A refresher: I am signed up for TWO races this weekend – a Half Marathon on Saturday and a 10K on Sunday. I am running the Half alone, and I am running the 10K with my brother-in-law. It is Nick’s first race, and I will be pacing with him (AKA I’m not running for time). However, I am planning to run the Half Marathon for time (goal is under 2 hours).
Last Thursday, I ran 18.0 miles and my ankle/calf felt sore afterwards. On Sunday, I ran 3.0 miles and could barley finish due to the discomfort.
I am very prone to injuries so I immediately took this entire week off from ANY weight bearing activities (except yoga). I did not do any form of cardio (which was difficult!). The single biggest mistake that runners make it “running through†the pain.
This morning, I decided I needed to go on a Test Run to see if I could do the races this weekend. To ensure I didn’t overdo it this morning, I wore inappropriate running clothes:
(Meaning that I wore a cotton long-sleeve shirt. I sweat so much that cotton is unbearable after a mile.)
I also didn’t crate the dogs. They look sweet, but if they are left alone for more than 15 minutes in the house, all hell breaks loose.
These two factors motivated me to just run a LITTLE BIT. I want to have fresh legs this weekend.
I ran 1.0 mile in 10:30. I walked the first 0.15-mile and picked it up to race pace (9-minutes) until the very end, when I did a cool-down. When I came home, I did 6 minutes of ab work per the Whittle My Middle challenge.
The verdict? …. I’M GOING TO RACE TOMORROW! Yay! 🙂 🙂 :) It wasn’t an easy decision to make because I tend to freak out at any twinge when I think I might be injured. I also know that I tense up the part of my body that is injured, which makes it worse. I tried to relax and let my mind wander, and then I would ‘check in’ with my ankle every now and then. I felt good!
However, I did not feel 100%. I felt 95%. I told myself I would do the Half if I was overwhelmingly confident that I was not going to hurt myself, and I do feel confident. I wish I felt 5% MORE confident, but I think I’m also prone to paranoia because of my history of injuries.
That is why I am giving myself “permission†to drop out of the Half Marathon if I need to. I’ve only dropped out of one other race, and while it’s certainly not a great feeling, not being able to run the marathon in January would be worse.
I am SO excited for a race-filled (and injury-free) weekend!
Before my run, I had a glass of milk. And after my run, I made an easy breakfast:
Just Grape Nuts, almond milk, and raspberries.
In Celebration….
In celebration of my upcoming races, I thought I’d share my Race Diary, which chronicles the first 14 races I’ve completed. I can’t wait to do another one for this season!
You can read text recaps of all the races here. And FYI – In hindsight, I should’ve put “Memorable because I screwed up my knees and couldn’t run for 2 months†under Race 14: Crooms Fools Run 15.4 Mile Trail Race. 🙂
Have a GREAT DAY!
OH PS – For all my Twilight fans, wanna win a cute homemade Twilight tee? You know you do – check this out!
Good luck! LOL At the fact you have to do all of that to not run farther I know how that goes. used to try to limp through 2 or 3 miles when my knees got bad. Finally had to admit defeat and take 4 months off. It kept getting worse! Glad you get to race and don’t push it too hard!