The week in review:
Here's what's been going on with my training. To curb the effects of overtraining I've been experiencing over the last few weeks, I decided to take a few days off this week from running. Originally, it was only going to be a 3-day break, but somehow turned into 6. ;-) (Really needed the time off, so it was no big deal.) I ended up not running at all Monday-Friday, & instead running 6.85 mi on Saturday & 14.2 miles on Sunday. Not a typical schedule that I'd normally recommend to others, but at least I managed to get in two out of the three workouts for this week, & 21.05 miles total. This week's totals were supposed to be more along the lines of 30-35 mpw, but I'm not too concerned.
While I've got a 10-mile race coming up on April 5th (i.e., the Cherry Blossom) & a half-marathon on May 3rd, my attitude is that it's better to take precautions now & nip the overtraining issues in the bud now than to have it snowball into something more serious (like illness or injury).
Frankly, I felt like my training schedule had been bearing down on me like 200 ton-bricks of lead, & the internal pressure I was feeling to comply & follow every single workout exactly as planned by the schedule -- even when done with the best of intentions (i.e., having been carried out with real dedication & determination!), was ironically seriously undermining not only my resolve & but also the larger picture/long-range goals.
The whole "gung-ho" mentality that I've been trying so hard to avoid this time around had somehow sneaked up on me again in the disguise of something very innocuous, our training schedule. ;-) I'm not actually blaming the training schedule itself you see, but rather was making observations about how my attitude was starting to get a bit rigid with regarding to my steadfast compliance with it. ;-) The real irony is that, in almost everything else in life, I am staunchly opposed to rigidity of any form, but sometimes my ambition to achieve gets the best of me & I want so badly to do well & succeed as a runner that I lose focus on the larger picture.
Thank goodness I caught this trend & nipped it in the bud before it was too late.
Once again, this is a lesson I learned the hard way in the past, & I'm determined not to repeat such past mistakes. It's so important to keep growing & moving forward! Moreover, as I've said before, the point is to take the longer-range view of running, & to ensure that it'll be something that I can & will also
want to do in the future. ;-)
Sometimes you just got to do what feels right & say to heck with pressure, whether it be external or internal.
Here's what's been going on with my training. To curb the effects of overtraining I've been experiencing over the last few weeks, I decided to take a few days off this week from running. Originally, it was only going to be a 3-day break, but somehow turned into 6. ;-) (Really needed the time off, so it was no big deal.) I ended up not running at all Monday-Friday, & instead running 6.85 mi on Saturday & 14.2 miles on Sunday. Not a typical schedule that I'd normally recommend to others, but at least I managed to get in two out of the three workouts for this week, & 21.05 miles total. This week's totals were supposed to be more along the lines of 30-35 mpw, but I'm not too concerned.
While I've got a 10-mile race coming up on April 5th (i.e., the Cherry Blossom) & a half-marathon on May 3rd, my attitude is that it's better to take precautions now & nip the overtraining issues in the bud now than to have it snowball into something more serious (like illness or injury).
Frankly, I felt like my training schedule had been bearing down on me like 200 ton-bricks of lead, & the internal pressure I was feeling to comply & follow every single workout exactly as planned by the schedule -- even when done with the best of intentions (i.e., having been carried out with real dedication & determination!), was ironically seriously undermining not only my resolve & but also the larger picture/long-range goals.
The whole "gung-ho" mentality that I've been trying so hard to avoid this time around had somehow sneaked up on me again in the disguise of something very innocuous, our training schedule. ;-) I'm not actually blaming the training schedule itself you see, but rather was making observations about how my attitude was starting to get a bit rigid with regarding to my steadfast compliance with it. ;-) The real irony is that, in almost everything else in life, I am staunchly opposed to rigidity of any form, but sometimes my ambition to achieve gets the best of me & I want so badly to do well & succeed as a runner that I lose focus on the larger picture.
Thank goodness I caught this trend & nipped it in the bud before it was too late.
Once again, this is a lesson I learned the hard way in the past, & I'm determined not to repeat such past mistakes. It's so important to keep growing & moving forward! Moreover, as I've said before, the point is to take the longer-range view of running, & to ensure that it'll be something that I can & will also want to do in the future. ;-)
Sometimes you just got to do what feels right & say to heck with pressure, whether it be external or internal.