Running Diaries: Missing My Stride

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No one ever said running was easy. I not only get that, I embrace it. It's one of the many things I love about running--that dig-deep-gut-it-out-get-it-done feeling that comes with pushing myself through a really hard workout. 

But something's wrong. I've been struggling with my runs lately, even the easy recovery runs. Where normally I loosen up and hit my stride within the first mile, lately my legs stay weighted throughout the entire run. My lungs are fine but my ankles, of all odd things, are killing me. Both of them. They're stiff and inflexible and ache with each step. 

There are a few different things that could be affecting my running: 

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Ask Yourself, "How Do People Experience Me?"

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I'm reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday and almost the entire MarketPlace section is devoted to an article on "The XX Factor: What's Holding Women Back?" 
It's an interesting read, broken into numerous subsections. One of the subsections offers a Tool Kit for society and individuals on how to encourage more/better participation by women in the economy. Under the header Personal Strategies: Tools for the Individual, one of the recommendations is that women do Self-Assessments.
"Regularly consider, 'How do people experience me? Am I a game changer and value creator who builds trusting relationships?'"
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I'm Not Wonder Woman: A Reminder

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Running does things to you. It builds stamina, increases confidence, improves mental health and has a profound effect on your overall fitness.

Or, in my case, it gives you one overweening ego. 

I don't know why I think being a runner makes my lower body invincible to the pain ordinary mortals may experience, but it does. It's why I continue to remain shocked at how horrible I am at spinning. It's also why I'm reluctant to admit--at midnight on a Friday--that my glutes, hamstrings, and thighs are KILLING me, compliments of Jillian Michaels. 

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Switching Up the Workouts

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I am a creature of habit. I eat at the same restaurants, watch the same programs, drive the same route, and the first thing I do every morning when I get out of bed is brush my teeth. NO EXCEPTIONS. 

The creature of habit thing serves me well in exercise, at least with marathon training. I've used the exact same program, no deviations, to train for my last 3 marathons, and I've PR'd in each of them. Lately, however, I've felt the need to mix up my routine. 

Why? For one thing, I'm bored. My routine for over two years now has been run 3 days, bike 2 days, weight train 2 days. If I get a wild hair, I throw in a day of yoga. More than that, the days I do each of these exercises has been set in stone. Run T-TH-Sat, bike MW, weight train MW. Can you say "rigid," boys and girls?

So, thanks to marathon training being over (until July) and the magic of groupons, I'm branching out.

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