I am loosely following this plan for my recovery. So, as Hal (yup, we're on a first name basis) suggested-- I took Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as full, 100% rest days. No "easy" spin class. No yoga. No 8-minute Abs. No nothing. Except a WHOLE lot of fro yo (hey, lifting the spoon to the mouth so many times has gotta count as exercise, right?!?!).
By yesterday, I was ITCHING to get back out to SOMETHING. Yes, I wanted to run. But, more so-- I just wanted to do SOMETHING. I am SO used to sweating everyday that it felt SO bizarre to just STOP. And, I could literally feel myself become lazier by the second. A body in rest likes to stay in rest. I really didn't want to let doing nothing become a new norm.
PLUS, one of my very good friends was going to be in town and wanted to get a few slow, shake out miles in before her first marathon.
She got into town around 6pm and by 6:15pm we had our Brooks' laced up and we were out the door.
She wanted to do 4 miles around a 10-10:30 pace and that sounded PERFECT to me. I KNEW if I went out on my own, I'd go faster so this was GREAT timing. Ok, ok-- so Hal says 2 miles for novice runners (I count myself as that, for sure)... 4 isn't exactly 2, but whatever.
Look who DIDN'T run too fast? Almost a perfect 10:30 pace! Look at me... LEARNING.
The weather was gorgeous, the company was fabulous and I felt pretty good overall.
Kinda.
My left hamstring was still pretty tight before we started and it definitely got tighter and tighter with each step. By the end of our 4 it felt about as tight as it can get. Not so good.
Worse? Yeah... there's a worse. My right knee started HURTING around mile 2.5 and didn't let up. I've never had knee pain when running. I had LOTS of knee issues when I was a kid, but never since. My knees don't hurt when running. They just don't. But, man... this time, it did. I toughed it out and finished the 4 miles. Maybe that was stupid, but hey-- we were running TO dinner... I had to keep going!? Food was on the line. Anyway-- the knee definitely started hurting more and more as we neared the 4 marker. Not good.
I was hoping it'd fade by the time we were done with dinner, but sure enough when I stood up from the table I immediately felt it.
And, it hurts.
NOT GOOD.
I was going to run again this morning (Against Hal's plans. Sorry, Hal.), but didn't. Instead I was punished with the elliptical. I took it easy. Really, I just wanted to move and start getting back in the 5am wake up call habit.
So, after a few curse words at my alarm, I got up and hit the elliptical for an easy 60 minutes. Luckily, I had some interesting reading material.
This man is crazy, but it's a great read so far. Super interesting and... I mean, he's just crazy so there's that.
Anyway... I was hoping the elliptical would kinda loosen it up. And, while it didn't HURT when I was doing it or make it hurt any more-- the knee's definitely still hurting just as much. Going up and down stairs feels is like torture right now. Can't lie-- it's making me a bit nervous. Hopefully it's just kinda a fluke-y post-marathon thing and will go away with a bit more rest. I'm going to ice like a mad woman tonight as well. I'm taking today off running. I was HOPING to do a few (3-4) slow miles again tomorrow, but now I'm definitely teetering on that idea. We'll see. If there's any soreness still in the knee tomorrow, I'm going to pass. I really, really, really don't want to be injured. The idea of not being able to run for an extended period of time makes my skin crawl, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, committing to not doing anything stupid like pushing it while the knee is still acting up and really listening to my body right now. I have a half in 2 weeks that I'd really like to run hard on... but, if the knees still acting up and not 100% then it's not in the cards. Bleah.
So, I did my first official post-marathon run. Hopefully the issues are just a few small kinks/cobwebs and will fade quickly.
Anyway... happy Friday, all! And, a special GOOD LUCK to my very good friend on her first marathon this weekend! Run smart, run hard! GOOD LUCK!!
No comments:
Post a Comment