Stuck in a Rut???

Though I've tried to stay on track with my eating and have been exercising a lot over the holidays, I felt "stuck in a rut". After running my 4th marathon of the year in December, I did not recover as quickly as I thought I would. My hamstrings hurt, my toes hurt, and most of all my mind hurt. I just did not feel like I could get my legs to move, and began to get very frustrated. I kept thinking, "How am I going to run 2 marathons this spring like I want to?"

I'm writing this not to discourage those of you who may also be feeling fatigued or discouraged, rather I am writing this to let you know that it is OK to feel that way. Sometimes, it is best to listen to your body. Every now and again we do actually need....GASP!...rest! I allowed myself to spend the holidays doing easy runs, and cross training. I wanted to run faster and more miles, but my body would not allow it. After giving myself some time to rest and doing easy miles, I FINALLY was able to do a fast 17 mile run this past weekend. My friends and I went to a Knoxville Track Club marathon training run. We were standing around talking before the run began, and a woman came up and asked if she could tag along with us. We said "of course!", and she and I ended up running the whole thing together. She is from Denver, and was in town visiting some friends. She travels a lot for work, and is accustomed to finding local track clubs and joining their runs. We ran a great pace, around 7:40-7:45 for the entire time! I was rejuvenated! I was so excited that I had my legs back! I am now inspired to achieve my goals of 2 marathons this spring. In fact, I am running them 2 weekends in a row! The first one is the ING Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The second one is the Knoxville Marathon. For the ING in Atlanta, I will try to stay around my PR of 3:08. For Knoxville, I will be the pace leader of either the 3:30 or the 3:45 marathoners. This is the first time I have attempted something crazy like running 2 marathons this close together, but I like the idea of achieving my goals one week and then turning around and helping others achieve their goals the next week! If anyone who reads this has any hopes of running a marathon, I encourage you to come to Tennessee. We won't disappoint you in Knoxville!

Something else that helped me become rejuvenated is yoga! William gave me his P90X DVD's and I did the yoga video yesterday, and let me just say WOW! It was the most intense and painful yoga session I've ever had! 90 minutes of challenging, sweat-producing, muscle shaking fun! Doesn't sound very fun does it??? I promise, when you are finished with a tough 60-90 minutes of yoga or pilates, you've never felt better! Try it sometime!

I hope this post encourages anyone who has been stuck in a workout rut to go out and run, do some yoga, or simply lift a few weights! Whatever form of exercise you prefer, keep it up! However, do not forget to listen to what your body tells you. This does not mean that if your body says, "stay on the couch and drink soda all day", that you should do it. What I am encouraging, and even challenging, all of you to do is to remember how great you feel when you are in a regular exercise routine, understand the benefits of rest, and keep having fun while sweating!