Does anyone else dream about running? I mean actual nocturnal dreams of six-dimensional weirdness, not daydreams of greatness.
Last week I dreamed I was running a marathon around Austin, but it was also a scavenger hunt. I was the only competitor and I just kept running and and running and kept getting lost. Finally I found a map and a list of items to scavenge on the curb and tore off down Steck which morphed into 35th street which morphed into 6th street. I was still running towards nowhere when I woke up.
Last night I dreamed I was going to go out for the cross-country team. At what school though, I’m not sure. It felt like my high school, but I felt like me current age. My friends were making fun of me for quitting baseball (I really did play baseball in high school), and I did one run with the team (a tryout?), but in the end I think I was too chicken to actually join the XC team.
I usually don’t remember my dreams, but maybe running less in the real world has caused seepage into my slumbering sub-conscious.
Another odd thing: since I’ve been running less, I’ve felt more injured. My achilles is right on the precipice of really bad things, my IT band flared up, my left hamstring is tender at the most unexpected times. Did my body go to the crapper that quickly? I sort of feel like I should have heeded Bruce Denton’s advice and not slowed down my training, just “run through” my “break down”.
One good thing (but shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone): I ran a 6:10 mile yesterday as part of a mini tempo effort sandwiched in a longer run. I wasn’t sure I could still move my extremities that fast, so I was relieved to find out I could still mildly hoof it for at least one mile. Oh well, one well-paced mile isn’t going to kill me.
Pleasant dreams.
At the risk of taking FICTION too seriously, don’t confuse training through a breakdown with a peaking cycle. Training through still required some adjustments to the plan. “Bruce Denton” was running 120+ miles/week and had been doing so for years. His body was in a different place than yours or mine. If you want to see what “he” looked like, go to YOUTUBE and watch Frank Shorter in the 1972 Olympic marathon running sub 5’s and looking really really smooth, even after the massacre.
When you start back you “should” have a build up phase of easy running before starting the hard work. So if your hard work has to start to keep on your marathon schedule, maybe you should get off your butt :^) and start the easy running now. In no way am I advocating this schedule, just an idea.