Sunday, August 31, 2008

Listening to ones self...and the effects of endorphins

Ever see the movie Being John Malkovich? Could you imagine a Being KitKat? Getting inside my head for a few days would be enough to make sane person crazy. I often WTF? myself.

A Runners High or Endorphins should come with some kind of WARNING message. Late last afternoon and into the evening I was so high off my run I could have been floating around on a cloud. In fact I must have been high in the sky because I got the urge to race a sprint distance the very next day. I think the thought of racing when my tri season has officially ended and doing so in a distance I had never done before added to the excitement. I mean so what, I ran 4 hours which turned into 24 miles...I kept my HR low....I had no leg pain or fatigue....I'd be fine racing a sprint, what's 80-100 minutes of anaerobic threshold? So I lay out all my race gear and head off to bed around 8 (omg, did I just say that? It happens.), tossed and turned for the next hour excited about racing. I awoke at midnight hungry, jumped out of bed and almost fell over. My legs....what happened? DOMS! They had become stiff and tight, and my right hip was very sore from my fall. Oy! My dreams of racing were slowly slipping away. I get up around 4:30 and come to find out I have close to no flexibility. I was a hot mess and racing would just be moronic at this point so I flushed that little dream down the porcelain God and decided to go out and cheer on my friends. I'm finally getting around to this whole "listening to your body" and resisting the evils of the self induced drug called "endorphins". Man that stuff is dangerous. Could you imagine if you could sell that?
Back to the race, it was nice to just spectate, cheer and catch up with friends I had not seen in awhile. The PDX Tri Club did a great job putting on a kickass triathlon in the middle of the city. Post spectating I dropped Cadence off at River City to get my power meter installed. Woot! Woot! Can't wait to pick her up! Then I spent the next hour at the gym spinning while reading my Training and Racing with Power book. The recovery spin helped greatly with my leg tightness....they almost feel back to normal. Although I know that feeling will not last long since I will be going out and intend to be dancing until dawn. I'll be getting my gansta lean on with my limp I'm rockin from my bruised hip. Lol, what a mess. At least I'm a fun mess. Got to live life to the fullest right? Tomorrow will be a MUCH needed recovery day.

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