So I need a place to vent and that is part of the reason why I have the blog. I tried to run this morning with the hot chick. Half a mile in, my shin started to act up again. I had to stop after a mile (which btw didn't really impress). I haven't run since Sunday. F%ck!
I just don't know what the problem is. I am barely running--30 miles a week--and my shins are completely messed up. I actually don't think its the shins themselves but the tibial anterior muscles. The muscles feel like they completely tighten up and then I feel like there is no blood flowing down my leg, which in turn causes numbness from my shins to my toes. When it is really bad, I have no control over my ankle and foot and it just points down.
I've been training all year and now that I am in the redzone, I am really--I mean really--struggling to get inside the endzone. If it's not one thing, then it's another. First sickness, and now my shins are screwed up again. Looking back at my training log, I can typcially get two weeks of 30 miles in, and then my shins start acting up that third week. Not exactly what will get me to a 3:30 marathon.
I am trying hard not to let it affect my mental state; but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't. I must admit I am definitely feeling down. My motivation is wavering from very high to wanting to say f$ck it. I've put so much time, effort, and energy into one day--Nov 1. Pretty much all I have thought about, dreamt about, and done over the course of the last year has been to maximize my chances of achieving my goal at Ironman Florida. It has been a lot of sacrifice. I literally think about it everytime I eat, sleep, train, and have any desire to do anything else that would compromise my ability to train. The only time I am not constantly thinking about it is when I am at work--and even there I try to be as efficient as possible so I don't waste any time, which will give me more time to train.
Unfortunately, I am sadly starting to realize that I am not going to get there. There is zero chance I can run a 3:30 marathon--4 hours if I am lucky. (I am not even sure I will be able to run at all if my shins don't hold up during the race). I just don't have the fitness yet and I am not--and don't forsee myself--being able to complete the workouts needed to reach my goals. I doubt I'll be able to run at all this week and probably not until later next week. I haven't run long in months. My highest week total is a little south of 50 miles and that was 3 months ago. A 13 mile run at about 9:20 pace last week was a struggle. While I can run faster this year, I don't think I have the run endurance that I had last year. My swimming and biking are also not where I thought they would--and think they should--be at this point.
I don't want to do the race just to finish it. One option I am thinking about is skipping Ironman Florida and doing Ironman Arizona instead, which is three weeks later. I signed up for Ironman Arizona as a back up in case anything went wrong leading up to Ironman Florida. And the last couple of weeks, things have gone horribly wrong.
Okay, enough of that. Now back to training....
p.m. 1 mile swim. ~30 minutes. 20 mile bike. 220w.
2 comments:
You should keep up your running by running in the pool. I've seen people train an entire Ironman by training in the pool. You will be fine for Florida given all your training, as long as you keep running in the pool. Don't throw away 11 months because of this, and waiting for Arizona won't change things.
risky Scenario, but how about IMFL as a training race for IMAZ? It'll jumpstart the running fitness, but if you feel anything out of whack I would bail.... just thoughts..
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