Forced Break

A few years ago I had some skin cancer removed from my upper back, therefore I see a Dermatologist every year. Another mole was looking kind of wonky, so I was sent to see a plastic surgeon to take it off.

Since it was on my calf, I was going to have to take a break from running for a few weeks, which (of course, because stuff like that always happens) was going to cut into the start of my Buffalo Marathon training.

In fact, THE DAY of the procedure was the very day I was supposed to start.

Very depressing…

If you love running, the prospect of being told you can’t is discouraging.

A snowstorm and horrible wind chill temps hit that weekend, so it was kind of nice to sit in my jammies for two days in front of the fire and not have to go out.

Because of the weather, I didn’t have to look out and see runners (which makes me very jealous)…no one was out.

The day before the procedure I ran 12 miles, just to get a longer run in before the drought. During the two weeks I had to take care not to do anything high intensity on my legs I did more ab work/upper body work and yoga.

I was allowed to walk, so I bundled up a few times and went for long walks in the city. It was kind of nice to experience the streets at a slower pace and really get to see how pretty Buffalo can be in the snow.

Late Start to Training

I was QUITE ready to get back to it when I was cleared…well, to be honest…I started a day before I was cleared…but I had a good reason!

Our winter is setting up to be a rather snowy/extremely cold one and another storm with blizzard-like conditions was brewing. I would not have been able to get my long run in if I didn’t start a day before I was supposed to.

Two Weeks In

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know I had a really sucky run. It was a 13 miler and the longest run I have had since September.

I was crashing so hard by the end of it and felt awful. Light-headed, nauseous…I just wanted to go back to bed.

Due to the circumstances of the day, I started my run an hour later than I wanted to. I also had an appointment I had to get to, so basically, I had to complete the run in a certain amount of time and pushed to get myself back home in time to shower and get to where I needed to be.

So I did not set myself up for a good run to start with. I was placing a pacing expectation on myself that I shouldn’t have, and I know what I feel like when I am not properly fueled and that contributed to my crash as well.

Eating an egg for breakfast (and only an egg) that day was a no-brainer dumb thing to do.

I came off the run feeling super discouraged and fearful my fitness had been depleted far more than I originally thought.

Reading my post When Your Run Sucks and trying to absorb my own thoughts was hard! I WANTED to feel bad for myself!

The Marathon is Mental

The mind is a funny thing, and so much of running work is done in the brain. Because the run was 13 miles, and I know what I am capable of (when I have trained) I thought I should be able to do it in a set amount of time. And failed miserably.

I have to concentrate on the fact that I am MARATHON training and nothing else. My pacing is supposed to be different, and I have to throw out certain expectations or risk injury.

The fact that there was a 4-month “off-season” that I took also contributes to not being where I left off in September…which I know.

Learning to Adjust

Make sure in your own running that you are being realistic, and not setting yourself up for disappointment. It is easy to feel like you have “failed”…when the reality is maybe the goal was not attainable.

Adjusting Your Runs is a post I did last summer when the training I was doing to beat the 2-hour half-marathon was proving to be a bit aggressive for me and my 50+ body! Sticking to the training plan is sometimes detrimental to whatever goal you have set.

Knowing when to “call it” is a skill a lot of us who run don’t seem to have!

The next two runs were less mileage and went much better. I’m hoping my March Marathon Report is much more positive…but there will always be “bad” days and we just lace up and go at it again!