So to better sum things up, I am being very careful right now. I mentioned yesterday that fine line of crossing over into an injured state. I'm definitely guilty of getting as close as possible to that line with out actually going over. Kind of like the kid who gets as close to touching their sibling with actually touching them. And one kid is yelling "Moooooooom, they're touching me" and the other kid is saying "No, I'm noooooot" with that smug grin on their face and their finger one millionth of an inch from the other person. So my body (certain parts in particular) and saying "Hey, I'm injured!" (said in it's best whiney, irritated voice) and I'm saying "No, you're not!" (said in my best matter of fact, quit being a drama queen about it voice").
I will agree that my body IS being pushed to it's limits and even when it's ready to be done I keep on going. Mostly because I'm not done with said run yet. When I need to get from point A to point B I have to keep going to get done. Plain & simple. Walking is an option, but that just prolongs my finishing so I usually keep going. Is that not just common sense or am I just coo coo for Cocoa Puffs?
When I need to and my body insists on it I will run at a much slower pace than normal. My base pace has slowed as it is, but sometimes I'm moving 2-3 minutes slower than that norm. So I DO listen to my body. And when need be I shorten my distances. Running 4 miles after my second 20 was like a walk in the park. Because I am pushing for a distance goal it weighs on my mind every time I go out for a shorter distance. Shortening my distance now will only catch up & hurt me in the long run. So that's been motivation to go out for no shorter than 5-6 miles. I do shorten it when I "have" to, but I'm very aware of the deficit it creates against me.
Upon the very wise wisdom of a friend, I have been shortening my distance & going out more than once during the day. It seems my body needs more time to warm up & handle the distance I want to complete so breaking it up has helped a lot. My body is tolerating 6-7 miles daily, but it's not all being ran at one time. For example, yesterday I ran 3 miles before class, 2 miles after class, then 2.5 miles after I took the kids to school. 7.5 miles over the course of 4 hours. In between those runs I'm able to stretch and/or rest a little bit in there. My hardest miles are actually my beginning miles. I'm stressing what is already stressed, but about the time it rears it's ugly little head and is about to revolt & refuse to keep going without a bunch of pain I stop & give it a break. So, yeah, I'm toeing that line, but then backing off.
For me it's working. In the big picture & over the course of the last week my body is recovering very nicely. At first I had some consistent aches, pains, soreness, etc. that was bothering me even if I wasn't running. My knees, my IT band....yeah they were awfully ticked off and not speaking to me pretty much non stop for a few days. But now that I've been nicer to them & only subjecting them to 2-3 miles at a time (instead of 6-7) they are starting to come around and like me again.
How do you rest and/or recover?
Any tips or words of wisdom to pass along to help me out?
I hate to rest - even though I don't run nearly as much as you I still like to push myself every day. Part of why I don't train for races much or set specific distance goals for the year is what you are describing - that pushing the injury line and I usually end up falling on my face on the wrong side of the line.
ReplyDeleteI like your plan to break up the runs into shorter runs multiple times a day!
Glad you are on the road to recovery!
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