I’ve been feeling seriously off these past few days, and it is time to press the RESET button. I need to clear my head, open my heart and go for a run. I need to get out of this funk.
Here’s the thing: over the last 3 weeks I have run 3 times. A strong 8 miler, a fun 17.5 miles in Richmond and then a new 5K PR on Saturday. That’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t exactly been idle – I’ve been keeping up with my strength training routine at the gym twice a week, doing Pilates and chasing after my baby who is getting very difficult to keep up with … hardly sitting around. But I haven’t been running.
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| see this guy? he is a monkey. allllways getting into stuff! |
After MCM, I realized it was time to take my recovery very seriously. My new marathon training cycle starts up on December 4th and I want to enter into it feeling strong, fresh and ready to tackle the task at hand. I have big goals for my spring marathon and I don’t want to hinder my ability to accomplish them by doing too much in between. So I told myself that these weeks between training cycles would be laid back…
Three weeks of “laid back” is enough for me. It’s my limit. I’m done with the whole “no planned runs” thing. I can’t take it anymore.
With that said, it doesn’t mean I’m going to start my training plan a couple weeks early. Or that I will stop my other cross training activities (nope, those will remain. Always). It just means that this Type A person is actually much more laid back and relaxed about life when she has structure. I have been feeling on edge, grumpy, moody, “off” – whatever you want to call it – for too many days now. It is time to give some structure to my running routine or else surely I will go insane. Self doubt is trying to creep in and I just don’t have room for that.
And as luck would have it, I am now spending the next 4 days in one of my very favorite places to run during my very favorite time of year to run. And when I’m not running I will be surrounded by the people I love the most in this world. I think this is the perfect time to press RESET.
What do you do in between marathon training cycles? Do you structure your recovery time with runs, cross training and other activities? While giving your body the necessary break from training, how do you keep from going crazy and doubting your fitness? Or…is it just me?
