The Trial of Miles . . .

My marathon training has begun and my body is paying the price.
This past weekend I did over 14 miles on Saturday and then on Sunday ran a five mile race in Central Park. Not the brightest of ideas. (My mileage is over 30 miles a week now.)

My legs are crispy, my feet hurt (they are swollen & blistered) and in general I've been wiped out.

I'm finding it very hard to qualify for next year's ING New York Marathon while training for this year's.
I have to learn to let my times go and accept that I will not be setting PR's at any of these races from here on out. I have to check my ego and my hubris at the door.

I also have to learn to train and recover smarter. Now that I am entering heavier mileage I have to pay much more attention to my body. I will no longer be running on consecutive days if I can help it.

Additionally I am in desperate need of yoga. I used to have a very consistent and dedicated practice. (Of course I worked at a yoga studio.) As of late I've been plagued with nagging injuries. My outer hamstring simply won't heal and has been acting up all the time. I think it's time to bring myself back to my mat.
Speaking of "mat time."
I've also been neglecting my jiu jitsu.
As I've been increasing my mileage I've simply needed more recovery time. I'm hoping my body will adapt so I can resume my cross training activity of choice (BJJ) and add some yoga to the mix.

I hope this is just a phase. I've been wondering lately if part of it might not be psychological. I started getting nagging injuries and feeling burnt out when I was in Iowa for my mother's last days and her funeral. Perhaps there is a greater mind/body connection than I realize? It's certainly food for thought. If that is the case and my poor training quality and injuries are connected to my emotional life, how do I break through this plateau? Is it simply a matter of digging deep and training through it?

While my training has been crappy my artistic life has been exploding. I've been retooling some of my writing with amazing results. A crazy growth period if you will. I've also inherited the artistic director position with Dark Luna. I have so many writing projects going at once right now that I feel creatively blessed. A lot of really good work is being done and every time I put my fingers to my keyboard I have a story to tell (or an old one to reinvent.)

More posts to come. I actually have a few that I've written but haven't posted. Perhaps this weekend I will get to it. But for the time being it's time to dig deep, do the work and go on my own, "Trial of Miles."