Today ends another tough week and thankfully the end of April, in what turned out to be one of the more difficult months of the year so far. I have not been able to do ANY training during this week due to being almost completely bedridden thanks to a terrible bout of tonsillitis, with the exception of intermittent bursts of work and a funeral. On Friday, I said goodbye to my beautiful 97 year old nan, the last of my surviving grandparents. It was a actually a nice day/night spent celebrating her life, it was sad but quite pleasant too. Although I was emotional and the throat/voice was still in struggle town, I am proud that I was able to get through my speech at the funeral, my tribute to a tough, independent and awesome woman. So when I finally collapsed into bed last night (Saturday) I was well and truly emotionally, physically and mentally out for the count.
This morning I woke up early to drive my boyfriend to the airport as he is heading away for a work conference for a few days. It was only after I dropped him off that I actually realised that I have the next few days on my own. I had not really thought beyond each day as it had hit me until this point. I knew I needed to use this time to try to de-stress and fit in some 'me' time. Still early, the drive home was relatively peaceful as I travelled on quiet roads and the appearance of an amazingly bright double rainbow made me smile. Had someone been sitting next to me, I'm sure they would almost have been able to hear the gears shifting in my brain as I was lost in my own thoughts and positivity was re injected into my mindset. Behind the scenes were niggling thoughts at the back of my mind, all about getting into a training session as soon as possible. Although I definitely noticed a physical improvement today, I had already made a deal with myself to hold off on any training until Monday, even if I felt well enough to train by now, to ensure that I could give my body an extra 24 hours of natural healing following the antibiotics and to re build some 'oomph' for my next training session.
Stress less
I have become more familiar with my own signals and feelings of stress and how to tackle these effectively. Throughout the week, and particularly on Saturday, I had been feeling increasingly overwhelmed, although I didn't have any particular reason to have been feeling that way on one day compared to another. This feeling creeps in when I am too wound up. In this mode, I often feel agitated, I feel on edge and anxious and as if I'm close to tears. These have become classic triggers for me recognising my need to 'go for a run'. As I have mentioned earlier, running gives me a sense of calmness, immediately reduces my stress levels and creates a feeling of moving meditation at times. I have learnt that as much as I can do other stress reduction activities, such as reading a book, having a bath or heading to the zoo, what really works for me as the most powerful outlet is exercise. I respond best to moving my body, especially outside in the fresh air.
At home, after messing around with my email, facebook, and other mindless time wasting activities, I decided that what I needed was a walk in the fresh air. I put on trackies and comfy walking clothes, deliberately wearing ones that I would not feel comfortable to run in so that I would not be tempted to break into running when out there. A not so warm 10 degrees outside, the wind was bitter cold, but I had timed it well enough to be out in a sunny patch of the day. It was exactly what I needed. Rugged up and comfortable, I walked for an hour along the familiar running path up and back along the beach. I could almost feel the stress and tension leaving my body as I walked. This weekend is the last full weekend that I will be living right next to the beach so I took in the water and the beachside air for potentially the last regular time on this well trodden path. This suburb has treated me well over the previous year and I will miss living at such close proximity to the water. Who knows, we may be back close to water one day in the future. I plodded along thinking happy thoughts and playing out possible future scenarios in my head as I wandered along from the pier to home.
Stick to the plan
Perusal of my training plan has given me some optimism that I will be back on track more quickly than I had felt I would during the week. Fortunately the previous week was scheduled as a light training 'recovery' week in the cycle, so I did not have as many sessions missed as I originally feared. I made some small tweaks to my training for the next fortnight, slightly lowering my intensity and distances of these upcoming sessions to enable me to build back up abit more gradually into full training again. I know that I am feeling better because I am viewing the schedule with enthusiasm and the doubts that had crept in over the previous few days are quickly dissipating.
27 weeks to go until race time.
I have sufficient time and I am excited at the prospect of resetting the clock and moving forwards with greater force and a healthier body to prepare. Just in case I am feeling too complacent, I convert a long sounding countdown of 27 weeks into days.
188 days to go.
Yep, that sounds much closer and more urgenet. The time will definitely arrive quite quickly.
After a hot shower, more comfy clothes and some soup, I have now settled into the lounge room with the Sunday paper, a fitness magazine, the laptop and my book all at the ready to fill the rest of my day. I aim to make the most of this moment of pause as I head into what is sure to be a crazy upcoming couple of weeks.
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