Sunday, November 10, 2019

Weekly Sweats: Recovery Week

Longer races take it out of me.  For last spring's 10 mile race, half marathon #1, and half marathon #2, I basically spent the day after napping.  In contrast, this Monday I rolled out of bed when the alarm went off and barely felt like I'd run a half this day before.

For a minute I thought that my lack of fatigue and aches was a sign of increased fitness, as in I'm just getting so buff that I can knock out a half and hardly feel it.  And then I remembered how two days after half marathon #2 I got a flu shot and was so achy from running that I barely felt the shot afterwards.  So I think it might be a similar process at work here, that I was so out of it from my cold that I barely felt the effects of running a half marathon.

I'm linking up with the Weekly Run Down, please head over to Kim and Deborah to check it out. 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: off, coughed up a storm.

Thursday: I was tired of sitting still, so I dipped my toe in the water with an easy treadmill 3 miler.  Miles 0.0-2.8 felt like nothing, miles 2.8-3.0 made me want to hop off the treadmill and never run again.

Friday: off

Saturday: easy 3 miles outside.  Mile 1 was awful, mile 2 was neutral, mile 3 was incredible.

Sunday: usually I take Sundays off but it's a nice day and my body was craving that mile 3 feeling from yesterday so I headed outside for 4 easy and lovely miles.

Other Cool Stuff
I wanted to highlight a stretching routine that Lisa recommended:
I did this last Sunday night and I think it really helped me snap back from the race.  I tried to do it right after my Thursday run, but stretching right after a run doesn't feel right to my body, so I set it aside and oops meant to get back to it later but didn't. However I'm keeping this one around.  Nicole's narration give a ton of tips to get more out of the stretches, and I learned a lot.

And a leg routine that I caught wind of via Laura.  She talked about a band routine for hip strength that she did from Trail Runner, which I did and liked, and that led me to another routine that I like even better, 3-Minute Mountain Legs.


 Which I really, really, really like and it's going in my regular routine.

What's Next
I don't have anything longer than a 10k for the rest of the year, so I'm free to do whatever I want running wise.  I'm not sure what that looks like yet, probably similar weekdays with more of a focus on speed.  There's no need to do 10 milers on Saturdays anymore.  I think my weekend distances will depend on the weather, if it's decent I'll be outside and longer, if it isn't I'll be inside and shorter.

23 comments:

  1. Looks like a good week of recovery! I still need to do my post-run yoga today. I'm feeling a little down--could be that damn flu shot!

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  2. Cheers to those incredible miles! I swear they are what keep me going. I'll have to check out those stretching routines.

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    1. the stretches are legit. Especially at this time of year it means so much anytime it's nice enough to run outside.

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  3. Longer races take me longer to recover from than they used to as well. Gosh sounds like you were pretty sick hope you are feeling better. chest colds are the worst

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    1. It's all good, it's been a long time since I've been sick. Hopefully I've paid my dues with this one.

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  4. Sounds like a good week. I hope you're feeling better. LOL on the last 0.2 on the TM.

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    1. heh heh, it's all about the part of the run that didn't suck.

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  5. YAY for a great recovery! Although it feels odd to not have anything to "train for," I also appreciate the aspect of not "having to run" XX distances on the weekends (for the time-being). The winter weather (even in the middle of November, already) is so iffy, it's a great time to lighten-up on the expectations that a plan would dictate and just go with the flow of things.

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    1. I know, it's a yin-yang between training and just running to run. I love the structure and build up to a race, and I love the "whatever" freedom that we have now.

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  6. Sounds like your recovery week went well. If you wanted to run 4 miles on your off day, you are doing something right! :)

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  7. Recovery weeks are always good. I ran a 10k while getting sick and I was floored the next few days. I literally felt like I had been run over by a bus. It's the only time in 5 plus years that I've called out of work 2 days in a row. I could barely walk!

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    1. Yeah, it's hard to tell if the half earned me a couple of days of coughing or if it would have happened anyway. I'm just glad to be better

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  8. We recover differently with each run/race. I hope you feel better soon. Coughing so much sucks.

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  9. That's great that the Sunday run felt so good! I'll have to look into that stretching routine. I definitely need to be better about that.

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    1. The video is a good one, if nothing else it's worth watching just to hear the explanations.

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  10. Glad you liked the stretching video. I skip the part where you bounce in the lunge (that's when I put my run on Instagram. haha!!) but otherwise it helps me be slower and more conscious of my form when stretching.

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    1. Lisa, your recommendations are great! And Nicole's explanations were so helpful.

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  11. Glad you were able to get in a couple of good runs after your race. Sometimes those coughs just linger and won't go away! Those workouts look like great at-home options.

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    1. Especially the mountain legs video, I think that's really going to help build the strength I need for hills

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  12. Everyone's recovery times are different. Some people can go out for a 10K recovery run the day after a marathon (ahem, my husband), some people need a week or two after a half marathon. Rest and recovery are ALSO part of the training game!

    I'm going to check out the videos you posted (via Lisa and Laura)!

    I know I'm late catching up with the WRD blogs, but I hope you are having a good new week this week!

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