96

4/1-4/7

Tuesday’s 3 mile run wasn’t very good. I had rib pain on both sides; I don’t usually have it on the left, so it was weird.  Maybe I need to go see the chiropractor again, for another adjustment. I just couldn’t get comfortable, and it was really frustrating. It always takes such a mental toll on me, when I have aches, pains and other physical issues that prevent me from running well. I am constantly finding myself comparing my runs. “Last week’s runs were fine. Why not tonight?” I need to do better about just focusing on the run I’m on and not worry about it. I need to accept that I’m going to have good runs and bad runs, and Tuesday’s run was a bad one. So what? Move on to the next one.

I was really nervous for my 4 mile run on Thursday, for some reason. Maybe it was because of Tuesday’s rib pain? I’m not totally sure, but it was pretty weird for me. I don’t even get that nervous before races, anymore.  At the last minute, we ended up running a different course than I had planned, and that was enough to distract me a little, at least. We got started, and it as ok, but got a little rough about half a mile in. My legs were tired. About a mile in, my rib and shoulder hurt. I really started going to a bad place, mentally at that point. For whatever reason, I associate having to walk some of my mileage as failure. Then I started panicking about my big race. I was thinking “if I can’t even get through a 4 mile training run, how am I ever going to finish 13.1?” Thank God for a supportive husband, who basically told me to “shut the hell up and run”. He reminded me that it didn’t matter how “well” I did, just that I was doing it. Make the best of it, and forget that I’m having a bad run. The next one might be better, and it might be worse, but I’m just going to have to get through it. He also suggested that I switch to intervals instead of shooting for not stopping. I never think to give myself permission to walk when I’m training. It doesn’t seem right, mentally. But I took his advice, and I’m glad I did. I ended up finishing my 4 miles, on pace with my normal “good” days, and faster than my last 4 mile race, less than 2 months ago.

Saturday morning I went to kettlebell with Kyndall. I was a little worried about going since it was long run day, with 6 miles on the schedule. My plan was to just go to class and take it easy. It turned out to be a dead lifting day, which I knew wouldn’t really hinder my running, so I was happy about that.  Not only was it dead lifting, but it was also a form check day. We spent the whole class working on form, so it was few reps, and lots of rest while we were coached through using good form. At the end of class, I don’t know if it’s because I hadn’t been to class in a week, or that I decided to do “one more”, or if it’s the way I put the weight plate back on the rack, or what, but my back was getting a bit sore. I didn’t think a whole lot of it, as I did my stretches after class, or ran my errands. When I got home, it was feeling a little sorer, so I decided to lie down and rest it a bit, so I’d be good to go on my long run after everyone got home from soccer. I ended up falling asleep, and when I woke up my back was so tight, and it hurt badly. I could barely stand up, and walking was extremely difficult. Jerry and I decided that I should go to the urgent care and get it checked out, just to be sure it wasn’t something bad. The urgent care had a sports medicine doctor on staff that day and his diagnosis was a herniated disc, or possibly just pulled muscle with a lot of swelling around the base of my spine. Either way, I wasn’t running my 6 miles. In fact, he said no lifting, running, or high impact activities for a week.

Due to my back pain, which was slightly better today, I obviously didn’t do my “easy run” today or even try to make up my 6 miles from yesterday. I’m kinda frustrated about it today. I was really looking forward to yesterdays 6 miler, and now I’m starting to panic a little about my training schedule. 6 miles is the most I’ve ever done, and my weekly mileage is supposed to continue to build by a whole mile, each week. I’m getting pretty worried about what taking this week off is going to do. I know I’ve taken too many days off in a week of training before, but that was while my mileage was low enough that I knew I could either make it up, or do without it.

Weekly totals:

7 Miles ran, 0 lbs lost