Break Time!

After a fall season fighting a serious lack of motivation, I decided that I really needed a break. I was searching for the reason for the overwhelming burnout and the best that I could come up with was that I needed a break. Not my usual 4 days off, 3 days easy. . .not even my annual week or 2 off, but a real break. You know, the kind where you don't have another big race on the horizon so as you are resting the anxiety is mounting because that race is getting closer. I thought this sounded great! Now don't misunderstand. . .I'm a runner. I love it. So the break consisted of me running nearly everyday, but no speed workouts. And I promised not to beat myself up too much if I missed a day here or there. The funny thing was, even with no race plans, the nagging desire to get out there and challenge myself wouldn't go away. Well, some days it wasn't too hard, especially with having more than our share (in my opinion ) of subzero mornings. Those mornings I felt like this was a genius plan, taking a break. But then, other days I had to appease myself with "easy" runs with some of our male teammates, which are always painful. And now, after 2 months of running nearly everyday with a couple of hard days a week in there, I'm convinced that I'm totally out of shape. So, in my crazy runner way, I guess I'm over this whole break thing! It sounded good in theory. But I must admit, I did enjoy a few guilt free mornings curled up in bed when it was -12 degrees!

Now I'm bracing myself for kicking it back into gear. Ouch!