The long road of recovery, and a look back on 2011

Many of you (assuming there are "many" of you in the first place) may have been wondering why I haven't been posting much lately.  Well, part of it has been that, as I believe I have mentioned previously, school is taking most of my time, along with other obligations like work.  But that's not enough to keep me off the roads and trails under normal circumstances.  I mean, really, when given the choice between doing homework and hitting the trails, you know what I'm going to do every time.  That might not be a good thing.  Unfortunately, the biggest reason is that I haven't been running much at all to speak of due to ITBS (Illiotibial Band Syndrom).  I began having issues about a month or so ago, and the symptoms have not gotten better, even though I drastically slashed my mileage to 2-5 miles 2-3 times per week.  Granted, the pain has not gotten worse, and I can run for a couple of miles before noticing it, but after a few weeks of trying to get some semblance of a running routine back I have decided to take the rest of the year completely off and hopefully get this thing back to 100% so I can at least get 3 months of training in before Sand Hollow in the spring. 

  
Looking back on this year, I'm pretty pleased with it overall, though with this injury I will fall short of my 3,000 mile goal.  A couple things I've noticed:  One, my body did not handle the early mileage as well as I'd hoped, and two, perhaps partially as a result of the first thing, I did not train the way I should have in the last half of the year.  In the weeks leading up to El Vaquero Loco I felt fatigued and not at my best after running fairly consistent 80+ mile weeks in the spring.  EVL was a blast, and turned out much better than I'd hoped, but I think the grueling nature of that race combined with not feeling at my best leading up to it took something out of me that I was not really able to replace as I prepared for St. George.  I could not muster enough marathon specific training to perform the way I wanted to at SGM, so I consequently blew up in that race (pretty spectacularly, actually).  After SGM, things just went downhill ending in injury.  I'm actually amazed that my body can evidently take a 5-6 month beating before it finally decides to quit and force me to rest.  So rest is what I'm doing.  I am hoping that I'll be able to recover both from my injury and from a tough year within the next month. 

Going forward, I am going to change a few things for 2012.  I think I'm going to run the same races as this year, with the exception of switching TOU for SGM in the fall.  Starting up in January, I will have to be careful about how quickly I build mileage.  I am going to take it pretty easy, and save the huge mileage for the late summer and fall, rather than front loading the year like I did in 2011.  I will probably run SHM much like I did last year, as a warmup race with no pressure, and hopefully be able to hang on to my title.  I plan to run more half marathons and other small races in between the big ones.  I think that will help me to prepare better for my "big" road marathon in the fall.  Logan Peak and EVL are definitely on the docket again, and hopefully my body will be more mature and able to handle those distances better this year.  In 2010, I had a very big late summer and fall, and my body was much better able to handle it, so I think I will attempt to follow that pattern in the coming year. 

A couple of interesting notes about being injured.  It's been forever since I've been hurt enough that I can't run for an appreciable amount of time, so it's bringing some interesting things to my attention.  First, my grocery bill has been cut by 2/3.  I have to actually remember to eat these days, when I'm not burning 2000 calories in 2 hours of running.  Second, I don't eat as well.  I need to do much better on that.  Some of that is probably school related, as I have less time to cook than in the summer, but it feels like my body doesn't care what kind of gas I put in if I'm not driving anywhere.  Third, it's a lot warmer to sit in the apartment, but I am still itching to get out and run.  It's taking every ounce of willpower to keep the running shoes off.  I can't wait to get back, even if it's -20 outside.  This is a good thing.  It means I'm not just burned out, and that I still love running as much as ever.  Hopefully this injury will heal quickly and I can get back out doing what I love.  The break will be good to recharge physically and mentally, but I am ready to go as soon as January 1 rolls around.  Until then, my foam roller and I are going to have some quality one-on-one time.  Merry early Christmas everyone, and happy winter running!