Burn Out

There's a reason why you shouldn't run or workout every day. I realize that now. After running every day in March and hitting my all-time monthly mileage high of 91 miles, along with doing Insanity the entire month, I indeed burned out. I couldn't wait to have a rest day. My mind and body were utterly spent. So, what did I do? I rested. A lot. Too much. My running mileage for THIS month? A grand total of 30 miles. To say that I'm feeling unprepared for my half marathon on 5/5 is an understatement.

I did actually attempt the first week of Month 2 of Insanity. Longer workouts with some crazy moves. Dare I say, it was fun? But my body just couldn't take the pounding. Well, specifically, my right heel couldn't take the plyo. I never had an issue with my feet or knees or hips before. I guess all of the March activity was the perfect storm for something to go wrong. The pain is worse in the morning, so I kind of walk around like Frankenstein, not moving my ankle at all until everything has warmed up and loosened a bit. I decided I had had enough and went to my local running store.

The Sayville Running Company is only 20 minutes from my house. duh. When I stood on the footbalance analyzer my footprint looked like Fred Flintstone's. My arch is pretty non-existent. When I drew what it looked like, Charlie said, "So you have paws?" (Hysterical.) Surprise! I overpronate. The salesman brought out 3 different pairs of stability shoes- Brooks, Asics and Saucony. I tried them all on and decided on the Saucony Stabil CS 2. Why can't they be just a BIT more attractive? There are rainbow colored, tie-dyed shoes out there. None of them for me.

I took them for a couple short runs and they feel fine. Our long run on Sunday didn't go so well, though. I have a feeling that now that I have the right shoes, other parts of my legs are feeling the effects. I struggled with the same 7.5 miles I had run the week before, but pushed myself to run/walk another 1.5 miles to hit 9. We have 1 more long run tomorrow, hopefully 10 miles, before our half next week! Again, I'm not overly confident about this race. My high-falutin goal is to come in under 2:25. Right now, just beating my old time of 2:29:51 by 1 second would be an accomplishment. We shall see. I am looking forward to crossing the finish line with Charlie and sharing his first half with him, though.

So while I'm contending with this heel issue and feeling a bit worn down, what do I do? Why, enter the 2013 NYC Marathon lottery, of course! Isn't that what you do when you're struggling with a 9 mile run? Push the finish line just 17 miles further down the road?