R&R (Rain and Recovery)

This has to be the wettest summer I can remember. Usually by this point in the year, we’re begging for even so much as a brief shower, but not this year. Instead, it just can’t seem to stop. I have no real reason to complain, as nobody I know personally has sustained any serious damage from it whereas many people have been hit hard by flooding. However, since this is a running blog, that’s what I’m going to relate it to, and it sure does make training difficult. I had to rework my plans four days in a row last week, and last night was yet another planned workout that had to be scrapped thanks to the conditions. I learned a while ago that attempting to run fast when your shoes are thoroughly soaked and the roads are wet and slick is not a good idea. Not only does it increase the risk of a problem, but you don’t get the same return you would if running in dry conditions. Perhaps it’s better than 90 degree heat, but regardless, it’s gotten old at this point.

That said, this week has not gone according to plan. I’ve cut back on the mileage as scheduled, but I’ve not had a good week. My legs have been tired and heavy and I’ve felt flat and sluggish in general. I’m sure some of it is the cumulative effect of the past month of training, but I think a portion of it is related to my run this past Sunday. As I mentioned in my training summary, I got pretty dehydrated on that run, turning the last several miles into a real struggle. In spite of focusing on doing so, I just haven’t recovered from that as quickly as I would have liked, which leads me to a point for those “older” runners out there.

One thing that I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is you can’t get away with things you used to be able to get away with, and I’m confident that fact is multiplied the older you get. A mistake that you might have rolled right through with little or no problem at one point in time becomes a much bigger deal as you approach 40 and beyond. Also, to make matters worse, it’s essentially a double-edged sword, because on the opposite side of the spectrum, you don’t get as much benefit from a really good workout as you do when you’re younger. In other words, the good gets minimized and the bad gets emphasized. Is that the end of the world? No, it’s just something you have to be aware of. I find that I recover about as well as I ever have when I do things right. However, if I make a mistake, I will pay for it for a while. There’s just a lot less room for error, and if you’re a Masters runner, you better be cognizant of that fact.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll get my legs back under me and my body feeling better over the next few days. Who knows, maybe it will stop raining and things will dry out a bit too. Fortunately for me, I think the odds of the former are better than the odds of the latter. Here’s to feeling good and staying dry!