Burn Out..

Rest is awesome. Rest is when the muscles regroup, repair themselves, and get stronger. I had a little bit of a "forced" rest this weekend, but I feel better for it.

Many of the half marathon training programs I've seen online (including Hal Higdon's here) suggest building the miles on the long run for a few weeks, then backing off for a week. Well, I was going to ignore that this Saturday and do another 8 mile run. That was the plan all week.

I ran 4.7 miles on Tuesday, ran 4 miles on Thursday (both longer than my normal weekday runs), and then went out to run 2 miles on Friday. On Friday's run, I could tell, I had pushed a little too far. Normally 2 miles is a piece of cake, but it was rough the WHOLE TIME.

I still planned on running my 8 on Saturday though.

Then, the weather says it's going to rain on Saturday. Pshaw... rain doesn't scare me! Wait, the local running store cancelled all the Saturday morning training runs in fear of flooding? Okay, I'm just going to ignore that...

Oh wow, my knees hurt. Oh and my calves. Okay, I'm just going to ignore that.

Hey it's not raining yet, I'm going to try and go out for as long as I can....

So, I dug out a water belt because I thought it would make things easier. It's like a fanny pack that has a place for water. Well, when I went out on my "8 mile run that has already turned into a whatever I can get before the downpour run"... the bag bugged me. It felt like I had a 5 pound weight hanging from my waist.

Here's what I had going against me;

- Possible overtraining- sore, heavy legs, hip flexors, knees.

- Rain and the possibility of flooding.

- Feeling generally uncomfortable because of stupid water belt.

- Emotional burnout.

So, after running .14 mile, I turned around and went home. I cried a little out of the disappointment, but I just couldn't do it. 

I did Bob Harper's Yoga for the Warrior instead, which I needed.

I then took a really long nap with my daughter, ignoring my giant to-do list I had written for the day.

Looking back, I think I was just too tired. A lot of working out, a lot of not-sleeping enough, and just the general weariness from being supermom all week.

I'm okay with skipping the run. I will pick back up this week. There is a fine line between blowing off workouts and pushing too far. It's hard to find that balance... but I'm all about balance!