55 Days!

Let the mental messiness of marathon training begin. Today I begin week 9 of Boston Marathon training and the weird aches and pains are starting to mess with my head. Over the last couple weeks I've started noticing a weird ache and pressure/tightness in my left calf inner left. It isn't too painful (most of the time) just achy and annoying, enough to start messing with my head, ugh! One of the worst parts of marathon training. I know I need to stretch more, I even planned to go to yoga today but a meeting ran late so I missed it. I start thinking about all my past injuries and compare how this feels and start to think the worst. I think I've been training smart, but have been running 50-60 miles per week again. So here I sit thinking the what ifs and considering my options...do I take time off or continue to run since it isn't changing my stride and goes away after a short warm up? do I focus on stretching, massage and ice? do I cut back and do more cross training? and how will all this effect my race? No one knows these answers

Today's run was hills, 9 miles with warm up and cool down. I did decide to cut this down a little and warm up on my bike, run some hills and then cool down back on the bike. I even finished with stretching which I always skip, I know bad! So my goal for the next week is to focus more on stretching and make it yoga at least once. And get in the pool! I am strongly considering a triathlon again, even have one picked out, so I better if I want to get over my fear of open water swimming. The last thing I need is a repeat of my last triathlon one of the two times as an adult I've had issues with my asthma. Re-reading that I start to wonder if I am crazy or do I go back and face my fear head on? Any advice to become a better swim and get over the weirdness of open water swimming with fish and people touching you?

Comments

  1. TarynFebruary 21, 2012 at 11:29 AM

    Keep up that mental toughness! It is half the battle! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Coach JenFebruary 21, 2012 at 4:17 PM

    I agree Taryn, sometimes the mental aspect of training (and racing) is the toghest part!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Angela and DavidFebruary 22, 2012 at 6:29 PM

    Good luck staying injury free leading up to Boston! As for open water swimming, I think everyone panics at one point or another, you just learn how to panic. I've almost quit every triathlon I've ever done during the swim. If you decide to use a wetsuit, just make sure you are used to it. Sometimes people really freak out because it feels so restricting.

    ReplyDelete

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