Just about every running plan that is worth anything includes something along the lines of “listen to your body.” This is because while running plans look good on paper, if your body isn’t responding the right way, you might need to make adjustments.
Ahem.
May I present Exhibit A, the Fat Old Guy that somehow managed to Overdo It? Ah, here he is. Limping around.
Actually, I’m past the limping around stage, that hit right after Thanksgiving. Now I’m well into the recovery stage. And I even wrote in my “fat guy” log about how great I was doing. That was a few days before it hit me – literally – how much my legs were hurting me.
My wife explained to me (patiently, as usual) that as we get older we lose flexibility, and blood flow, and lots of other things. In a nutshell I pushed too hard too soon, and my body responded by giving a big “ouch” in the Shin Department. (ever wonder why soccer players wear shinguards? And why they lay writhing in agony when they get hit just right in the lower legs? I don’t wonder any more).
The number one cure for shin problems is rest, and the number one prevention strategy is not to push too hard when training, both lessons I have now learned. I took some multiple days off (which I hadn’t done in months). Then one week I ran about five miles, then did about ten the next, this week will be twelve (I’ve run eight already spread over three days, and should run 4 or so Saturday). This is after I had built up (a little too quickly) to around eighteen miles a week. I’m hoping to stay at the twelve to fifteen stage for a while. Maybe a long while. And see how my body handles it.
I was looking at my running plan (on my spreadsheet. I’m an accountant, I can’t help it. Shut up.) and see that by New Years I was supposed to be up to 25 miles a week, and by February in the mid-thirties. That ain’t gonna happen. And that was WITH rest weeks every three weeks or so. I see now I’m gonna have to add mileage a lot slower, since my body gets to a certain point and says “Yo, I need a break.”
Anyway, I’m writing all this down, not so much to serve as a warning to others, but so I have something to read the next time I give myself an overuse injury and can’t run for a few days. And to give y’all something to laugh about just before Christmas.