Over-trained

I had some lofty (yet attainable, I thought) goals for the Anthem Half Marathon next weekend. Despite some crazy-ass weather during January/February (including but not limited to: freezing rain, multiple snow days, single digit temperatures, rainy + windy days, and 3 track workouts in a row where it was snowing and insanely windy down the home stretch) my training was going well, although the mother nature was certainly testing my motivation/determination.

Photo credit: @ritbeard

I was managing to rock tempo runs and long runs (thank you running buddies for helping me!). I even had a couple stellar track workouts. I was feeling confident that I was progressing towards a nice, big half marathon PR. 

*Cue crash-and-burn sound effects*

Then, fecal matter hit the proverbial fan.  My legs started feeling as though they weren’t recovering, my motivation slowly but surely dwindled (and I'm sure whining commensurately increased), the majority of my runs began feeling like death marches, and holding my normal paces, let alone a tempo pace, triggered a lactic acid deluge. I’m sure the stress in my personal life was not helping.

Struggle. Fest.

Quotes from my BIA training journal over the last couple weeks:

“Legs felt terrible/dead”

“...felt really tough”

“Legs couldn’t ‘get-up-and-go’”

So, I backed off my miles, honored my rest days, and tried to have faith that my body would bounce back and start feeling springy again.  I used an 8k race on March 1^st as an opportunity to investigate whether any energy had returned to my lactic acid-ridden legs. 

The result: ehhh. 

The pace felt hard immediately, while I can usually glide through a couple miles with the help of adrenaline. It didn’t help that the course was HILLY. I felt pretty discouraged, but shouldn’t have. My time tied my 8k PR, it was a solid race, but the effort (both physically and mentally) felt HUGE. 

photo credit: Tir na Nog

What does this all mean? It means I’m re-evaluating my race goals for the half marathon. My body is telling me it’s struggling, so it doesn’t seem wise to press on and try to run my goal time. Instead, this seems like a good opportunity to focus on having a blast with a big group of Oiselle girls, and potentially ditching races plans altogether to just run for fun.

How have you bounced back from over-training? I could use some tips!!

(The Joys of) Crosstraining and (the Woes of) Recovery

Yes, you read that correctly. The joys of crosstraining. The woes of Recovery. Weird right? Let me explain.

In the time I’ve been running little or no miles, I’ve been really been leaning on the crosstraining to keep myself sane: weight lifting, indoor cycling, abs, yoga and circuit training. The result? Getting stronger in ways I haven’t been strong before.  Feeling fit in ways that running alone doesn’t give me.  Reducing muscle imbalances and rediscovering muscles that I’d forgotten about.  I have to admit, sometimes it’s kind of fun to mix it up and challenge my body in new ways! Most of this has been possible because of my lovely neighborhood studio: Community Fitness.

Recovery has felt very slow (not surprising) and discouraging (also not surprising). I have thought: “When will I get to run ‘normally’ again”? “How long will it take to get my endurance back?” “Look at that girl running so fast!” “Remember when I could race a half marathon whenever I felt like it?” The hardest part is adjusting expectations, a process that every runner must go through practically daily.  My ‘long’ run is a 4 mile jaunt around Green Lake, and it’s tough to wrap my mind around that limitation. With that said, I’m SO SO SO happy to be running again! I finally get to wear some of my amazing Oiselle fall gear.

It’s amazing how injury can feel like falling off a cliff, while recovery always seems to resemble switchbacks slowly hiking you back up the mountain.