Take The Long Way Home

In a week that had seen me begin just hoping the groin injury had gone away saw me finish strong enough to ponder had my week off prehaps been a blessing in disguise?
Because I opted to ease my way back into things over 6 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself needing a 14 mile on Sunday to round out at 40mpw and to be perfectly honest I was ok w/ that.
I 'd been giving some serious thought to upping my Sunday long run to 14 miles for a few weeks now,it would allow me the option of doing the whole Art Museum Loop at 8.4 miles w/ 3 miles there and three miles back.....bingo a 14 miler so post the Shanghai Diamond League meet on Universal Sports Network and a transatlantic shoot the shit phone call w/ "Our Kid" back home I was out the door by 11.25am for my first 14 miler in eons.

I'll have to "consult  the Oracle" ie my running log to see when I last did the whole loop around the Schuylkill it has been a while maybe 2012? which is probably  the last time I set foot on West River Drive and while it's thankfully free of regatta traffic it also more often than not free of runners also!
I didn't pass anyone running north bound towards Falls Bridge untill just after Columbia Bridge and then didn't pass anyone untill I crossed Falls Bridge and made the journey south bound.
Conditions were great sunny and probably in the low 60s I worked up a decent sweat but unlike Thursdays early afternoon 8 miler when I looked like I'd taken a dip in the Schuylkill by the time I'd finished I wasn't dripping wet at the compleation on my run.

As is it's won't Sunday along Kelly Drive means avoiding the regatta traffic but in fairness the path wasn't as crowded as it has been in recent weeks.....or maybe only having to negotiate it once made it seem like that,either way I wasn't ducking,bobbing and weaving like I normally have to!!!
I was never overly concerned about adding 2 more miles to the run and didn't feel I had to dig too deep,that said I felt like from the South St Bridge onwards I couldn't buy a green light if I wanted to and all that stopping and restarting wasn't doing much for trying to keep a cadence over the closing 1.5 miles.
Having ran the last three 12 milers at 1.48 which is roughly 9 min mile pace I felt a 2.06 was a legit target today so imagine my surprize and delight to clock a 2.00.

Maybe,just maybe that week off was a blessing afterall? after 8 weeks of pushing myself  that injury enforced week off may have done me the power of good,if it was only one run I'd improved on I'd shrug it off but the fact is over 6 miles on Wednesday I was 2 mins faster,over 8 miles on Thursday I was 4 mins faster on Saturday over 4x1 mile I was 47 seconds faster and now over 14 miles I was 6 mins faster.
So should I take off every ninth week from here on in? having looked ahead that would be the week b4 I leave for Wake Forest,I had it down as a low milage week anyway as the third week of my taper but maybe outside of the 800m race I had scheduled I should do nothing?
it's something to ponder,not just for Nationals but looking further down the road every 9th week a week off to recharge the batteries at 50 might be a wise and prudent move on my part.