Training Summary: 9/6 - 9/12

Mon - 8.5 miles (7:15 avg) - from my house, roads
Tue - 6.5 miles (7:33 avg) - from Hanging Rock with Andrew
Wed - 9 miles (7:01 avg) - Ramada loop with Andrew and Matthew
Thu - 6 miles (7:48 avg) - very easy in Salem with Andrew and Matthew
Fri - 8.5 miles (7:21 avg) - River Loop Extended in Salem with Matthew
Sat - off
Sun - off
Total: 38.5 miles (7:21 avg)

Definitely not the week I was looking for to say the least. It started off really well. I had a very solid run on Monday, where for one of the first times since starting back I felt better than expected, and peaked on Wednesday with by far my best run of the “comeback.” From there, however, it was all downhill. After Friday I was still on track to hit 55 miles, the goal for the week, but a couple goose eggs over the weekend put that to rest.

So what went wrong? Well, here’s my theory. I’ve tried to be patient and ease myself back into things, and in comparison to what I’ve done in the past, I’ve done a pretty good job of that. Still, looking back, I’ve probably been too aggressive, in part because it’s so frustrating being so out of shape that I just want to get fit quickly so I can feel like my normal self. I think I was walking a fine line, and the combination of doing 10 miles last Sunday, a solid 8.5 the next morning, then what was a pretty hard run for me on Wednesday, just pushed me over the edge.

Crossing over manifested itself in several ways, the most significant of which was some major stomach issues after my run on Wednesday that continued to plague me all the way into the weekend. Along with this, or maybe even as a result of it, my energy level dropped to the point where I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I lost 4-5 pounds, which I’m sure contributed to the way I was feeling. Finally, my left shin/calf, which is the one I stress fractured last fall and has been bothering me some all along, got significantly worse. By Saturday, I was just a wreck and decided to throw in the towel. The only good part of this is that unlike in the past when I would have continued to push on until I knocked myself out for several weeks and/or months, I recognized it early this time and hopefully headed off any major problems. Of course I guess that remains to be seen.

So where do I go from here? The plan is to ease back into things this week and be a little less aggressive until I start to feel better. I may have picked up some sort of bug that caused the stomach trouble (or it could have even been something I ate), but even at that I have no doubt my body was already in a weakened state based on how tired I was feeling. I think weekly mileage in the 40’s with maybe a day off every 7-10 days would be a good plan for the time being. I also have to address my shin issue as well. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to go about that, but I have some ideas.

I’m not going to lie and say I’m not discouraged, but still, I’ve come a long way compared to where I was 6 weeks ago, and I have to keep in mind that I not only missed 14 weeks and lost a lot of basic muscle strength during that time but I’m also still ahead of schedule in terms of the comeback. I was harboring some hopes of maybe squeezing in a decent race or two this fall, but I think I’m going to have to forget about that and just use what’s left of 2010 to set myself up for a successful 2011. I might not be where I want to be but at least I know what I need to do. In other words, I’m down but not out!