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April 29, 2006
A Bit of a Wake Up Call
This isn't something that I try to write about on a regular basis, although the topic has crept in occasionally. Distance runners and weight have a bad reputation. Personally, I have gone through periods that may be on the other side of that fine line. One of the problems with that fine line is that when you are right there, that is when performances tend to be the best. The solution that has worked for me is to simply avoid the scale. Today, I gave into temptation-I weighed myself. The outcome was not what I would have liked. The scale I was on does tend to weigh a bit on the heavy side, but it was still several pounds over what I consider to be my prime weight. I know what my downfall is and need to work on the willpower issue, but I have not been all that happy today as a result of this discovery.
One of the nice things about race season, is that my long run isn't nearly as long. I do enjoy doing really long runs, but it gets lonely when nobody else is going as long as you are. This morning was supposed to be anywhere from 10-13 miles. I had arbitrarily decided that it should be 90 minutes, although my "directions" were to run with whoever was there and then add on some if necessary. We ended up having a nice sized group and perfect conditions. We did a museum/estate loop, something I haven't done since December. All of the flowers were in bloom and it was absolutely beautiful. The pace felt quick, but I though that was because my legs were absolutely trashed. M and G confirmed my suspicion that the pace was fast, which made me feel much better. It turns out that they did the same loop last weekend, only it was four to five minutes slower. When we got back, it was only 67 minutes, so I added some on in a nearby development. This extra loop confirmed that the pace had been fast the entire time since when I did it as a push it took 14 minutes and it took less than that today.
I only ended up running for 81 minutes, so it was short of my agenda. I kind of made the decision that my legs have felt like absolute garbage for a week and that ten extra minutes really would not do anything good for me. I could just see myself getting into a big hole and not be able to climb out of it. Since one of my biggest races of the season is next weekend, there really is no point to doing any extra running at this point. This really is more of a taper week.
After my run, I went to the gym and lifted. My arms are still on the sore side and I didn't have much time, so it was another quick lift. It is really sad that doing those arm circles completely threw my shoulders into a tizzy.
I had a much needed massage this afternoon. My calves had been feeling on the tight side all week. This is rather normal since I tend to do a bit of toe-running. Anyhow, I was brought to tears as she worked on my right calf. There was a knot the size of a golf ball in it that would not come out. My massages are painful in the first place, but this had me beyond the typical yelp. My therapist reminded me to drink plenty of water today and gave me warning that it could be quite sore tomorrow. She also reminded me to work on my right foot because it is tight and we don't want that to turn into something else. It's funny since it had felt tight last week, but I thought it had gotten better. Reminder to self-must do more stretching.
Well, my glass of water is empty...need to refill it to work out all of that crap that got flushed out of my legs today.
Posted by Blondie at April 29, 2006 07:30 PM
Comments
Hey Blondie :) I think all runners have difficult relationships with their bodies. We demand so much from them, and sometimes, they simply refuse to conform to our pefect shape or standards. My guess is that your training has been going really well, and it sounds like you are running a fast pace even when your legs feel like garbage. That, to me, says that maybe your body is where is wants to be. It is a fine line, but I think that line changes over time too :-) (I definitely know my line has inched up a few pounds as I have hit my mid 20s and I suspect that it will creep up another pound or 2 later in my running career).
Posted by: bridget at April 30, 2006 04:44 PM
I weigh myself almost every day so that I can tell how my training is going and how my immune system is functioning. If I lose a few pounds within the period of a day or two, I know that I need to be careful not to get sick. When I get sick, I can lose 10 to 15 pounds within a week or so easily, and then it takes months to put that weight back on.
Posted by: Blaine Moore (Run to Win) at May 1, 2006 10:55 AM