Notes
Went for a run on the trails Saturday, and my shin did not hurt at all. The last few days I have just felt little throbs of slight pain here and there while walking around the house and sitting down, and I know my body well enough to know that those are warning signs. I could easily train and run right now, but I risk having to shut down my marathon build up next week probably, which I don't want. The main message is this- I know I've been flirting with the Hard Training/Overtraining line for weeks now, and that was my goal. I think I may have stepped over to the overtraining line last week, and I probably knew it, too. My legs had felt like junk for over a week and I kept pushing, never quite feeling fresh. I think quarantine incentivized me to push too hard. These last few days I've been doing biking, specifically mountain biking on the trail at beaverdam park that I run on, and it's fun! My legs have been feeling more and more fresh every day while I get to enjoy a low-impact activity. Mentally and physically, I needed a little break, and understanding that is the key to healthy, long-term training. I didn't understand that in college, and one week off would normally become two months off. If I have to take 1-2 weeks off, but I can arrive at the start line healthy and at 80-90% of expected fitness next month, that's better than being injured. Besides, my original goal for this race is still to break 4 hours, which I should be able to do even if I'm not at 100% fitness.
The big question now is when to start back and how slow/fast to increase mileage. Tomorrow was supposed to be a major long run, and I've been tinkering with the idea of doing it just to see how my body handles it, but a long-term approach to training would say that's reckless and dumb. I think I'll run 30 minutes either tomorrow or Thursday and see how I feel, not necessarily during the run, but after throughout the day.
In conclusion, I think the most over-looked part of training is listening to your body, because it doesn't lie, we just choose to ignore warning signs. This year one of my training philosophies has been to listen carefully to my body at all times, and respect anything it has to say.