After my surprise Tuesday running vacation, I had big plans to jump right back into my regular routine and bust it for the rest of the week.
Wednesday morning was dark and cloudy, but at 6:15 I forced myself to get up and put on my running clothes. I told Jack that I would be back very shortly. I planned on a 30-minute interval workout and figured that I could make up for not running as long by running faster. As I was going down our apartment stairs I noticed that the sidewalk was wet. I stepped out onto the sidewalk. It wasn’t raining, but it didn’t look great either. And I didn’t want to run. I just didn’t feel like it. Normally I would just start running anyway, but I didn’t. I went back upstairs, but my running clothes back in my bag, and got back into bed.
I brought everything to work with me yesterday planning to run after work but when 4:30 came I still didn’t want to. My only workout ended up being martial arts class, which is almost never as difficult as the instructors imagine. One of the teachers made a point of asking if anyone in the leadership group had eaten in the hour before class. When we finally split off from the main group, I was expecting a really brutal workout. Not so much. The combinations that we worked on were definitely new and more complicated but—sorry to say—I’ve yet to go to a martial arts class that even touches how I felt at mile 15 of the Old Kent.
Now it’s Thursday and once again I did not run. I woke up a little while ago in the dark and I just…didn’t want to go. I think part of the problem is that I haven’t quite adjusted to the darkness at 6:00 a.m. that began last week. Now 7:15 a.m. looks like 6:00 a.m. should, but that doesn’t leave much time before I need to be at the office. Another slight difficulty this morning is that one of the muscles in my butt (yes, that same thing that tormented me a while back) hurts again. This time I’m almost sure that the rear leg roundhouse kicks we did yesterday are to blame.
I’ve spent about half the time since Monday feeling guilty and half feeling all right because in the back of my mind I keep remembering my shins from Monday. Still, something is definitely missing. It’s weird for me to wake up and not want to go running, and it’s even weirder to not find any reason to get myself out the door. Could it be that I actually just needed a break?
At any rate, I think this vacation is about over. I have plans (in my usual fashion) to run after work even if it’s hot. It won’t be a very long run because I have class at 6:00 and I just want to see how it goes. And after today it’s time to start seriously gearing up for the transition to fall and winter running. OMG!