So where to begin?
This has been the worst running year for quite some time... Assuming I don't have some massive improvement in the next couple months this will be the first time in 8 years I didn't run a PR. And it's not that I'm not only not running a PR but I'm getting slower and slower (cry).
The year started with a training run 2 weeks before Houston (1:22:30 half, perfect pacing), followed by a 2:46 at Houston, followed by a 1:22:06 the following weekend. Time for a break. However I never came back with speed. I ran a 1:21:00 half in May, a couple decent 5ks (17:31 and 17:43) a 23:20 on a hot 4th of July 4 miler, but that was it. I don't know what happened. I was running 78 and 77 half marathons, 36 minute 10ks on the verge of going sub 36, low 29 and sub 29 5 milers... what happened?
In August I got periostitis of my second metatarsal which halted my training as soon as I was finally ramping up. I went from finally getting to 2-70 mile weeks to 16..30...40 miles/week until I could finally get back into the 50's.. still no workouts to ensure it healed. And then it did when I finally hit a 72 mile week. Then the following week as I continued to increased my mileage, boom.. runner's knee... down to 30 miles the next 2 weeks (including this week). I decided to still run the local half marathon today... 1:23:23. Are you kidding me? I haven't ran a half that slow in years.. my marathon half split is faster than that! That being said, I guess you can subtract 30-45 seconds for the extra distance we ran in the first mile... a group of us went the wrong way, got yelled to come back and had to turn around. So not fun.... BUT STILL??!?! Partially I was being smart with my knee, I didn't know what would happen and it had been 2 weeks since I could run over 7 miles without pain and having to stop, so yes, I was not mentally or physically prepared to really attack and race. However, I thought I should be able to run a tad bit faster without "attacking a race" and just being comfortable.
It's hard for me to decide what to do next. Was part of it the sudden drop in mileage the last 2 weeks? All the glute, quad and hamstring exercises I compulsively did multiple times a day the past 2 weeks? The back to back injuries that mentally made me scared to race? Or have I adapted to a training program that needs some drastic change, or do I just need a long break and start from scratch? I really wanted to wait until mid-January to take a break, but we will see.
I CANNOT wait until 2017....
