My Legs are Back!

It seemed fitting that the first day my legs felt back to normal was Jeremy's Survival Run. I was back to running 8 minute pace with ease rather than barely struggling along at 9 minute pace even without the stroller! It felt so good to enjoy running again and I was so appreciative of that. My doctor's office was able to get me in really quickly to have my blood tested. My iron levels and thyroid levels all came back great so the cause of all my exhaustion was definitely overtraining mixed in with seasonal allergies kicking in (I can't even breathe through my nose right now). It was a relief to know that getting back to normal would be an easy fix of giving my legs a little rest and I wouldn't have to start taking iron supplements and wait for them to kick in. I'm already taking a multivitamin with some iron in it so I think that has helped me stay at normal levels.

Me and Carter taking off at the back of the back during Jeremy's Survival Run.

Although I'd rather not have had this bump in my training, I think it turned out to be a good thing. It forced me to take a step back and appreciate my ability to run and train hard. It also gave me a bit of a break from hard training to find my love of running again and refreshed me mentally. I'm more excited to run the half-marathon now than I had been in weeks! I still think there's a chance I can hit my original big dream goal of sub-1:30 on April 1st. My 8 mile tempo in a couple weeks will give me a better idea of where I stand. Now I just have to hope the winds will hold off on race day. We've already had a bunch of high wind days with gusts of 30 mph or more! I don't think anyone can run PRs in that kind of weather! I'm so glad I have the support of my family to help me through rough patches like this. Ty ran with the kids in the double stroller a couple times in the evening so I could give my legs an extra break and to really recover on my recovery runs. He didn't want me getting up early in the morning to run when I was struggling with exhaustion and I think part of my problem was all my recovery runs were with the stroller which made them a bit harder than they should have been many days. My parents both talked me through the struggle and made me feel better. It also made me realize I was putting to much pressure on myself to hit 50 mile weeks every week and to run as fast as possible. Since I've taken a step back it's allowed me to enjoy the process more and not stress quite so much about hitting a certain time in the half. I may be over 30 but this season won't be the last one where I can go for a PR or sub-1:30!

Back to running as usual.