Florida Challenge Triathlon Countdown Clock

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My Mind Says "yes!" But My Body Says "Man Sit Down!"

Sometimes your body will tell you things, but we just don't want to listen! This past Saturday I planned on going for a 10 mile run. My big race is on June 12th. That is FIVE WEEKS AWAY!! Every training session counts!

The only problem with that is sometimes your body could care less when it is. If it wants you to take a break that's what you'll do. I'm usually pretty good at listening to my body and taking a break, but it's crunch time. I don't have TIME to take a break, but this weekend I really didn't feel like training. But with the race 5 weeks away, that means I really only have 4 weeks to prepare. So I felt like I HAD to get out there.

Here I am before my run:



I really didn't feel like running, and I even voiced it in my pre-run video:



The day looks like every other in Florida:



My problem is simple: I'm 42, but I still think I'm 25! Yep, I can say it. Then I'm a big sports fan. I see pro athletes like Dwayne Wade & Derrick Rose get hurt then keep plying at high levels. As an athlete, how can a person NOT get pumped to see others struggle thru adversity and prevail??

Well, a really big factor is these guys are in their early 20's. They can bounce back quicker than my old a**! I'm getting like Shaq: He was out for half the season due to an injury. Battled back and played in a game 2 weeks ago. Dude played for FIVE MINUTES before he hurt his calf muscle! The difference between him and Wade? About 12 years. The difference between me & Shaq? About 4. Dammit man! lol

So anyway, I start my run slow, cuz I'm not into it mentally. 15 minutes in I feel a little better. 20 minutes in my Achilles heel starts to hurt. I try shrug it off by stopping to stretch it a bit. I resume running and then it REALLY starts to hurt!! At that point I give up. I turn around and start the long walk back.

Yep, my right Achilles heel is hurting. This is the same foot where I had the plantar fascitis issues last year. I need a foot transplant! I think my heel will be fine in about 2 weeks, but that's 2 weeks I can't run. This really sucks, because I feel like I'm really falling behind schedule.

But I can't worry about that right now. All I can do is focus on what I CAN do, which is bike & swim. I'll deal with the run later. Besides, what will worrying do besides give me more grey hair?? lol

So, on my walk back, I decided to make the best of it and act like a tourist and take pics as I walked. There are some really nice houses on Bayshore & here are a couple of them:







Each house is different, and I've always liked the architecture out here, as well as the water (of course:)



I'm not a fast walker, and since my heel was hurting, there was no way I was going to try walk fast. The last thing I wanted to do was make the injury worse! So I took my time!

My run/walk on Saturday was about 80 minutes. I was far from tired, more aggravated than anything. It's really frustrating when things don't go as planned, but that's how life goes!

Here's my post run vid:



I feel much better as I type this. I can do jumping jacks and walk with minimal pain, but no running yet. I won't try run for AT LEAST 2 weeks. Thelast thing I want to do is reaggravate it and can't run on race day at all. (Walking 13.1 miles while in pain would be TORTURE!!!!) I'll just focus on my bike & swim in the meantime. I had some good runs before I got hurt, so I hope I can keep that fitness level up. If anything, the swim will help my heel because of the water itself. I don't have to deal with gravity and I can really flex my feet while I swim.

But I learned someting VERY important (again:) I know my body. I MUST learn to take a step back when it tells me it needs a vacation day! Well, I'm all ears now! lol

Thanks for reading! Till next time, peace!