About Me

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Austin, Texas, United States
I'll make you laugh, or break my neck trying. This is usually accomplished with daily bouts of swimming, biking and running. A former "chub-a-holic," I got fit and healthy the good old fashioned way and went from a mid-pack athlete to top age group runner and triathlete. I'm a Writer and USAT Level 1 Certified Triathlon Coach. I guess that makes me part Tina Fey and part Jillian Michaels. Visit my coaching site at www.fomotraining.com

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Walk of Shame...

What started as an attempt to run 12 miles this morning ended just after four miles and a long and humiliating two mile walk home. What the hell?! I just completed a Half-Marathon last week and today my leg couldn't even sustain four miles without walking. As per usual, my leg went dead. caput. no lift. burning. pain. Oh I was shattered. I was depressed. Why does this keep happening to me? Why am I the one who is having trouble? There are people out there with form much worse than mine. There are people who shouldn't be running, but are. And yet, today, I was the one reduced to the walk of shame.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Austin and I spent a bunch of it feeling sorry for myself. Instead of focusing on my 5 strong bike rides this week, 3 solid swims and 6 intense bikram classes, I focused on my botched run. Thank goodness for 12 Noon bikram with Michelle and Audra, followed by an afternoon at Whole Foods and church with hubster to lift me from the funk. It was sunny and 78 degrees today. I rode my vespa. I had a fabulous weekend with friends, parties, and live music. Yet another perfect weekend in Austin, Texas. It could not have been better.  And yet, one thing could've made it just a smidge better.

It will get better.

5 comments:

Coach Liz said...

Lol, are you talking about me...the people who should not be running but are? I ran with Kendall yesterday but my ortho doc said that I could as long as the pain was not that bad.

I think that the adrenalin and adventure of having your out-of-town friends running with you kept you from having to walk. Also, putting 13.1 miles on your hip is probably not a normal thing for you right now. You overdid it and when you tried to get another long run in your hip let you know it was not happy with you.

Don't sweat it. I had to come to terms with not racing for a season to heal an injury and it is hard. The races are not going away. The year I took off really was a blessing. I launched my coaching career and the extra time I would have spent training and racing was spent studying and learning how to build workouts for other people.

I did get in workouts, but they were easy and only meant to keep me from turning into the stay-puff marshmallow man. Talk to other coaches about what they tell their athletes when they come to them with injuries. Learn all you can.

ShirleyPerly said...

78 degrees, WOW!

I'm sorry to hear your run did not go well. Stay positive and keep moving forward in other things. I hope no one will ever do like my husband did -- he ignored the pain, pushed things too far and can never run again :-(

Ulyana said...

I'm glad you were able to see the positive :)

Michelle said...

What a pain in the ass! Injury sucks. I can't say I know what you're going through. But, I do distinctly remember 6 weeks when I couldn't do anything due to injury and I thought I literally needed psychotherapy! Focus on the good.

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

I'm sorry your run was disappointing. I like what Coach Liz has to say about not worring about this as a performance year, but a healing year. Do what you can do but give yourself a chance to heal.