Last week on Instagram I posted that I’ve been struggling both mentally and physically with running. In March my goal is to get back to enjoying it. To be honest, I don’t think it’s so much of “I don’t like running,” I think my life is chaotic outside of it. Between my husband’s job as well as my personal life, I’ve had a lot more than usual going on.
Last week, my coach, and I decided to skip a workout this week and focus on mental and physical recovery. The week before, I had a frustrating workout. My tempo was 40 seconds slower than the goal pace, and it felt difficult. This week, we decided to back off, and I needed it.
I’ve also had a lot of personal life that has kept me busy. Since coming back to New Jersey, my personal running has taken the backburner. I’ve had other priorities. I realized that I was burning the candle at both ends and putting far too much pressure on myself! Which is silly since friends
There isn’t much to say about my week. I enjoyed a lot of easy and watchless runs. I ran with my husband for several of them.
On Wednesday evening, I got a two-hour deep tissue massage which helped release knots in my IT band. I don’t have any major issues, but my legs have felt stiff for the last several weeks.
Race: Grilled Cheese 4 Miler 24:13
Last year I ran and won the race. It was the perfect race, and I felt great. This year, going into that, I knew it wouldn’t be as great. My body was still recovering from my deep tissue massage, I didn’t feel “great”, and it was 15 degrees. It’s always hard to enter a perfect race knowing you did well the previous year.
Even though it was significantly colder and my body felt as though it was still recovering, I was able to run 24:13 which I’m happy with. I negative split the entire race and felt decent.
Plans for Next Week:
I plan to continue to relax and focus on myself. With Shamrock in two weeks, I want to relax and regroup now versus feeling stale at the race. Shamrock isn’t a “goal race” for me, but granted the weather isn’t like last year, I would like to see where my fitness is.
Posts from the week:
February Training Log
Thoughts While Working at a Running Store
Questions for you:
How do you regroup and refocus when things feel stale?
What was your best workout last week?