It always seems to happen 2 weeks before my Solvang race - my immune system checks out while old injuries wake up to cause nightmares. This year I spent the first 3 weeks of April generally beating myself up. The difference in muscle endurance was evident on long runs and I'm sure it's helping out now that I'm attempting to spring back into racing shape in a 6 days.
The demise to my training last week started with my shoulder injury, which still hurts when lifting something laterally. Following my run on Sunday (Training Day 21), my shoulder felt fine, but my feet were demanding more support. Looks like new shoes after Solvang. But the next few days, my shoulder was bothering me and soreness from the tendonitis in my big toes started to creep in. Then (as if this list isn't long enough for a weekly recap), my stomach has been upset since Wednesday and I've been losing my appetite a bit.
The week ended yesterday with a very frustrating 52:30 minute run. There was a fierce headwind heading out. So fierce that I took 5 minutes off my time coming back. I couldn't get my pace faster than 8 min, 20 sec. for the first half, and dropped it down to 7 min, 57 sec. Plus my feet hurt from my shoes, so I think it's time to slip in the ol' insoles. I was supposed to go out 30 minutes, but with that bastard of a headwind I turned around at 27:30 and started running back. I literally kept yelling at myself in my head, "You have a race next week, YOU CAN'T QUIT! It's not going to be easy... run up this hill!" The second I turned, the run became exponentially more enjoyable, but my feet still hurt and I had to get over the 3.5 miles of frustration that built up on the way out.
Although I'm supposed to be tapering this week, I need to get my legs, mind and the rest of my body back in the game. So, no taper this year. There's always next year to go into this race strong and healthy.
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