The Big O

Overtraining.  To anyone who looked at my training schedule, it's no surprise that this topic would come up sooner or later.  In a weird way, I take it as a good sign that it finally did because otherwise I might have questioned whether I was pushing myself to the limit.  But the goal is to the limit, not over the limit, and I'm seeing the signs that it's time to take a step back.

One of the first signs was on Labor Day.  The Saturday before I gave myself a do-over of a workout with 13.1 worth of mile repeats.  Given that by the time I got back to my car, I'd covered over 20 miles and the temperature had soared to 100 degrees, I was happy with the 8:29 average, even though I'd originally been shooting for 8:15.  Still a night and day improvement over the first time I'd tried it and completely blown up at the end of July.  Silly me, I thought I could handle an easy 4 the next day and incorporate some tempo work into my 15-miler on Monday.  I quickly figured out that I needed LSD that day, forgot about pace, and let myself just enjoy the run.  (I even found the house key I'd dropped a couple weeks earlier!)  But I should have known better than to attempt two 15-mile runs (with a significant number of miles at or faster than goal pace) in 72 hours and taken note when my body said no thanks that Monday.  I didn't.

My other big clue was pain in my lower calf on my left leg.  That started with the Hottest Half at the end of August.  I'd experienced similar pain with my right leg during a race back in May, but that time, it subsided soon after.  This time, the tenderness kept lingering.  It wasn't completely debilitating, though, so initially I didn't pay much attention.  When I had a pain-free run a week ago Friday, I even thought maybe I was out of the woods and proceeded with a 20-miler that included tempo work last Sunday.  It started hurting again around mile 7, and I pressed on, charging uphill, determined to maintain my target pace.  I met up with my friend Pam at the halfway mark and kept pace for another 3 miles until the pain, fatigue, and rising temperatures finally started to slow me down.  I kept pushing through mile 15, and Pam was gracious enough to run/walk the rest of the way with me.  What followed was perhaps my most painful foam rolling session to date.  Bad sign.

I'd hoped that an ice bath, compression, and a massage on Monday would fix the problem, and it wasn't too excruciating during Tuesday morning's easy run.  But it hurt enough afterward that I figured out I needed to scratch my evening run and the 14-miler I had planned to, from, and on the trails for Wednesday.  I hated to lose the miles but considered the cost-benefit analysis and figured that in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't fail to reach my goals because I cut those miles...but could fail to reach them if I pushed too hard, further delaying my recovery and potentially risking more serious injury.

Because I wasn't up and out the door before dawn on Wednesday, I got to sleep in...til 8 o'clock!!!  I can't remember the last time I did that.  It also afforded me some time for reflection.  As I made more of an effort to listen to my body this week, I was tuning in and noticing how I was feeling:  A little sniffly and just an occasional twinge of a sore throat, like I might be on the verge of getting sick.  Fatigued.  Emotional.  Demotivated.  What???  Anyone who knows me knows that it is totally uncharacteristic for me to be anything less than 110% enthusiastic about running.  But I was finally able to be honest with myself.  As excited as I am about Marine Corps and the 50K, there's a part of me that looks forward to not training 10-15 hours a week.  For the past week or so, I think I had been carrying that around inside like a dirty little secret.  It was masked by excitement as I contemplated races for 2014, but in the back of my mind, I found myself wondering how long I could take a break after the 50K without losing fitness...

Even though I didn't run on Wednesday, I noticed that I felt heavy and slow, and it occurred to me that some of it had nothing to do with my training.  I have maxed out my caseload at the office and recently started attending a weekly training class for personal, spiritual, and professional development.  That investment is already yielding dividends, but like the work that I do, it's emotionally demanding.  So all at once, I've got a heavy workload, heavy training load, and personal growth work that is emotionally heavy.  No wonder I've been feeling...well...heavy.

All of this had me a little worried heading into Thursday's speed session, which I'm glad I still opted to do.  The plan was 6 x Yasso 800's @ 3:40.  To my surprise, I averaged 3:35!  Credit it being a few degrees cooler, the new shoes (Type A5s that weigh just 5 oz!), the shot of caffeine I took beforehand, and/or the day of rest on Wednesday.  Maybe a little bit of all of the above.  But I don't care.  I'm still encouraged because a month ago only one of my 10 repeats was < 3:40 and this time, they all were!  I was relieved that I wasn't as heavy and slow as I felt and that I got through the workout without pain...

...but then I felt sore again after the fact.  I pulled on a compression sleeve under my dress pants and headed to the office. I got through the rest of the day on Thursday but didn't get home until after 8, and by that time I was completely spent. The day ended with me eating peanut butter by the spoonful straight from the jar.  Disappointed about the unnecessary calories, I initially asked myself, "How could this happen?" Then I realized that was the wrong question.  How could it NOT happen when I was physically and emotionally exhausted and all kinds of rungry after not eating enough during the day and not getting home and getting dinner until late?  I told myself that if my worst indulgence in such a state was a few spoons of peanut butter, I was actually doing way better than a lot of people, including my former self. 

Friday I woke up still feeling exhausted.  I hit the snooze button, which I hardly ever do.  When I finally did get up, I had to face facts: calf pain + fatigue + sniffles + loss of motivation and self-discipline = overtraining...or at least as dangerously close to it as I need to come.

They say if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging.  I could not find a single convincing argument that running the 6 miles I had planned on Friday would help me reach my goals and determined that, to the contrary, it would actually only set me further back from full recovery.  Ditto for the leg workout at the gym.  How was that supposed to help my calf heal or give me fresh legs for this weekend?  I decided to take a day of rest, and for the first time in so many months I can't remember, I even entertained the thought of taking 2 in a row [gasp!].

Saturday morning, I woke up before the alarm, felt better, and enjoyed some quiet time...but then went back to sleep for a short nap before heading to the office.  When I got home from work mid-afternoon, I opted for another nap (2.5 hours!) over watching the Aggie game.  While that turned out to be a very good call, the fact that I would rather sleep than watch a huge football game is also a sign that something is wrong with me!  After getting extra rest, I did a little bit of strength training and decided to go for a short easy run, just 4 miles of run/walk.  I could tell my calf still wasn't 100%, but it wasn't a hindrance.  I don't think the run set me back physically, and it did me a world of good to run happy.  My mind needed that one more than my body--and more than it needed another rest day.  Win.

I also figured out that if I rested today, I could do today's workout tomorrow and keep the every other day pattern to aid my recovery.  It's disappointing that I had to cut more than half my scheduled mileage this week, especially when I had already planned to take it easy next week in preparation for Saturday's race.  But I'm choosing to think of it as giving myself a monster 2-week taper for the 10K.  :)

On the upside, I still got one really good workout in this week, which was both a confidence booster and good prep for MCM.  I also set myself up for another good workout tomorrow, which I'll be able to tackle being closer to 100% than I was a week ago.  I got FOUR rest days this week and have found a way to shuffle things around to give myself three rest days for each of the next two weeks. I'm hoping to get in a couple of solid weeks of training after the 10K, and then it will be time for a legit 3-week taper leading up to the marathon.  I still have some key workouts planned over the next 6 weeks, and I remain determined to get in as many of those as I can without overdoing it.  I selected them because I believe they will help me reach my goal.  But I also recognize that I might have to substitute no miles for easy miles like I did this week, or if I'm not up to a particular workout, easy miles for hard miles at some point.  I'll take it day by day, see how I feel, and adapt as needed.  I'm more concerned with the big picture than individual runs, so I think I still have my priorities straight and my eye on the prize, so to speak.  I'm keenly aware that crossing the finish line begins with getting to the start line.

6 weeks and counting...