Week 5 - Day 5

I have a confession to make - I haven't kept up with the plan this week. Well not entirely. Well technically just three days off plan (but that IS half a week) - okay so maybe I'm justifying this to myself too much.

Here's what happened:

Last Sunday, as you all know I managed the great 8-miler! And while it was a BIG step forward for me, I have a feeling I may have injured myself a little without knowing it. Not so much that I was incapacitated, but enough to know that something wasn't right. And when 'something doesn't feel right', it's best not to run. Unfortunately, I didn't follow that advice. So after taking a rest day Monday, I ran another 4.5 miles on Tuesday. Good run and everything - just a little discomfort around the kneecap - but it's what happened afterwards that I regret.

Tuesday my legs started to ache - I won't say hurt because there wasn't any pain. The 'ache' was like this tiredness in my legs and I attributed it to the workouts. Wednesday morning I woke up rested but my legs were tired. I figured an extra day of rest during the week would help and that's what I did. Instead of going to the gym on Wednesday, I took the day off.

That was probably one of the wiser things I did. But the fatigued feeling didn't go away. Thursday morning, again - I woke up. I'm rested but my legs felt like they'd been working out during the night - literally like muscle pulling away from the bone tiredness. It worsened during the evening to the point that I couldn't sit for longer than an hour. So I finally took an Advil and took another day off (though technically Thursday was supposed to be another 4.5 mile run for me).

So today is Friday, and today I have finally woken up with the tiredness gone. My legs are back! Whew! Maybe all I did need was rest. Want to go to the gym today but tomorrow is my first 9-miler! And I really want to be at peak performance tomorrow. So I'll keep it light. I'll do some ab work at home but nothing that taxes my legs. I want to be at 100% tomorrow.

I have to admit though - as much as I'm excited about tomorrow's run, I'm scared too. It seems like forever since I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement. I'm scared of going out there and being disappointed or realizing that I did God forbid injure something.

I guess there's just one way to find out right? Until tomorrow then...