A Passion for Running

Welcome to the home of Mark aka The Running Blogfather – a 40 year-old dad, husband and marathon runner who's beaten injury and is on the comeback trail!

sometimes you kick…

passion for running category: running on Friday, December 8 2006

and sometimes you get kicked. Today I was on the latter end of the deal.

Today’s shortcoming began right after yesterday’s run. No, that’s not exactly right – it began early this week. You see, I’ve been struggling this past few days with what Andrew warned me would eventually come – fatigue.

For the most part, I’ve been able to battle through but today was different and, to get back to what I began saying, today’s shortcoming began last night. I went to bed early enough but I just couldn’t sleep. I was hot. My whole body was hot. It was the kind of heat that comes when you go to bed too soon after a run or other kind of workout. Do you know what I mean? It’s that hot, combustion feeling – like your body is still working off the workout as you try to sleep. The bottom line: I got very little rest and woke up tired.

All morning I questioned whether I should run. I felt tired and very heavy-legged. I dragged myself out there for today’s hard effort making a deal with myself that I’d take as long as I needed to warm up to the hard stuff.

To put it bluntly, I couldn’t get out of warmup gear. Try as I might, I was stuck. I had ZERO energy. None. Nadda.

I got 20 minutes out and stopped, walked ten steps and turned around knowing I didn’t have enough in the tank to run fast or even at all for an hour. Then I took a short cut and made it back to the office in 30 minutes.

If I understand Andrew right, cutting short a run means cancelling the next one so that means I’ll be taking tomorrow off. Do I have that right coach?

If so, my new running-days-in-a-row streak ends at 23 days.

I’m at the point in my running “career” where I know the difference between not having the mental toughness to finish a run versus not having anything left in my body. Today’s experience was definitely in the latter camp so I wont beat myself up over this.




6 Comments

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Comment by Andrew Seeley

Friday December 08, 2006 @

You’ve got it right for sure. Good job on proper assessment and taking the next day off. We might be running in parallel here. I’m taking a day off too.

While my main reason for the day off is the talking leg today, my fatigue level is so high I am going to sleep sleep sleep tomorrow.

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Comment by 21stCenturyMom

Friday December 08, 2006 @

23 days is a lot of days in a row, particularly considering the conditions. Enjoy your rest.

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Comment by waddler26.2

Saturday December 09, 2006 @

It’s an awesome streak of days in a row…But great job on listening to your body!

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Comment by Anne

Sunday December 10, 2006 @

That’s still an impressive streak, all the more so because you played it smart and took the proper course of action.

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Comment by jeanne

Tuesday December 12, 2006 @

I heart Andrew. Good job listening to him, and to your body! 23 days in a row is pretty darn great…I hope you appreciate that! now listen to andrew. he knows.

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Comment by Billy

Thursday December 14, 2006 @

Hi, I think you’ve achieved great things and a day off is no failure. There are days when the tank is empty and its just as well to give in because pushing through it can lead to injury. I salute you.

http://marathontrainingandnutrition.blogspot.com/

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