Ugh. The weather has been beautiful these past few days. Mornings have been the perfect temperature for sunrise runs and the afternoons have made me restless to get out and hit the pavement. Thursday morning, I woke up with my alarm and jetted out the door to knock out as much distance as I could in the 20 minutes that I usually use to sit and eat breakfast while I check my e-mail and watch the news.
Yesterday, I spent the whole day itching to get out of work and change into my running clothes, ready for a nice, long afternoon run. I made sure to hydrate well so I wouldn't cramp, ate well, blah blah blah.
Okay, maybe not quite, but they
sure as hell felt this tight.
Two blocks in, both calves tightened into tiny, little balls of muscle. It felt like tennis balls were sitting on the backs of my legs. I slowed down to a walk, hoping to shake it out and keep going. I started running again on a slight downhill and my left calf tightened again. I forced myself to just make it to the stop sign and then I'd walk the next uphill. I could barely drag myself to the stop sign.
ARRRRRRGH.
When I tried to jog again, something just didn't feel right with my knees and my quads. Every muscle in my legs felt tight. My left knee felt funny during Body Combat on Monday, almost like I could feel it grinding, and they've both been bothering me walking up steps and hills. Instead of pushing the issue, I decided to just walk the rest of the run I had planned, and actually finished the walk just a little over the time I had imagined running it would've taken me. I forced myself to move a little faster than usual, rather than completely giving up and being pissed off for 4 miles.
I hate days like that.
I hate that feeling of being so motivated, so excited to do something, and then you can't. And it's not a conscious decision to be lazy and give up, it's your body telling you no. If I've learned anything over the past year with my stress fracture, it's to listen to your damn body. One day without a run will not kill me. One day with a run with an injury will. I'm not willing to be sidelined again.
Today, I'm heading out for a hike and hopefully a nice, slow one will stretch out whatever is bothering me. Tomorrow will be a rest day, and then hopefully I'll be ready for another full week of Zumba and running, especially with the River Run 5k on Saturday.