I’ve decided that FIRST is stressing me out way too much.  After a few weeks of running and not feeling recovered between runs, I took a few days off to rest.  A solid four days of sitting on my butt.  Best. Decision. Ever.  I went for an easy six miles on Sunday, and did another six last night, and both were excellent.  I finished both feeling great, and actually smiling.  I think too much fast running has sucked the fun out of it for me lately.  I’ve decided to modify the FIRST program to include a maintenance run, one fast run (either tempo or intervals), and a long run.  I think this will give me some extra time to recover between runs, and give me legs a little stress relief.  After a couple of rough weeks, I finally feel like my head and legs are back in the game.

I also got a foam roller – and a good IT band stretch for once!  This thing really does feel amazing.  I can’t put 100% of my weight on my IT band yet (like the cartoon to the left), but I’ve been modifying by putting one leg on the ground to brace myself while I roll on the other IT band.  Eventually I’m anticipating being able to lift my other leg off the ground for added pressure.  It sort of works like a rolling pin, and by the time I’m done, it feels like I just got a massage.  I was a little skeptical at first, but I think it will really help heal and prevent further issues.

All in all, I think I’ve learned something valuable the last few weeks while not having much fun running.  I learned that I really need to take a step back sometimes and just enjoy running.  I need to enjoy running without pressure that I add to myself for really no reason.  Let’s be honest, I’m not attempting to qualify for Boston here (Maybe someday? Bueller? No?).  Yes I want to be faster.  Yes I want to set a PR in the half distance.  Yes I want to run a marathon.  None of these will happen if I really injure myself, or if I get overly stressed and just decide I hate running.  I don’t want either of those to happen, and really it’s more important to finish with a smile than it is to be glad its over.