Rollercoaster of Run

Ahoy! Here’s where I’ll try and get you up to speed with how my fall training’s been going:

Up until about a month ago my base preparation – a mix of workouts and runs totaling about 40 miles a week – had been progressing steadily. I was beginning to be able to hang with the distance gals of BC who recently qualified for Cross Country Nationals next Monday (WOO!) and I could feel my aerobic strength making gains already. However, from what I think was a result of “too much too soon” and going from the soft trails to harder city surfaces, my shins grew increasingly tender to the touch. Rather than risking a stress reaction or worse, and after consulting with my sports doctor and athletic trainer we decided to stop running for two weeks. Dagger to my heart!

I certainly was not thrilled (miserable, really). But I usually give myself a day maximum to sulk then get on with it. My body clearly needed to take a rest or it wouldn’t be going all psycho on me, and to ease the pain called it my cross training vaca. During my mini vacation from running I read books and magazines, watched a lot of ESPN, and caught up with friends after I mastered the art of texting while perfectly balanced on an elliptical. I also threw myself deeply into my strength training and preventative exercises to hopefully ensure this shin stuff doesn’t come haunting me again.

After another two weeks of slowly reacclimating my body to running through a mix of cross training and 30 minute runs, I finally got the go ahead to do a workout! YESS GREAT SUCCESS!! …and then I got a cold last weekend. Poop. It was one of those “COME ONN universe” moments, But again, one of the most tried and true mantras in this sport is to listen to your body. So I did, and moved my return to real training further out. As it stands, I’m down to a slightly congested nose so I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to try a tempo workout this Friday.

Don’t get me wrong, things could be worse (knock on wood) and I was under no illusion that it would be the most perfect of cross country seasons, but as a first year pro you kind of hope that everything will beautifully fall into place, which just isn’t the case. No worries. Running is always full of surprises and with Indoor Track right around the corner, its going to take A LOT more than sore shins and the sniffles to count me out. When met with obstacles, especially ones I can’t control I try to figure out what I can do on that given day to make myself stronger. With resilient determination anything is possible.

All I want for Christmas is good health and consistency… and an iPhone 4S is Santa can manage it

Since most things in life can be related to a song, and knowing my music tastes will come out sooner or later , I wanted to leave you all with the song that inspired the title of today’s post –> BOOM.

Oh! And to add to the coolness, you can now subscribe to my site using the right side bar, isn’t that grand!

Happy Wednesday everybody!