Daily running is not a steady state affair. If only. Some days are better than others (stupid rain). Some weeks are better than others (stupid work obligations). And some months. . .
This has been one of those months for me. Coming out of Eastern States, I was back to 100% physically within about 10 days. Mentally I’m still kinda working my way back. I don’t want to come across as being in a depressive low. Nothing that dramatic. I’m just not all jazzed up to go knock out a bunch of miles.
I’ve learned over the years to lean into these moments though and dial back the effort. Hitting my snooze button is acceptable. Cutting a run short is acceptable. Walking the hills. . . OK, that’s always acceptable. The point though is that I don’t stress about hitting random weekly mileage numbers or executing certain workouts. I take it easy and just maintain what I’ve built over time. This approach has kept my lows quite modest and relatively short (maybe a week or two). This in turn has kept me consistent throughout an entire year. I don’t have peaks and valleys in my fitness.
I should probably mention that this low was mildly exacerbated by me jacking up my right knee last Friday. I had already decided to cut my daily 7 miler short when I tripped over an invisible rock and hit the dirt pretty hard. Scraped up my knee, hands, and arm pretty good. The knee has been more stiff than anything and loosens up within a mile or so, but there’s definitely a little something there that will take a week or so to fully heal up. At least I don’t have a race right around the corner . . .
Keep up the good work. This blog is a source of inspiration and motivation (returning to ultrarunning after life events caused a 3 year hiatus, with sights set on Eastern States 100 in 2027, hopefully) – wishing you a great rest of the training year!