I am experiencing very unwanted ramifications of thinking that I was better than I really was. On Saturday I had a huge day (thank you everyone for your birthday wishes) including an unexpected 19k run that was supposed to be 16k. I'd completed a 17.5k the week before with no nasty side-effects so I thought I'd be fine. Wrong!!
It's now Wednesday and I'm still tired. I did do speed yesterday, but I was a bit slower and cautious. I felt obliged to go because the girls were doing a special birthday breakfast for me after the session. By last night I just wanted to curl up into a little ball in my bed and sleep for 15 hours. This morning I'm feelling a bit better but the fatigue in my back is still there (I seem to have a spot between my shoulder-blades that holds a lot of tension) and I'm a little nauseated. So I'm taking tomorrow off and and doing a short run on Saturday if I'm up to it. I will be sensible even though my head wants to ignore what my body's telling it.
I was talking to Jenny (running friend) yesterday about injuries and OTS and we both agreed that the frustration comes from not being able to JUST DO IT (apologies to Nike) When I feel tired I'm always wondering if this is just normal tired or OTS tired. If I'm a bit sick - do I have a virus or OTS. I'm constantly monitoring how I'm feeling and it makes me feel like a hypochondriac. I'm so used to saying that I can do it that it's hard and humbling to admit that I can't. I'm sure this is character-building and I will come out a much better person. So my attitude for the rest of the week is that I am training hard - recovery is training too.
One of the best pieces of advice I've received is that recovery days are just as important as run days!
ReplyDeleteYou're smart to listen to your body and let it rest and soak up all the training you have done! Hope the fatigue goes away soon!
ReplyDeleteIndeed - recovery is an important part of training. And sometimes we forget that recovery means more than just not running. It's OK to take it easy and let your body rest.
ReplyDeleteWow, I just wrote about being tired in my blog! I totally relate with you and your post, it's frustrating that we can't do it all...that's the message we are receiving day in and day out. Hang in there, REST does matter. It's a huge part of the equation!
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