The first few weeks of marathon training are so exciting, and were especially exciting for me this time, since I had taken an entire year off from training for a race. I did a few races last year, but nothing that I had an actual training schedule for, and nothing longer than a half marathon. So diving back into a long training schedule felt great!
Then I got to the halfway point last week, and I finished it up with a great 20-mile run, and then I crashed. I crashed spectacularly hard.
After that 20-miler, I was hit with a wall of fatigue that I haven't felt in a long time. Thankfully, Scott took the boys out for the afternoon so I could park myself on the couch and do a whole lot of nothing.
I hoped I'd bounce back after my afternoon of rest, but I really didn't - not for several days, anyway. And it wasn't even just the exhaustion - I felt like I was in a fog; and I also felt extraordinarily crabby and short-tempered with everyone.
Everything was making me mad, and nothing was making me happy. I'm tempted to blame some of it on hormonal wackiness, and I also felt like I was fighting off a cold, and I also was just plain tired. It felt like kind of a perfect storm of bad-mood-inducing crap, and nothing I did (yoga, meditating, running) could help me shake it.
But I had a plan to follow, and Tuesday, it called for a tempo run - 10 miles total, with 7 at tempo pace. It seemed a little daunting (as everything last week did), but I've been doing 6 at tempo pretty regularly, so I thought I'd be ok. I thought wrong.
It was a struggle almost from the first step. I did ok with the first couple fast miles - 7:18 and 7:29, and then even got down to a 7:14 and 7:12. Then I found myself turning onto Ocean Road to head north along the water, and I was already feeling tired, and as soon as I turned the corner, I ran headfirst into a wall of wind.
And that is the point at which I immediately stopped running. And I'm not exaggerating - I stood there on the side of the road almost crying. I just wanted no part of any of it. I was done with this run, I was done with training, I was done fighting the wind, I was done with everything. I was ready to wave the white flag.
Except for the minor problem that I was still a good 6 miles from my car. So calling it quits entirely wasn't really an option. After a few minutes of walking, I gathered myself as much as I could and figured I'd just start running, and if I could muster a 7:30, I'd see if I could salvage the tempo.
So I dove into the wind and ran - 7:27 at first, then a 7:24. Not a true tempo pace for me, but given how crappy I was feeling, and how tough the headwind was, I was fine with it, and figured that if I could do that, I could maybe try to push it a little harder. I knew that once I got through the 6th mile, I'd be taking a turn and would be out of the wind, so I told myself to just hang on through that mile, and I got it done in 7:18. And without the wind, mile 7 was a 7:02.
Despite the struggles, the tempo portion of the run averaged out to 7:18. Slightly slower than my other tempos have been, but with everything I had working against me (namely my brain, and the wind), I was very pleased.
I was also still exhausted. And still feeling generally like crap. So much so that during my 9-mile run on Thursday, I was barely able to maintain an 8:50 pace. Even at that pace, I found myself stopping and walking a few times. It was demoralizing and depressing, and I was so discouraged after that run.
I considered taking Friday off, but I felt better when I woke up, so figured I'd give it a shot. Thankfully, it went well - 7 miles at an average 8:00 pace, and I felt good the whole time. Such a huge relief.
As the day went on, the fatigue and fog lifted, too, and I felt like I was coming back to myself. Getting back to my regular Friday yoga class helped, too. I've had to miss it the past two weeks, and although I've taken a few other classes with different instructors, they just weren't the same.
Saturday was long-run day, and it was uneventful, which is a good thing! Eighteen miles total, and I did a pretty decent job starting slower and finishing fast. The best part, though, was that I wasn't completely crushed afterward.
Whatever came crashing down on me after last Sunday's run has definitely lifted, and I'm glad it did, because it was not a great week.
But at least it finished on a good note.
And even though it was a rough week, it was still a full week of training, and another full week getting me closer to race day, so I'll take it. And better to get the bad runs and the bad weeks out of the way now, so that hopefully all the good will be left for April 18.
Love this post! I spent a weekend with that hormonal crabbiness / tired / sick nonsense. The good thing is that it does pass and you didn't give up. Funny how one day can be total crap and the next like the crap never happened. I think about what you must be going through when I'm out on my maintenance runs, kind of looking forward to and dreading the upcoming training cycle. Thanks for keeping me motivated!
Posted by: Beth | March 02, 2016 at 04:18 PM