Crying Wolf??

Wednesday in spin class my right calf cried, "OUCH".  I did listen to it; I sat down in the saddle and slowed down a bit.  I didn't do any kind of exercise yesterday at all and just let my legs rest.  Today was another planned run with Turtle...but on the way over to her house, my left calf (the one that was injured) started crying, "OUCH"....I was just walking.

I decided the "OUCH" was really just "wolf", and decided not to listen to it.  I planned a slower paced 1.5 mile run, then walk/run intervals for us today.  It's amazing to me how much "helping" her is helping me!!  I plan out what kind of running we'll do and try to think it through more than just, "I'm going to run X miles today".  I can't explain it really.  Also, it's reminding me how I felt just a few short months ago and how I couldn't run more than 30 seconds or a minute at a time without thinking I was going to die.

***
Somehow I missed a blog post from Run Like a Mother that was written last month...and found it today.  One of the book's author's has been plagued with injuries and was trying to decide whether or not to run the NYC marathon.  In the post I just read today she made some promises to herself.  Basically

1. listen to her body
2. be more concerned about form instead of time
3. not set a time goal, but run stronger and healthier (rather than train herself into the ground)
4. have unconventional training (swimming, biking, Pilates, strength training, trail running for time not distance)
5. be willing to cut training short to stretch or roll (foam roll that is)

I think it's easy to make those promises in the beginning of training.  The problem comes when you start to mistrust your body.  See, when I started running in January...my body routinely told me, "you can't do this" and I had to push past that feeling or I never would have been able to run a minute, much less a mile.  My body cried wolf, and I had to call it a liar.

But, at the same time listening to our bodies is the only way we can run injury free.  We have to be able to discern the difference between an indolent whine and a true cry of pain.  Honestly, I'm still not really there yet.  My body has cried wolf so many times, I don't know when to really listen to it.  I do not want to hobble through another training plan like I did last time, but at the same time, I don't want to cut short of what I can realistically accomplish by pushing myself.

I won't know until later today if my calf was serious or not...my guess is that it was just kind of yawning a bit since we run pretty early...maybe it woke up on the wrong side of the bed, didn't get to finish the good dream it was having.  It sure would make "listening to my body" a lot easier if we could just speak the same language and if it wouldn't color the truth!!  I'd like to believe that my body just doesn't know what real pain is.  Remember, I'm a princess, and even a pea can feel like it hurts!

That reminds me...I don't think I ever posted the real picture of the blister I talked about in that post (The (Almost) Princess and the Blister).  I think I was truly ashamed.....but, what the heck.  The blister that my body was crying "OUCH" over looked like this:

Can you see why I have a hard time believing it when I hear a body part tell me something hurts??

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!
:D