My sincere apologies for the radio silence! Here is the Cliff Notes version of what has been going on with me since the 2016 Boston Marathon:
- I ran a lackluster half-marathon, as part of my training for the 2016 Chicago Marathon (although I won my age group due to the smaller field);
- I PR'd and age-group-placed in the 10-K distance, but not by as much as I would have liked;
- I trained like a fiend for marathon day;
- On marathon day, I set out at the pace I had trained for (sub-3:35 PR pace). After the halfway mark, things quickly went downhill and I finished in a very painful 3:51.
I took two days completely off after the Chicago Marathon,
and then took my legs on a little shakeout. Right from the first run back, and
during all runs thereafter, my legs felt super-heavy, and I did not have the desire to
go more than a few miles. I chalked it up to post-marathon malaise and plugged
away, but in the meantime, I made an appointment for some blood tests.
I got the blood tests done three
weeks post-marathon. They came back with elevated CPK levels, which is a muscle
repair enzyme. Not super-high levels, like you would see in ultrarunners or Ironmen, but high enough
three weeks out from a marathon that they were likely coming down from even
higher levels.
So yeah, I'm overtrained. The cause
is likely too little recovery between the Boston Marathon and the beginning of
the Chicago training cycle, and probably too little recovery in the training cycles
before that. I don't know exactly when it started, but to be honest, I
was feeling sluggish and fatigued in workouts late in this training cycle. I always chalked it up to the normal fatigue of hard training. It probably
played a role in my lackluster (for me) marathon result.
On my coach's recommendation, I immediately took a
week and a half completely off of running. This is completely unprecedented for
me, but it was not as hard as I expected, as slogging through recovery runs day
after day is not my idea of fun. Furthermore, I know that something has to
change in order for me to have a prayer of getting back to my former running
self. Another truth bomb: If I can't have a realistic chance of
running competitively (against myself and my previous PRs), a lot of the joy
would be taken out of running for me. I thrive on training for goal races, and
although I'm sure I would still be able to find enjoyment out of
non-competitive running, I would probably slowly gravitate toward a new way of
keeping fit.
Notice I said "a week and a half"
completely off running. That is because on one day last week (a week from this
past Tuesday, to be exact), I saw perfect running weather out my window. I also
could see the perfect-running-weather days slipping away from me (and sure enough,
they are gone as I'm writing this). I convinced myself that traveling one mile
to the end of my street and back again wouldn't ruin my recovery, and I laced
up my shoes and headed out into the fresh air. I felt like someone who had escaped from prison! It was slow, but it was very
refreshing.
About an hour later, I started feeling cold and shaking.
This was the beginning of the worst stomach flu I have had in recent memory. I
haven't really been sick with so much as a bad cold since I started running
regularly three years ago. The writing was unfortunately on the wall; my
overtraining has also caused a weakened immune system. Back to the couch for
me.
This week, I have attempted 3 miles on the
treadmill, twice. It has gone relatively well. It still feels much harder than
it should, even at a slow (for me) pace. Needless to say, I did not Turkey Trot
this year. And there will be no spring marathon. I'm still holding out hope
I'll be able to train for a late-season half-marathon.
Yes, I've really done a number on myself this time. But
it's going to get better. I have to believe it. I'll keep you updated with any
new developments!
