This week has been a long one...
By the end of Sunday night (marathon day) I was ready for the weekend to start. Monday and Tuesday went by in agonizing pain. Every time I went to get up I made a sad little moan, my muscles were burning and screaming from the insides out. I also felt like some little alien was stealing my power source to take over the world. I don't know where that came from....but I said it. Never have I ever raced so hard before. A hard race calls for a hard recovery plan. Mon-Friday I took my multi's and loaded up on extra amino's and magnesium/calcium supplements. I didn't skimp on calories but didn't binge either, stayed on a regular 1900-2100 kcal a day of whole high density nutrient enriched foods. Monday and Tuesday I was only only able to do core pilates and stretching. My stabilization was very poor....and I had no flexibility. Wednesday was my first glimpse of sunlight from the rain....I could sit down/up with out moaning, yay for me! Pain was slowly making leaving my body. By the end of Wednesday night I had stabilization back. I could do the one armed/one legged planks and one legged in the air downward dog. Slowly victory was becoming mine. Thursday felt good....a full hour of Pilates and stretching.....
And now we're at Friday. I was thinking of taking the whole week off from cardio. I haven't had the motivation or energy to bring my HR up to anything past resting. But alas upon waking I had my spark back. That little alien must have made a surprise visit over night and given back my electrical current. Don't ask....it's not important. I figured to stick to plan of non working out I'd see if my friends wanted to get wild and crazy and hit up the dance scene. Turns out everyone I knew had plans....go figure. My legs were starting to get antsy and my energy returned so I decided to go for my first recovery run. Lol, this was interesting. Funny thing, I was uber excited to go run, yet scared at the same time. I didn't know what it would feel like or if it was too soon. To make things easy on myself I left my HR monitor and watch at home. No data to document, nothing to record time with, tonight it was just me and the pavement. I start out feeling really good. Within the first 1/2 mile the cold (42 degree temp) had taken my breath away, my lungs hurt. A mile of running felt nice, from there I'm not sure what I was doing. Each quarter mile my legs grew heavy and stiffer (is that a word?). Not sure if I was actually running, I know I wasn't walking....and I wasn't hobbling, maybe the word I'm looking for is jogging. Whatever it was it was weird. Pit-Pat-Pit-Pat went my short stride. Around mile 2 and my legs felt like cement blocks again....I really think this was due to the cold because as I sit here writing this blog sipping on my sugar free hot coco they feel a-ok. My recovery run lasted 2.75 miles and I was happy it was over. Had me thinking about the night. Although I REALLY wanted to dance the night away that probably wasn't the best kind of recovery. I have a habit of killing my quads and calves salsa dancing. Instead I opted for an easy paced run on a very cold, clear, crisp fall night. Absolutely beautiful. Now I will spend the rest of the evening making my home made roasted red pepper and tomato soup. Mmmmm, good for the soul.
Ooooo, and I leave you with this badass ad from Pearl Izumi, one of my favorites...interesting enough because PI got a lot of shit for it. IMO people that hate on it have their own insecurities, toughen the $#@! up and run!
http://www.wearenotjoggers.com/home
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