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Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Valley of Training

The summer heat is getting to me. I've been trying to train like crazy for my upcoming races (7 mile road race in 2 1/2 weeks, 5k possibly in August, marathon in late September, and a few half marathons thrown in for good measure), but this past week I've lacked motivation. I'm still doing my runs and bike rides, but I can't put my finger on what it is. I know that it is critical for me to log as many miles as possible now in order to best be prepared for my marathon, but the miles are long and hard and typically slower than I'd like.

I've started to wonder if possibly I'm over training. I've been doing double workouts for the past couple of weeks and although it has done wonderful things for my insulin absorption, it has left me feeling a bit tired. I tried to analyze my diet and noticed that I didn't get enough iron which possibly was causing me to feel tired. I've tried to add more iron-rich foods, although this is a hard change for a picky eater like myself. However, it has seemed to work as the past couple days I've had more energy.

Do you ever hit a valley in your training or in life? How do you get over it?

2 comments:

  1. Ya just DO. Ya keep on keepin on and when you get over it you look back and realize it wasnt as hard as you thought it was going to be. Keep it up-girl!

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  2. I get "valleys" more in the summer, when the heat makes the runs so slow that I finish the workout frustrated instead of invigorated.

    The best solution I've found is to leave the watch at home for a few workouts and focus on the fitness benefit, rather than the fact that I'm building toward a key race. Within a couple of runs, I realize that regardless of the time, the workouts are going well.

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