Er….um….yeah…. Things have been pretty quiet around here. I generally like to follow the old adage of “if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.” So I guess I don’t have anything nice to say about running.
I’ve been racing for quite a few years in a row now. I guess I just thought I would take some time off after Ironman, then I’d be ease back into things and then I’d be back where I was before the race. The truth is it has been over two months and running sucks. I’m tired on runs. I’m nowhere near my pace from earlier in the year. Talk about a surprise.
Truthfully it is getting harder to accept too. Sure, in October I could say, “I’m still recovering so take it easy on yourself.” How long does it take to recover though? And why…oh why…did I sign up for the Goofy Challenge in January! On my last run on Tuesday (for 30 minutes) I wondered how I would run the Last Chance Half in less than two weeks, then continue to build to the Disney Marathon. A few friends suggested I run Last Chance for fun, but considering that there is nothing fun about running right now it didn’t sound all that appealing to me.
I talked with coach and we are switching things up. I sold my spot to Last Chance. I’m not giving up on running at all though! I feel behind the curve for marathon training, but I guess that is the good news about my Goofy Challenge entry. I have a bit of flexibility and I can train for the Disney Half instead. Building to a half marathon is definitely doable and hopefully I’ll be able to get back into form in time for that.
So there you go, that is the latest from me. If I had any advice to give people, it is to not underestimate how long it will take you to bounce back. Be patient with yourself. It will happen, just don’t push yourself!
18 comments:
And it truly is supposed to be fun. Sometimes we forget that.
Last year after my half ironman i had a rough, rough time recovering. This year has been about discovering that I have a variety of vitamin/mineral deficiencies...so I have wondered if that was part of the problem. Might consider taking some extra vitimins right now as precaution. I discovered this year I was low in ferritin (iron), Vit D (you might want to check since you are so far North), folic acid, and most recently my fatigue was I believe related to magnesium deficiency (which is seemingly common for endurance athletes).
Giver yourself some time to recover, but possibly consider taking some vits to help the recovery process too.
Sorry to hear the recovery is so slow. Hang in there!
You accomplished a lot, so don't despair! Plus you have a lot on your plate with the wedding thingy....... ha
You have accomplished so much over the last few years with your running, swimming, biking and with becoming an Ironman in August. It is totally O.K. to switch gears and invest your time in other interests. You sure are having fun planning for your wedding and I am sure that takes time. I agree that running has to be fun. If you push yourself to do it, you might just push yourself further away from it! When the time is right, you will run again! What about snowshoeing this winter!
Hope you are able to bounce back soon! Its hard to run if it isn't fun.
yea, I thought I'd do a marathon last year in January, but after my end of season race, I was like, "meh!" motivation just wasn't there.
Burn out? Sometimes training hard needs more mental come-back than physical. Take it easy on yourself and find the love :)
Forget just taking time off after a big race, how about coming back from *just* time off? My legs are PISSED And my brain is fighting with them ever day.
You will get there! Hopefully you've learned your lesson about Ironman ;P
Sorry to hear that you're having so much trouble, but good for you sticking with it and doing what you can. Sounds like you're making the smart call re: LCH and Disney... you don't want to end up more burnt out/tired. Hopefully you will find your running legs again soon!
I hear you on the recovery thing. I don't think I'm fully recovered either. But it's a huge day, and I'm quite prepared to cut myself a lot of slack. For instance, mental recovery is very important too, and cookies are good for my mental health. You all see where that is going, I hope. QED.
I just posted yesterday about not feeling the "running love". It does take a long time to recover from an Ironman, don't beat yourself up...just go, run and do it for fun, not results, time or distance.
Like rocketpants said, check your vitamin intake and maybe get your iron level checked. Hang in there from me too!
I think its great that you are so dedicated to your sport and trying so hard to push through all of this!!
Welcome back; I've missed your posts. Sorry to hear that you're having a rough go with your running right now. I'm in the same boat but at least you did an Ironman! I did a half marathon and the running has been in the crapper ever since. It will get better though. Always does.
My first coach told me something that I've always remembered: (Now I can't use my hands to talk and effectively illustrate and punctuate what I am going to say, so bear with me! LOL)
When you first start training for an Ironman, your fitness level is down HERE. When you peak for Ironman, your fitness is UP HERE. After Ironman, your fitness level is back down HERE -- at a slightly higher level than when you first started the whole training thing. So, you are building a bigger and better base of fitness as you go along.
Made sense to me! :)
It's ok to take a break!!
I think working towards a half marathon is a great plan. There is plenty of time to do Goofy Challenges.
I hear you on the slow slog on getting back into running I'm looking at an early season Half Iron and Possibly a winter marathon, and my legs are feeling shot after doing back to back runs of 8-9 miles. I do want to echo coach Ken with the Wedding stress playing into it. Stress can kill workouts and motivation,likewise if running is becoming another form of stress just let it be for a bit. Likewise I know it's hard always wanting to analyze data, but maybe consider leaving the garmin at home and just going by feel and not worrying about what pace or heart rate your holding. I find that it usually helps when I'm doing my early season runs (or post A race runs).
Ironman takes a lot out of people and a lot of time to recover from. more than most people know and/or allow for. rest up and it will come back. You can do permanent damage if you try to push through it. Listen to your body.
I am right there with you on this. After the last three-marathon in 4 week stunt I thought I'd be back on the horse after two weeks easy. I've recovered pretty quickly after the same thing earlier in the year. But it has been hard. Even now I am running 20 seconds slower than I was a few months ago. I was hoping to try to PR on Jan 1 but am feeling less confident about that as time goes on. I keep trying to tell myself to be patient. My body is obviously telling me something.
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