Falling off the wagon and finding my way back to the saddle...on being discouraged

Ran last Sunday and totally bonked. Nothing else this week. Work. Only work. Monday through Thursday of this week, I came home every night from a long day and felt like I would barely make it to put my daughter to bed for the night. Could not get myself into that headspace where I needed to run no matter what. I felt like I was getting my ass kicked by Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and I was stuck at the bottom of the pyramid.

I can list the reasons...er, excuses...er, reasons. But I have not run this week. And I'm looking at a 17 mile long run this weekend. And I'm mentally in a strange place. I've never tried to pull off a marathon on this kind of training nonsense, so I'm in new territory. I feel like I can totally recover from this bad/blah week with a solid run this weekend, so I'm putting a lot of weight in that long run. What if I can't pull it together?

Here's the thing, I'm not a "What if?" kind of a gal. I played that game when I was at Ironman Wisconsin the first time around, and I pretty much put that to rest. With "What if?", just answer the question, and it's done. Ironman Wisconsin--What if I use up everything I have on the swim? What if my bike breaks down? What if the hills really are as bad as they look on the course profile? What if I forget my sunscreen? What if I get dehydrated and can't get caught up? What if I don't make the cutoff times? You name it, I asked it. And I answered every single one of them before I even got to Madison. Most of the answers were something along the lines of, "I would suck it up and move on."

So I'm surprised to find myself "What if"ing again this week. Time to turn it on...

What if? I'll gauge it. And try it again on Sunday.
What if? I'll plan walk breaks and take them.
What if? I'll do better with nutrition this week.
What if? If I don't get out first thing tomorrow morning, I'll wait until Sunday morning.

And I've got to be consistent in my other runs this week. I'm a lucky duck. Spring is just around the corner, and the changing of the clocks on Sunday promises longer daylight hours after work. Shut down the what-ifs, and get back in the saddle.