Recovery Resistance

I’m almost there. Can you believe it?

You would think I would be bursting with excitement, but it’s just too surreal for me to grasp. I know once I arrive in Florence, it’s all going to hit me, but right now, it’s still in the future. With this marathon taking the good part of this year, the training has simply become habit. I wake up. I run. Repeat. The fact is that, in less than two weeks, I will board a plane that will take me to Italy, but as far as I’m concerned, Italy might as well be another planet. (Some of you would argue that it, in fact, is.)

Adding to all this is the fact that I’m in pre-race recovery mode. We’re only running 8 – 10 miles for our long runs every week now. By the time I do the marathon, a month will have passed since I ran anything near 26 miles.

Of course, I seem to be repeating this in my professional life as well. I’m in the midst of a job change, and now that I’m approaching the big day, it seems like I have to put everything on hold. I have to wait until I return.

All I want to do is cross that finish line. I’m the kid in the back seat asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” I’m suspended in time and space. I’m held at 23 miles and I can’t seem to run the last three. I just want to move forward. And I think, you know, if I had to watch Rocky going through a recovery period, I probably would of walked out of the movie.

Fortunately, an article came my way, called Taper Traps and I realized that I’ve struggled a little bit with “That Sinking Feeling”. Reading this article helped. I realized that I haven’t been allowing myself to stop, rest, and ready myself for the long run.

It always amazes me how standing still is far more a difficult challenge in life, than say, running a marathon. It’s one of those things, I beg for at times (“Oh, please, just let me rest!”) and then when I receive it, I don’t know what to do with it. I become nervous about what I should be doing and nitpick over what I’m not doing. Thanks to the article, I had to face what I’ve been doing to myself for the last week or so. Running in circles!

So now I’ve been working on enjoying myself, taking pleasure in 8-mile runs that seem easy and short, while I make my final preparations for the trip. And besides, there are some wonderful things to look forward to between now and the marathon, like the Bon Voyage Party the wonderful people at APLA are throwing for us runners. That’s this Thursday. Then once we are in Italy, we’re having a dinner all together the night before the marathon. Pasta, of course.

I figure with that kind of incentive, I can learn to take it easy.