Universal Answers

Isn't it funny how the world or universe has a way of answering questions?

Yesterday I was all set to go run the track with some girls from the running club. I had been going back and forth all day long because at the gym my knee was sore, I'm sure from the 4 road miles I was finally able to accomplish. Anyway, I was gonna go to the track and just run 3 miles...I would slow down even, just be able to run, be with some friends. Well Brooke was all worried that if I went running I would be late to pick her up (which really makes no bearing on my choice) and then walking up the stairs to my front door to change I felt the pain in my knee again (for the 120th time that day) and thought maybe running on it wasn't the best idea. However, I'm not one that easily skips a workout, I need validation that it is ok to miss the workout, your not going to get instantly fat and your not going to loose all the strength you have over missing one workout. However, I don't want to go the other way...over do it again and be back at square one. Anyway, I missed the workout, kinda felt guilty (ok really felt guilty) etc etc...

Again you ask where I'm going with this right? How did the world answer any question? Well, in my inbox this morning was my daily RW quote of the day and guess what that was? The very wise Ryan Hall said...

"I actually think being a more balanced person makes a healthier, happier, and thus faster person. The question I try and ask myself when I consider whether or not to train more is what is my body craving and what is my body ready to absorb? Sometimes pushing harder is not the answer. It takes self control, confidence, and intuition to know when to train and when to rest, but when in question error on the side of being over rested."

Isn't it interesting to find out that even the 'professional' runners (ok, maybe just the runners that are far better than me) struggle with the same questions? But to hear them say it is ok to error on the side of rested makes my life a little less guilt filled...maybe. But, also when you read the quote again, it says it takes self control and confidence to know when to train...maybe that is the answer. I know when I want to train (every day for about 6 hours), but I also know when I should train and the bottom line is when those two don't agree I question myself, I seek validation from other people and then I feel guilty.

The thing is I've been pretty safe, having good runs around the track and a little track and road combinations. I've been running pain free and good times for me and so when I ventured out a little bit and ran totally on the road and came across a little pain I get scared. And I question if it is real pain or is it phantom pain of something that used to be there that my body is used to feeling? So, I'll run another 4 miles on the road, I'll limit my hills and wait to see what happens. And I'll obviously have to move around a few workouts so I can rest/recover longer between runs. Hopefully, it is the phantom pain thing or just strengthening pain so I can continue on the road to recovery...