Oh what a week! Training week 9 flew by and it wasn’t exactly fun times. I was hoping to have a happy, positive training post for you, but that’s not happening for this week. There are some great take aways from this past week, so at least there’s that. 🙂

Having fun with leaves!

Here’s how the week looked…

Monday – run : 10KM – was supposed to go longer (this was Sunday’s missed long run), but I didn’t want to push my leg pain too much. Actually kept a good pace, so I was happy. In the evening I started feeling a sore throat coming on and I wasn’t impressed…

Tuesday – sore throat really bad, some sniffles – cue Crystal being CRANKY haha

Wednesday – run : 30 mins – pushed through an easy-paced indoor treadmill run just so I could be active.

Thursday – run : 40 mins – felt ok, but took it easy with my cold.

Friday – walk : approx 3 KM just to get outside in the sun.

Saturday – scheduled for the Harvest Half Marathon, but did not run. Made the tough decision late Friday night. Decided to focus on The Running Clinic seminar that I was fortunate enough to be able to attend.

Sunday – Was still in The Running Clinic course all day, so I was exhausted and decided to rest after the course got out instead of going for a run. (Long run moved to Monday again)

Total KMs = 21.26

September Total KMs = 110.2

There you have it. On Saturday I had my first race DNS (Did Not Start) and this hit me hard. I was very upset and disappointed in myself, while also feeling like I was making the right decision for my long term goal. I had never DNS’d before and I never let rain & cold get in the way of a run, but seriously I just couldn’t bring myself to do it with this darn cold I have been fighting for a week. I worried about making the cold worse and I also had the running course to focus on all weekend, so that helped me to feel a little better about the decision.

Through all this I learned 5 key things about my 1st DNS:

1 – Listen to your body. It’s ok to do this and probably better in the long run. If you’re sick, you’re sick. Stop trying to fight or ignore it and just get some rest and help yourself get better faster.

2 – Go easy on yourself. I berated myself for this decision to the point of tears. I am not kidding. Then I felt guilty… seriously, what was I doing to myself? My bf reminded me that I was being silly and that I needed to stop with the self-deprecating comments. Accept what you can and move on without making yourself feel worse.

3 – Keep the major goal in mind when making a tough training decision. Honolulu in December for my 2nd marathon is the MAJOR GOAL. Being healthy and getting there is more important than running a half marathon in the cold & rain and possibly making myself sicker. Sure, I wanted to be at the race. I wanted to be around the running community and I wanted the kick in the butt/motivation that I needed for a training boost. But, I had to make this decision to “rest” (at a seminar) instead of possibly making my sickness worse. Sucks, but that’s reality because the big goal is in December and I need to keep that in mind.

4 – Listen to your support and be open to advice, even if it’s not what you want to hear. Being told that it’s probably a good idea that I DNS this race was hard to hear, but it was probably correct. I see that NOW. Haha Give your support systems (friends, partners, run club, social friends, etc.) the benefit of the doubt, especially if they have been there.

5 – MOVE ON. Consider the pros & cons, make the decision, and move on. Don’t dwell on it, don’t try to over think about what else you could have done… (How could I have avoided getting sick?! What did I come in contact with? Who made me sick?! Hahah All shit out of my control that I can’t change). Accept your decision and move forward. Focus on the training and goal ahead. Get back on track. Yes! We all can do it. 🙂

Learnin’ all weekend!

Training week 9 is done and I can’t change it. Time to move on and get back on track. All I can do is my best and I’m looking forward to it! Seriously, the Honolulu Marathon is 68 days away from this posting. That’s soon if you think about it! I’m getting excited and now it’s time to get pumped again for my training! ps. I can use all the support I can get. 😉

Have you ever DNS’d before? Any lessons you took away from that?