Thickheaded? Sure

A few days ago I wrote about overtraining and undereating, a tag team that seems to tackle me to the ground every six months or so. After I wrote that post, the effects of steadfastly ignoring downright rejecting my body's cues stared me in the face. I'm hungry doesn't mean let's drink more water. I'm fatigued doesn't mean let's cut out carbohydrates at dinner. My shins hurt doesn't mean let's go harder tomorrow. I'm full doesn't mean let's not do that again. I need a week off doesn't mean let's hold off on a rest day.

Source

Listen to your body, they say, in voices that do little to mask their impatience. That's not the problem, I want to reply back huffily. Do you think that I don't hear my stomach when it gurgles and that I don't feel the twinges in my knees after I run too hard for too many days in a row? I'm not that oblivious. It's not that my body isn't making the appropriate noises; it's that my mind seems to be overruling my body's streaming feedback.

My mind listens to those wants and needs and doesn't even bother flicking them aside...it steamrolls right over them, with no regard to the carnage left behind. I'm beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that it's my happiness and my health that are being left for dead. I feel incredibly deprived, but I've stopped losing weight. All I do is think about food and exercise. I'm so tired that it's all I can do to walk around for an hour in the afternoon. This is no way to live, cries a little voice from the back of my head.

Clearly, I need to make some changes. I'm still wrestling with the idea of returning to therapy and seeking out a nutritionist for the first time, but I'm ready to change my workout plan now. I know I've been doing too many hard workouts back to back, and I know I haven't been giving my muscles enough rest or the proper food to ensure full recovery. I really don't want to get injured (as much as I'd like to be sidelined for the Bradbury Breaker).

This is when it's really nice to have an older brother (and seasoned marathoner) who will send you a personalized training program* that has a little flexibility, a carefully calculated mix of easy and hard days, and a regular rest day. Here's what I'll be working with right up until race day (click to enlarge). Thanks, Brother #2!

*Keep in mind I've already been "in training" for months...This plan isn't intended to show the progression towards a successful 9 mile trail race from beginning to end!

A Recipe for Disaster

My pals over at Wikipedia tell me that overtraining is "a physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual's exercise exceeds their recovery capacity."

Let's see...

-Despite my best intentions (articulated here), I haven't been doing a very good job of taking a guilt-free off day every 7 days
-In the last two weeks, my workout log has been peppered with words like "exhausted", "devastatingly sore", "totally dead", "0 energy", "leg fatigue", "practically crawled", and "dreadful on all accounts"
-Working out for over an hour and a half has become the norm

-90% of my laundry is from Runningwarehouse
-I'm increasingly irritable and persistently tired (even after sleeping 10 to 12 hours each night)
-"Good" days most often involve two or three workouts (recent example: 24 minute ab lab, 30 minute interval row, 45 minute upper body lift)

-I can't remember the last time that I've woken up without being sore somewhere
-My shins and my knees are starting to protest loudly even on runs as short as 3.9 miles
-Even steering my workouts away from running (bike workouts, circuit training, weight lifting, rowing, hiking, etc.) isn't making me feel better

-I can barely walk around the mall without feeling completely worn out
-I actually failed during an ab lab (and I wasn't training to failure as a goal)
-The words "recovery run" seem to be mysteriously absent from my running journal

-Going up the stairs and reaching my arms up to shampoo my hair feel like enormous efforts
-I've joined the slow walkers' club (I'm now one of those people who inches along on the sidewalk)
-I'm not getting that post-workout endorphin rush that makes it all worth it

Pair all this with the fact that I've been subconsciously subscribing to the "eat less, move more, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, don't eat too much junk food" philosophy...and we have a recipe for disaster.

Moving more and eating less isn't working. I need to get it through my head that while these "foolproof" dietary guidelines may be perfectly applicable for the overweight general public...they aren't sound pieces of advice for a girl my size and with my activity level. I can't pair intense exercise with limited food intake and expect to feel strong and see results. Every day can't be a marathon day (meaning I shouldn't need to feel dead after every workout in order for it to "count"). I need to eat when I'm hungry and rest when I'm tired.

Listening to my body is so much harder than it sounds. I'm beginning to realize that it takes just as much "mental toughness" to be able to back off as it does to power through a workout. Have you ever been bitten by the overtraining bug?