Well, I am definitely having the best marathon bounce-back of my running career. I feel awesome. I’ve been trying to decide what I think that means. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- Hammer Recoverite is a miracle cure
- I didn’t run the race hard enough
- I am really fit
- All of the above
Let’s go back, for a minute, all the way to last Saturday. After the race, I drank Recoverite as that I had stashed in my gear check bag. I had also thrown a Lara Bar and half an almond butter sandwich in my check bag, not knowing how long it might be before Chris finished. As it turned out, it didn’t take him that long and my stomach was not really interested in eating. We walked back a little more than a half mile to our hotel and showered, then headed out. We drove around and eventually settled on an Irish pub for lunch — but it turned out it wasn’t really a pub and the food wasn’t very good. We ate anyway and headed home.
Sunday we went for a 1.5-mile walk, and by the time that was over I was feeling pretty good. Chris made me breakfast AND dinner Sunday — apparently running fast = proud husband = lots of food for me. I like this plan. I also took an Epsom salt bath.
Pfitz’s Advanced Marathoning book offers a recovery training plan for the various training levels, so I had that option available OR the “6 weeks to next marathon” plan, also known as, “My Possibly Bad Idea to Run the Otter Creek Trail Marathon.” Both called for two days off following the marathon, and then I figured I’d start the 6-week-to-marathon plan and see what happened.
Monday I took as a rest day. I thought about doing some cross-training but I think I decided coming home sounded better.
Tuesday was a FURLY run from home — my first run since the marathon and I wasn’t sure how it would go. I’ve had some really Tin Man kind of runs three days after a marathon. Turns out it went great. I ran comfortably, easy, and averaged 7:39. Whee! I always love a headlamp run — speaking of, there’s supposed to be some legit meteror showers Nov. 17 and 18 early morning, so be sure to check that out. Tuesday p.m. was my normal yoga session and I had a great day there, too.
Wednesday I went for some easy cross-training —30 mins on the spin bike and stretch and abs class. I can’t explain it, but 30 mins on the spin bike with music is at least 50x better than the same thing on the treadmill.
I ran again Thursday … and still felt good. Even better. It was windy — 15-20 mph gusts — but I must’ve caught a lot of tailwind. Again, just cruising, not putting in much effort. I was hoping to hit Pilates Strength after but didn’t get done quite fast enough.
Friday I took as a total rest day — I got out of work somewhat early and used that time to run some errands.
We had a chilly, frosty Saturday morning and I hit the trails. If I’m going to run a trail marathon next month (oh God am I really going to do this?), I need to get my trail legs (feet, ankles) back. It’s a tricky time of year for trail running — lots of leaves and pine needles covering the trails, and once the frost melted, it got a little squishy. Good fun, though. I followed that up with Pilates, which made for three core/strength sessions (100 minutes apx) for the week.
I found during this training cycle that Pilates and yoga combined were enough that I dropped lifting arms and my arms still look solid. There’s so much body weight work involved, and Pilates strength we actually use some lighter hand weights for a lot of concentrated, focused movements.
Sunday was my “long run” of 8 miles. Again, felt great. Beautiful weather this morning, around 45 degrees and sunny. Totally overshot my clothing and had to come back home after 3 miles and trade my long sleeve for a tank. And ditch my gloves, although I should’ve probably switched to lighterweight ones.
So, week following Monumental wrapped up with 24 miles of running and about 3 hours of cross-training. I’d like to get in for a massage soon but really all systems seem like a go. Guess I’ll keep working towards this trail marathon! I do have a Thanksgiving Day race planned, and I’m excited to see how that goes.
This week is scheduled for 37 miles, two off days, one day with strides and a 10 miler on Sunday.
Stay tuned for a post I’m excited to be working on — comparing my two 3:10 performances. Training and racing. Data!
Oh! P.S. I got a few of the items on my Winter Wishlist …
TGRUNFIT 