Dips and valleys

Yesterday was somewhat frustrating. In addition to just being outright exhausted from the running over the weekend, my ankle is doing this weird painful tweeky thing and I'm pretty sure I pulled a groin muscle. Therefore my effort just was totally WHACK!

I already wasn't feeling it when I left work; and even worked on talking myself out of going to the gym, but ultimately I ended up at the gym. My first instinct was to get on the elliptical rather than the treadmill, but my desire to knock out a few more miles on the week overtook my common sense. Big mistake...

Not too long after I got going at a good 5.3 pace, my groin muscle began aching with each step. I thought to try and run through it, as I had on Sunday at Greenlake, but it just seemed like a bad idea.  So about two tenths of one mile in I decided to do intervals. Jog for 2/10ths of a mile and briskly walk for 1/10th. Just before I reached a mile and a half of this routine, my right ankle started yelling at me suddenly and I found myself leaping off the machine. Sigh..horrible workout. I wasn't even feeling motivated enough to travel into the sweaty depths of the gym dungeon and lift weights to try and salvage my effort.

On my walk home,I felt myself being a little frustrated... "what if I'm really injured?".."what if I don't get better?"..." "what if this is my body telling me this whole idea of becoming a runner at this age is just STUPID?!" Big huge SIGH. I was on the verge of accepting that my running moment would be just that...a 3-week-moment.

After I made it home and in my shower, all those hopelessly pitiful thoughts had been washed away and I was ready to just relax, rest my body, have a good night's sleep amd recommit to my running first thing on the morning. I realized that these are just lil tiny things that could only get in my way if I let them..And that REAL athletes often endure lil twinges here and there so it's something to be expected. I just need to rest my parts for a couple of days and get my body ready for the five miler I have planned to run with friends this weekend.