overuse

o·ver·use

verb

ˌōvərˈyo͞oz/

1. 1.

   use too much.

   "young children sometimes overuse “and” in their writing"

   synonyms:

   hackneyed, overworked, worn out, timeworn, tired, played out, clichéd, stale, trite, banal, stock, unoriginal "try to avoid such overused adjectives as 'great' and 'beautiful'"

noun

ˌōvərˈyo͞os/

1. 1.

   excessive use.

   "overuse of natural resources"

After a couple of days off, I went out for my run this morning with Elizabeth all ready to try to do some mile repeats. The warm up mile felt pretty good and I was grateful. The next mile was done at a cautious pace (a little under an 8 minute mile) but I felt okay, but then after another mile, my ankle started to hurt a little and I knew I needed to pull back and to listen to my body.

Anatomy of the ankle, with the area of pain highlighted in red

The hardest thing about endurance training (as I've said a number of times) is finding that sweet spot-- enough hard workouts to get in better shape but not too much that injuries happen. The speed work, long runs and the super hilly course this weekend must have been a bit much so I need to back off for a bit.  

This takes practice to let go of control here since my body is limited.  I'll be needing to depend on God's timing, healing and strength. I know this race is not the most important thing in the world; but I've been setting my sights on it for quite a while, and I'd like to give it my best shot. 

So, here's to practicing trust and patience with this along with some ice packs each day on my ankle... And here's to offering prayers for you, Taylor, for patience, trust and for you to be able to depend on God when things get off track sometimes.