gimp

last tuesday, i set out to do an easy 6 miles on the treadmill, alternating slightly faster and slightly slower. i had been feeling a dull ache in my hamstrings since the previous wednesday but had thought that since i "shouldn't" be sore, i wasn't allowed to be, so i kept going. by mile 2 i decided to stop being in denial and hobbled back to my room to get on the trainer for about 1:40. why? i don't know. by the end of the workout i could barely walk and i felt like someone kicked me with pointy-toed boots. i felt so silly! and spent the whole day downing advil and leaning on things (including the wall) to get around. what a bummer. the irony is that cm had been telling me to lay off the hard workouts this week and save up for the next, but i didn't want to listen.

fortunately, last week was also my free trial week for tnya and i had a ton of fun swimming with the team. everyone is (so far) so friendly and chatty, the coaches give good tips and the workouts are comfortably hard, mixing up the pacing and the strokes. i still detest my backstroke, however, and feel like i'm drowning.

A and i went to san antonio for a hard training weekend of massages, fast food joints, dancing and alcohol (can't have one without the other!), smoothies and nachos. i tried to run on saturday and had a bit of a breakdown b/c i only lasted 16 minutes, and then felt silly for trying to run again. at cm's suggestion, i resorted to pool running, which is actually quite fun but not for too long, and going back to the elliptical and stairmaster at the fitness center. i felt like i had regressed to my "gym rat" pre-tri phase and have not made the best nutritional choices, and am afraid to run if it will set me back on my recovery. so it is back to sitting on ice packs and frozen peas and trying not to feel like too much of a grandma. being human sucks.

sooo your two cents would be appreciated. if you had 3 weekends left until philly marathon but would probably hold off on trying to run until next tuesday so would likely have one weekend of good training before tapering.. would you do it? i'm itching to get into marathon zone and also don't want to waste another bunch of $$ but i don't want to have to stop running and then have the opposite of a runner's high. maybe i could pick a later marathon or just do my own, the latter of which has been done before! but is not as much fun.