even after a lot of years of running, I have trouble mentally divorcing the run schedule from the work schedule. On Fridays I feel lazy (I actually feel pretty lazy on days that end in Y as a rule), and that means I’m not on the trail by 7am like other days. I’m walking out the door at 8 or 8:30 or 9. And then I don’t know what to do, how far, how fast, because I like to run by feel. But if I’m committed to 10+ miles the next day, I might need to keep my powder a little dry.

How do you manage Friday?