How Do You Know Something’s Wrong?

I’m going back to the endocrinologist next week for my follow-up on my thyroid medicines. Got my blood work done Monday in preparation.

Last week, I felt pretty run-down. My legs were dead tree trunks halfway through my long run on Saturday; Sunday’s run with Hill Country Trail Runners was more of a struggle than it should’ve been. I chalked both of those things up to a longer-than-usual Wednesday night run and lack of sufficient recovery. As a result, I made sure to take Monday off…and I was still tired Tuesday, so I slept in and missed the Walnut Creek run, opting to go easy and short on my own later that morning. I only ran 45 minutes and at a very comfortable pace.

Got to bed and actually slept all through last night (yipee! that’s been a rare occasion these last weeks), so you’d think I’d feel rarin’ to go today–especially since I love the Wednesday night run. But here I am, feeling run down again.

I can’t focus. I’m retaining water like a dry sponge. I keep wanting to eat, like eating the “right” thing will give me energy. And I want to go back to bed.

All of those things sound like overtraining…but I’m not.

All of those things could be a reaction to the heat, which is not my friend and I firmly believe has a cumulative effect.

And it could be that something about what I’m doing has thrown my thyroid dosage off. I have picked up the pace on some non-running activities, and we do have the stresses of getting kids back in school. Maybe I just need a real true down week…I just don’t feel like I have time to spare. On the other hand, as my beloved coach Andreas used to say, “Every day back too soon is another 5 days off down the road.”

I’ll see how tonight goes.