Recovering from a Rough Run

Good Morning,

This blog has a bit of a different tone from the last one, after a great week of success I went out on my 6 mile long run on Sunday and it was one of those runs that was rough from the start. 

My legs felt like lead, my shins sparked with the old familiar feeling of shin splints and even a mile felt like an eternity.  Oh and I had to pee the entire time.  Sounds super right?

About mile two my legs started to lighten up a bit but by that time I was worried about my shins so I was walking part of every single mile and getting sadder by the moment.

I notice that when something like this happens in my head I start to play a dialogue of how I am going to tell this story of my awful run to my husband.  This time I stopped myself from writing a sad story before the run was even over!  I started repeating a strong/light mantra in my head and focused on not stamping this run as terrible before it even ended.

That helped a bit, at least my head felt better even if my bladder and shins did not.  I told myself I was awesome for trucking on then I focused on keeping an eye out for moose.  I had two moose encounters on the run which got my heart beating fast!

At mile six I stopped running and stopped my watch which read an embarrassing 14 min/mile average pace and I took a big breath and gave myself a way to go.  It may have not been an awesome run but I did it, I finished 6 miles - well 7 by the time I got to the car, slight miscount there! 

I am really proud of myself for not only finishing but for also keeping a positive head about the run.  While it is still hard not to look at my training schedule this morning and doubting the process, I know that tough runs happen.  Its not the end of the world, it doesn't mean that I am not going to be able to run my race, it just means it was a tough day.

I have a few days of cross training/weight lifting coming up and I am hoping my new shoes will arrive during this time and I can fend off the dreaded splints.  I will look forward to my next run knowing it will be much better than last weekend :)

How do you deal with tough runs?  Anyone else struggle with letting them get you down?

A really old moose picture I took at the Conservation Center - but isn't it neat!