Saturday, February 21, 2009

Feeling Bad, A Good Thing?

How I'm feeling in my training runs at a particular time has always been an ebb and flow. I think of my running much like the weather. There are trends and patterns, but a specific period of time can always sway quite a ways in either direction from the "normal." I ran a 20 miler today and a 20 miler yesterday and felt pretty crappy on both of them. I don't however feel like I'm in a longer term trend or pattern of not feeling good. Up until yesterday I've generally felt steadily stronger and in better shape ever since recovering from my minor calf strain almost 3 weeks ago. I see little reason to get over concerned about how I've felt the past couple days. Instead I'm going to take the zen like approach that this is actually a good thing because if I have swung in the direction of not feeling very good the past couple days I should be swinging back the other way just in time for the start of the ITI one week from tomorrow. This is my theory and I'm sticking to it. Plus it's not like I have any time to do anything about it at this point.

3 comments:

Derrick said...

I usually find it a good sign when you get those sluggish runs where you feel lousy just before a race. With a little taper now, you'll be ready to fly. Good luck and have fun!

Dave Harris said...

I'm with Derrick on that one. LW has this happen to her so much in training we have a name for it: the LW governor. She does well with 3 week tapers and those final 3 weeks she often feels lousy, but I've identified it as the minds unwillingness to push, instinctively knowing what's coming up and what is best for training right now...

I am devoid of any governor and it gets me into trouble sometimes!

Good luck in your race.

Hone said...

I have run good races after feeling crappy.

I have run bad races after feeling crappy.

I have run crappy races after feeling good.

If you continue too feel crappy just remember it is only a 350 mile race. Suck it up and just jog it in.