And so it was. Yesterday the 2013 marathon training schedule came off it's wheels and to a grinding stop. After trying to ignore the growing fatigue in my legs and throbbing pain in my right foot all week, it's time for me to re-evaluate.
Let's take a look at how I got broken in the first place. Last Friday I attended an "in-service" for my job. For those of you not employed in the world of law enforcement, one thing to keep in mind is that we have code words and odd phrases for everything and anything. "In-service" is code for training. This particular in-service was for members of the SRT team. That is short for Special Response Team, which is basically our version of a SWAT team. We are the guys and girls that get called when regular deputies can't handle a situation. One of our main duties is to deal with hostage situations. While training that day, we ran a hostage scenario. By the end of the scenario, the hostage got rescued, the bad guy's weapon was removed and the bad guy was in handcuffs and shackles. I ran three miles later that day. A mile the next. And a ten mile long run the following day. During that long run I noticed that my right foot and calf were strangely a little sore.
All this week I watched my performance steadily decline as I tried to get through my workouts. My legs felt dead. I was having a lot of trouble maintaining my easy pace and while cross-training my right leg was much weaker than normal. All this week I've been getting to bed early, taking anti-inflammatories and icing the hell out of my right foot.
I was scheduled to log a ten mile long run on Saturday after work. I was feeling slightly better. So, I decided to try for the full ten at my easy pace. The run started off good. But after about four miles I was done. I found a place on the side of the road to sit, stretch and texted my wife to come get me. As I sat there on a boulder noticing how cold it was with my shirt soaked with damp sweat, mosquitoes buzzing eagerly around me I put my head down and accepted that maybe this was the end of the 366 Project.
It's a really strange sensation to be running along one week at your "fast" marathon pace, everything normal and then the next, you can barely manage to hold your warm up pace. After about five minutes I realized that my wife, who's been sick with a cold, was asleep and therefore, wasn't coming to pick me up. The only way I was getting home was to finish this run on my own. I set my jaw, started up the ipod and finished the rest of the run. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. But it was four miles short of the distance I was scheduled to run. At least it was six.
As a person with OCD and a runner I was disgusted with myself. Even though most race training schedules take into account that you may miss a day or two. It's still frustrating as hell to not get the scheduled workout in.
But your body is what you have to work with. I knew in the back of my mind that this could happen. I've never attempted to run this long consecutively. So, I took a breath and just let it go. Ultimately, I have two goals for my running this year. First, I want to finish this damn 366 Project and second, I want to run a marathon in the fall. With that in mind, I may have to sacrifice setting a new PR in my fall marathon for completing the project. As I've preached here before, running is about the journey, not the destination. But sometimes, your own advice is hard to take.
Today I just had to do an easy mile. After feeling so much self imposed pressure this week to get my workouts in, it was nice to enjoy not having an agenda. The run felt good, not 100% and I took it slow and easy. Did some online research and surprisingly, the leg fatigue may be due to a lower back strain and tight glute muscles. Tomorrow I'm going to start an aggressive stretching program targeting my glutes and make a foam roller my new best friend. The rest of the day was spent cutting the lawn, taking my son fishing, going out to lunch and having a dinner cookout with my mom. Nothing like grilled muscles and a beer to make you forget your worries.
Yes, it sucks that I'm injured right now. But maybe it's just as well. If there's one skill that every runner needs it's resiliency. Nobody's going to run your workouts for you. Nobody's going to have to face the injuries that sometimes come. Nobody but you is going to have to overcome all the challenges that you will face. Out of all of my 53 races over 11 years there was one solid constant in every race that's never changed, at some point I wanted to give up, quit, it was too hard. But, I put one foot in front of the other and carried on.
This week I got a lot of support from a lot of great people at a time when I really needed it. Thank you. This journey isn't finished yet. I've still got 206 days and a marathon left to run. Run for your lives my friends...and take it one day at a time!
It's a really strange sensation to be running along one week at your "fast" marathon pace, everything normal and then the next, you can barely manage to hold your warm up pace. After about five minutes I realized that my wife, who's been sick with a cold, was asleep and therefore, wasn't coming to pick me up. The only way I was getting home was to finish this run on my own. I set my jaw, started up the ipod and finished the rest of the run. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. But it was four miles short of the distance I was scheduled to run. At least it was six.
As a person with OCD and a runner I was disgusted with myself. Even though most race training schedules take into account that you may miss a day or two. It's still frustrating as hell to not get the scheduled workout in.
But your body is what you have to work with. I knew in the back of my mind that this could happen. I've never attempted to run this long consecutively. So, I took a breath and just let it go. Ultimately, I have two goals for my running this year. First, I want to finish this damn 366 Project and second, I want to run a marathon in the fall. With that in mind, I may have to sacrifice setting a new PR in my fall marathon for completing the project. As I've preached here before, running is about the journey, not the destination. But sometimes, your own advice is hard to take.
Today I just had to do an easy mile. After feeling so much self imposed pressure this week to get my workouts in, it was nice to enjoy not having an agenda. The run felt good, not 100% and I took it slow and easy. Did some online research and surprisingly, the leg fatigue may be due to a lower back strain and tight glute muscles. Tomorrow I'm going to start an aggressive stretching program targeting my glutes and make a foam roller my new best friend. The rest of the day was spent cutting the lawn, taking my son fishing, going out to lunch and having a dinner cookout with my mom. Nothing like grilled muscles and a beer to make you forget your worries.
Yes, it sucks that I'm injured right now. But maybe it's just as well. If there's one skill that every runner needs it's resiliency. Nobody's going to run your workouts for you. Nobody's going to have to face the injuries that sometimes come. Nobody but you is going to have to overcome all the challenges that you will face. Out of all of my 53 races over 11 years there was one solid constant in every race that's never changed, at some point I wanted to give up, quit, it was too hard. But, I put one foot in front of the other and carried on.
This week I got a lot of support from a lot of great people at a time when I really needed it. Thank you. This journey isn't finished yet. I've still got 206 days and a marathon left to run. Run for your lives my friends...and take it one day at a time!
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