OK - I made an "executive decision" this week. I was feeling really run down - a little low on energy but more achey & sore & tired. My right ankle felt stiff and my calves were hurting even when I tried to go to the basement to switch laundry.
Because of this, I was having a hard time staying mentally positive and confident during my runs - which by the way turned more into walks. I do walk quite fast though - 13:45 min.
The thought of a long run was making me want to cry. I decided to look ahead to next week's training and I saw that next week is more of a rest/recovery week - basically just easier on the miles. Maybe this is not "allowed" but I made the decision to swap this week & next week. Then I see that my teammate, Sharon, ran 20 miles (AWESOME!!)...and Liz & Patrick came out for the weekend and Liz went out and ran 12 miles Sunday morning (VERY COOL)...which only made me feel like crap that I wasn't sticking to schedule. BUT I reminded myself that this is mental AND physical. Considering the pattern of the week it's safe to say my long run would've been crappy. And my legs really, really were just crying for me to take it easy. I'm sticking with my decision and I'm just not going to feel guilty about it.
OH! I just realized that I had been bringing all my stuff back to school (yes - I got recontracted). What you may not realize is that I park my car in the basement garage and my classroom is on the third floor. Just to go from my car to my class is 75 steps one way!! I did this up & down about 10 times on Tuesday while carrying boxes....Wednesday & Thursday I also was up & down just not as often. When school starts officially I'll be up & down a ton - which is great for my legs but I think it was a shock to my legs after the summer off. Perhaps that's why my legs feel beat up this week....The good news is that my butt/hamstring don't really hurt anymore. Maybe a little but not too bad. Right now it's my calves.
I also have another theory....since I'm following the Galloway strategy, which is coming up with a ratio that works for you of running and walking, I had been doing 5 min run/2 min fast walk...but then I increased it to 6 min run/2 min walk...I'm planning on increasing about 30 seconds of run time each week until Marathon day. ANYWAY - the trick with this strategy is that you have to take time to work on walking since different muscles are worked harder. I haven't really been doing that all that much except during my walk breaks. I haven't set aside a day to be a walk day. So maybe since this week turned into more walking than running my legs are feeling it.
Or maybe I just need a little rest.
Damn girl - you have to count the schlepping of school supplies up those stairs as a workout!
ReplyDeleteI think you did the right thing. If your body is craving a recovery week that badly, you need to honor that.
It's better to rest yourself up and be ready for the next nine weeks than it is to run yourself down prematurely. You did the smart thing.
And you're going to kick ass at the Marathon - I know it!
Smart running Kim! Swapping weeks makes a lot of sense. You can get your body and mind ready to run next week.
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