Thursday, August 16, 2012

Being Smart, For Once

I haven't run since Saturday.  It's Thursday now.  The last time I took this many days off from running was after the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May, when I forced myself to take a week off.  Not because I was injured, needed to, or necessarily wanted to, but because I thought I should so I wouldn't get injured.

On Saturday, I ran 20 miles.  This was my longest run yet.  I felt great (physically) during the whole run.  When I was done, I stretched, took a cold bath, put on my compression socks, ate some food and took a nap.  It wasn't until I woke up from my nap and started walking that my left foot/ankle started hurting.  I didn't think much of it, since I had just run for 3 hours.  But later that night, it was feeling worse.  On Sunday, it felt slightly better and I was hopeful that with rest, I could run Monday.  Monday came and went, and I didn't lace up my shoes or put on my running clothes.  The same went for Tuesday and Wednesday.  This is unheard of for me.  I'm the one that will go out for a run even when I'm pretty confident that sometimes I shouldn't.  Fortunately, I've been lucky up to this point.  But, with lots of people around me getting injured during marathon training, I decided that for once, I was going to play it safe.  I planned to try running this morning.  I slept instead.  When I woke up, my foot/ankle felt worse than yesterday.  Then I got ready for work, and it was feeling much better.  MAKE UP YOUR MIND!  I'm going away this weekend (again!) and decided that I'm only going to bring my running stuff with me so I can ride the hotel bike, or possibly do the elliptical (if everything feels okay), but I will not be hitting the streets for a run.

This is a cut back week for me anyway, so I don't really feel like I'm getting behind on my training.  But also, after my 20 mile run on Saturday, I really haven't WANTED to run.  I think I needed a break mentally, so perhaps my foot/ankle hurting is a blessing in disguise.  As long as it doesn't last too long.

If everything is feeling better by next week, I'll readjust my schedule and make next week my cut back week, so I don't have any super long runs on the books. I do still have 13 weeks of marathon training left to get through....    

I'm trying to stay positive, RICE my foot/ankle, take it easy and not freak out.  Check back next week.  If I haven't run in over a week, all bets are off!  Watch out! :)

How's your training going?  What are you doing to stay injury-free?  What are your favorite cross training classes, that I should be doing?

4 comments:

  1. Wow that is a super aggressive plan for your first marathon. For my first I did only 2 20s and ran like 20-30 miles per week and I still don't even do 20s that early in the season, but then you have more running experience than me going in. Just be sure to build slowly. The most important thing is getting to the starting line!

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  2. I haven't run over 35 miles/week, and I worked up my long runs from 12 to 20, in 2 mile increments, and already had a cut back week. I just started training really early because I like to follow a schedule :) The overall mileage wasn't crazy intense for what I had been doing, but it's definitely still a long way to go until Philly! Hopefully I'll be back to running in the next week or so!

    I'm sure you're out there killing it....as always! :)

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  3. I just did my longest run, a 14 miler, and have been feeling an ache in my left leg ever since. I'll be taking some 'taper' weeks (no race coming up so just have to remember to stop pushing myself) and enjoy running. I plan to just try to run sans-Garmin (AH!) or atleast not plan mileage. I incorporate WODs from crossfit into my crosstraining (not heavy weights though) and it's been helping!

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  4. Hope your leg gets better soon, Kat! Definitely RICE! I'm hoping to get back out there for a run today- my first in almost 2 weeks! I'm nervous that my foot will start hurting and that I'll have to stop, but I'm excited to hit the roads again and (hopefully) get in a few miles!

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