Last week was a good week of training. For the most part. As my mileage climbs, my confidence waxes and wanes. On the one hand, I recover extremely well from long or hard effort runs which is in stark contrast to how well I fared during my last marathon training cycle. But on the other hand, I keep getting these aches, pains, and niggles, which leads to anxiety and paranoia. I’m doing my best to get the correct therapies and keep up with my strength training. Sometimes it gets the better of me and sometimes I can brush it off as just another part of training.
Marine Corps Marathon Training: Week 11
Monday — 8.53 miles
Ordinarily, I reserve Mondays for rest or yoga days. But since my husband was off work for Labor Day and so were a couple of my friends, I decided to take advantage and go for a run. I met up with Sara and her friend, Elizabeth, and we had a nice run through our local park.
Tuesday — yoga
Tuesday was an easy, relaxing day of yoga. Much needed, too. I love feeling the small improvements I make week after week. I’m tempted to add another day of yoga so I can do even better.
Wednesday — 5.02 miles + strength training
I had a great run on Wednesday. It was hot and sticky (still in the 90% humidity range) and I ended up getting poured on halfway through. But I ran in my old neighborhood, on flatter land than I have been recently, and it felt amazing. I finished up with some strength training. Sidenote: I have a love-hate relationship with burpees. I’m sure you do, too.
A quick dip in the pool would have been ah-maze-ing…
Thursday — 6 miles
I had another fantastic run on Thursday. It was still hot and humid but the miles flew by. I was in a very zen space during this run. I picked up my dog for the last mile which is always a pace-killer, but I knew she would appreciate the time on her paws being active and having fun.
Friday — strength training
Seriously. Burpees. What is up with them? I love them because I know they’re incredibly effective but sometimes it takes all I have to push myself to do more than two!
Saturday — 3.12 miles
Saturday was my son’s first 5K. And I’ll tell you more about that on Thursday. But before 5K time, I ran a quick 5K myself with my friend Eugenia. It was fairly toasty on Saturday despite starting early at 6 am. I’m glad my long run was on Sunday.
Sunday — 16.85 miles
Remember how I said I was glad my long run was on Sunday? That’s only partially true. The weather was much better for a long run. It was nice and cool, and low humidity. It made my average pace feel fairly easy. So easy, in fact, that I could sing and play air drums and guitar when it was warranted. I felt really great for the first half of the run. But around mile 12 the wheels started to fall off.
I had a hard time motivating myself to go out for a long run on Sunday. I much prefer long runs on Saturdays because then I don’t feel like I spend my entire weekend thinking about the long run. But since my son’s race was on Saturday, I didn’t have much of a choice. Plus the weather was better. I created a large loop to hit familiar roads and then swing me back to my place. I could also bail at any time if the need should arise. Not being motivated, my partially injured right leg, and the fact that I knew I could bail at any moment really soured my run when things got tough.
I made it to mile 8.5 where I knew I would be greeted by four legged friends (and hopefully a biped, too, but he wasn’t there), a flushing toilet, and a water refill. I changed up my music selection and after a quick stop, pressed on.
My “aid station.” Aka, my friends’ barn.
When I got to mile 11, I was out on a main road and had to jump between the curb and grass and back to the road when there was no traffic. By the time I got to 12, I found a bench and decided to sit down and have a snack. I was tired, cranky, and I could feel my foot starting to act up a bit. By the time I got to mile 13, I was back on another main road, bouncing between the curb and the shoulder, and at one point I twisted my ankle. It actually made my foot feel a little better.
Greetings from the home of my childhood best friend. <3
Then I got to mile 15. I was two streets away from my house. I started texting my husband looking for motivation. He said, “it’s easy. A 5K. You can do that.” And he was right, I could. But between 15 and 16 miles my legs started aching, and I really just wanted to be done. But I couldn’t call it. I’m far too stubborn for that.
I made it over to the next street. Now just one street away from my house. I felt my knee starting to pinch which was reminiscent of when my IT band pain started in 2015. I tried to run through it but I was walking more than I was running at this point and I decided I would be foolish to continue to run. Been there, done that — and the end result was not pretty. I called it and asked for a ride. In all I made it 16.85 miles on Sunday, which is much farther than most people will ever run on any given day in their lives. But I still felt defeated and I spent a large portion of Sunday dissecting my run and where things went wrong.
What I’ve learned from this run: I don’t think it was IT band pain I was experiencing. I think it was my sciatic nerve barking at me. My foot was already aggravated but I’m pretty sure going back and forth over the curb on those two roads are what did me in. I also think my lack of motivation and ability to go home at any time really set this run up for failure. Loops are good for shorter distances for me, but mentally I do much better with out-and-backs and point-to-point routes for longer distances.
After several back and forth emails with my coach, we decided to stay the course this week and see what happens. If something negative occurs again then we’ll have another discussion. But I’m pretty confident another visit to the chiropractor along with the strength training, stretching and rolling I’ve been doing should be sufficient to keep me healthy and on the road to solid recovery. I’m not ready to give up. I’ve worked too hard and too long for this goal.
xo
TALK TO ME!
Do you prefer out-and-back, point-to-point, or loop routes?
Have you ever self-sabotaged a run because you just mentally weren’t in it?
Linking up with My No-Guilt Life, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and MCM Mama Runs for Tuesdays on the Run, and HoHo Runs and MissSippi Piddlin’ for the Weekly Wrap. Also linking up with Nicole, Annmarie, Jen, and Michelle for Wild Workout Wednesday.
