The words of the brilliant Eddie Vedder sum up my situation perfectly. “Everything has changed, absolutely nothing’s changed.” This song popped up on my playlist today while I was walking with Sullie and this line really resonated with me. Yes, I was walking Sullie and I have no long run to update you guys on because I made a very tough decision yesterday to skip my long run and take three days of rest in hopes it will help my hamstring to heal.
I feel like everything has changed with my body – I’m stronger due to weight training, I’m more flexible and balanced due to yoga and my mindset is right on for marathon training – but nothing has changed. I’m still dealing with an injury at the same point in marathon training that I always do. I thought I had finally beat this and gotten myself in the perfect shape for training but here I am sidelined again with a new injury.
I am really trying not to dwell on this and I’m sorry for dumping all of this on my readers but it’s just kind of heartbreaking. I’m attempting to put the injury into perspective. It’s not that bad right now and hopefully if I allow it to heal correctly it won’t turn into a nagging problem. It’s hard for me not to just push through the pain but I know it’s not the right thing. I was reminded yesterday that I have all the time in the world to continue my yoga practice and to run races…I need to allow my body to heal.
So there.
Last night I eased my sorrows with a Punkin Ale.
Brandon and I went to our favorite casual restaurant, Lebowski’s, for dinner last night. I immediately asked what seasonals they had and was excited to hear that they had the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. I’ve been dying to try it. It was everything I dreamed it would be – rich, pumpkiny, full of warm spices and just a tad sweet.
I told Brandon I was on workout vacation so I was going all out.
I ordered a jerk style turkey burger – it was topped with pineapple, jerk sauce and pepper jack cheese. On the side – their amazing, life changing garlic herb fries. I managed to stop myself from eating the whole basket of them. It was hard. 😉
This morning I was up and at ’em cleaning and cooking. We had friends over to watch the Georgia game. We ended up with quite an impressive spread between the four of us.
A brie plate with crackers, Triscuits, grapes, raspberries and NC mountain apples.
Hummus with pita and carrots. Also, almonds and olives.
Snickerdoodle blondies and whole wheat cheese biscuits.
Cheesy, buttery warm ham rolls.
Although the Dawgs lost (we are not having a very promising start to our season!), the company was excellent. It’s always more fun to watch the games with fellow Dawg fans.
Off to get prettied up for Sarah’s engagement party! Ahh!!!
I’m so sorry you’re going through a tough time right now with marathon training, especially since this is an injury that has popped up several times for you during training. I can’t imagine how hard that is and although I don’t have the right words to say or any idea how to deal with this kind of thing,, I hope you know I’m rooting for you and I hope you overcome your injury soon so you can get back at there.
Kelly – thank you so much for the kind comment. I’m so sad that I couldn’t run with you Saturday but I’m glad that your 12-miler went so well! Hopefully I will be back out there soon!
I’m really hoping you get better soon. I easily get depressed whenever my body decides to object to my training because I feel in my mind I can do so much more and that I’m restrained by my physical entity… but the truth is, at the end of the day, body & mind must come together and act as one in order to succeed. In other words: I think you are following the right approach 😉
Claudie – thanks for the comment. It is so frustrating when mentally you are all there and committed but your body doesn’t cooperate. I know that I have been pushing too hard lately and I have to give my body more time for rest and recovery.
Hang in there! It sounds like you are doing everything right. I really hope it gets better and you can be back out there running strong in a couple days!
Thanks Brittney – I know you understand my frustration right now after everything you’ve been through with your knee.
Jen, we had such a great time Saturday – even with such a tough loss. Our place next time? 😉
We are still eating leftovers! You guys went above and beyond.
Hope this week is full of rest and strength. Have a great one.
Lia
Lia – so glad that you guys could join us for the game. I think we had quite an impressive spread! Can’t wait to do it again and hopefully the Dawgs will give us a win!
I am so sorry to hear about your injury! I have been following your training recently; I ran Division I cross country and track in college and I may have a few tips for training.
With the program you’ve chosen, there is a lot of intensity packed into three run days a week, which can be a great strategy to reduce injury! But I noticed that sometimes two workouts are scheduled on the run days. This is not a bad idea when you are first beginning. Workouts like yoga and the strength class will help you be a better runner, but once you begin to build mileage, establish harder workouts and longer long runs, backing off other workouts can give the body the time it needs to fully recover. Over use is the #1 reason of why injuries occur. Once your body adapts to 18+ runs, and you begin to ease the intensity of your hard runs (begin your taper), then it may be okay to re-incorporate your other activities with less chance of an injury occurring.
I hope you fully recover and don’t worry about the days of rest. You have been working really hard and the miles you have put in are of quality! Three days off will NOT damage your fitness. In fact, you might be stronger after giving your body a chance to heal! =)
Good Luck!
Megan – thank you SO much for taking the time to weigh in on my situation. Honestly, I know that I should build more rest days into my schedule (and not do 2x days on tough run days) and I’m not surprised that I am injured right now. I know I was asking my body to do too much. 🙁 I just love yoga and teaching the strength classes so much that it’s hard to dial back on that to make running the main priority. I am so susceptible to injury at this point in training and it was not smart of me to push so hard. I have got to go easier on myself and allow my body time to recover.
Don’t apologize. Being injured is seriously the most devastating thing for an athlete. You are strong and awesome. Hopefully this was a fluke injury and you’re back to normal soon.
And snickerdoodle blondies? Oh my!
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