Training Week 9

Hi everybody. I just finished training week 9, and not going to lie, it was total crap. I feel really discouraged and not at all ready for the race. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: My knees were still really sore from the 8 miler I had run the day before, but since I just had a trainer appointment (rather than a run) I stuck it out and got a good workout in.

Tuesday: 5 mile run. I decided to do a treadmill run because it was pretty late, and although I did have to walk a little bit during the last two miles, I still finished in 59 minutes, so I was really glad to come in under the one hour mark. However, after I finished running I realized my knees were KILLING me. It's weird how sometimes you have to stop moving before you realize how badly it hurts to move.

Wednesday: 3 mile run. I was in so much pain all day and I was wobbling along like a decrepit hobbit. I debated all day about what to do. I REALLY didn't want to skip my run because I had worked so hard for so many weeks and hadn't yet missed a single run, and I didn't want to fall off the wagon so close to race day. In the end, I decided I needed to give my knees a rest, so I skipped my run that night. Sometimes working up the will power to go for a run is really hard, but it was even harder to choose NOT to run. I was sad and feeling a little defeated.

Thursday: 5 mile run. I was still in pain, so I decided to skip this one too. Womp womp.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: I was supposed to work out, and I didn't. Why? Because I'm lazy. On the bright side, my knees finally felt back to normal (pretty much) but on the other hand, I was feeling pretty depressed. When your body becomes accustomed to working out 5-6 days a week and suddenly you go 4 days without any physical activity, I think it shocks your system (and not in a good way). I think my endorphins level bottomed out at negative 10,000 and I'm also pretty sure I gained about 20 pounds in those four days (SIDE NOTE: I ate TERRIBLY) so all in all I was feeling pretty crappy.

Sunday: 10K (or 6.2 mile) run. I was so ready to get back out there and pound the pavement and I was really looking forward to this run (and feeling grateful that it wasn't 8 miles like last Sunday). The first 2 miles felt really good and it was so great to be outside and moving my body again. However, soon after that the pain started creeping in and my knees were hurting. I walked A LOT. The combination of injured knees and a sedentary lifestyle for the past 4 days combined to make this run really difficult. I wanted to cry. My time was 1:23:10 which was SO SLOW. I wanted to finished at least a full 10 minutes faster than that. 

At this point, I really don't know what I'm going to do. I think my body is telling me it is ready for a break, but I've worked so hard for months, and I can't give up now. I'm DETERMINED to run this race. Any advice, encouragement or support you may have, please send my way. I'm going to cross that finish line in three weeks, even if I'm crawling.

 Yup, I got this email this weekend. 

This was my view as I laid in bed last night. Gotta ice them knees.

Thanks,

Jesse