Week 11: My Battered Innards and Outards

My training weeks never cease to entertain me. The following statement may be TMI for some of you but I have to get it out there because it REALLY affected my training this week. I've been suffering from bad bowels this week and the toilet has been my best friend. I subtracted a bunch of miles this week because of it. On a positive note, I think the extra rest helped me to have a great run on Saturday.

 

I did my normal Hip Hop on Monday but skipped my hill workout on Tuesday. At that point, my internal issues were really getting to me (this was day #4 of pain) and I knew I needed to get to the doctor. I went to the MD on Wednesday and he said I had "some sort of bug" and gave me some meds (I also took a pregnancy test just in case! lol).

 

I stuck with my scheduled 6 mile run on Wednesday (9:40 pace) and this was the result:

Yeah...1/2 mile from my house, I fell flat on the ground in front of a man, a woman, and two dogs! The lady asked me if I was ok and all I thought to say to her was "This is not my first rodeo." I've fallen plenty of times before but I usually don't do it in front of people.  I hurt for two days after the fall (which is why I skipped my 7 miler the next day). Instead of doing the 7 miles, I ran 3 miles with my doggies (not fun when they aren't focused and poop constantly).

 

This took me to Saturday's 16 miler. After a failed 14 miler last week, I didn't have a positive attitude. What I did have was a strategy. I was going to force myself to stick to a pace around 10 minutes/mile because the workout called for doing my last 4 miles at marathon race pace (9:44). Guess what? My strategy worked...I felt AMAZING! I did the entire 16 miles without stopping to walk!!! I was so excited! I also ran the first 8 miles without listening to music. I think that helped me to slow down and focus on what was ahead of me. My 12 mile average pace was 9:57 and my 16 mile average pace was 9:46. I can't believe it took me 11 weeks to figure this out!

 

Next week is a little less intense...I need the mental break!