Marathon Recovery Week, Again

Week of November 7-13, 2016

Mileage: 29.1 with all easy running, some core work and upper body strength, and a lot of mental anguish over my wrong turn at Bass Pro.  Recovery weeks are hard for me when I feel good, because I want to jump back into training and try to get faster, but the difficulty of this one was eased by the fact that I registered for the November 19 White River Half Marathon the afternoon following the Bass Pro Marathon.  I did this because A) I'm nuts, B) Missy told me it was a good idea and is also running it, C) I want to try for a half PR and it's a smoking fast course less than 2 hours away, D) I finished Bass Pro with no pain or issues, and E) it was 85% full that day and I wanted to ensure I got in before it sold out, as there is typically a rush of registrants after Bass Pro.  Also my coach said to go for it so long as it's my last long race of 2016 (note:  a 10K is not a "long race", and although I do not have one of those planned at this point I'm not ruling it out).

Every.single.time

Monday - A very easy 30 minutes on the elliptical to maintain my workout streak, at an effort I called "old people pace," followed by a thorough stretch and foam roll.  I felt better than I did the day after Prairie Fire, and I also took the day off of work, which I was super grateful for because I only slept about 2 hours.  Post-marathon insomnia is the only thing I dislike about marathons!  I only get it after racing marathons; not after 24 mile training runs or racing halves or even after the hardest workout ever.  I figure it has to be an adaptive, evolved response; my body thinks that the only reason I'd have done what I just did (run a hard 26.2 miles) is if my life was in grave danger, so it stays amped up to ensure the danger is passed.  I figured I would get sore as the day went on, as 36 hours after is usually the worst, but I didn't.  I kept compression socks on and foam rolled here and there, and went to bed at 7:45 p.m.

Tuesday - 3.2 mile shake out (8:04).  I felt SO MUCH better on this run than I did running two days after Prairie Fire, despite another night of troubled sleep (about 6 hours total, which was better but wasn't great considering how early I went to bed on Monday; however I did finish reading a novel at 2:00 a.m.).  I wasn't sore and was very tempted to run farther (especially because Missy was running 9), whereas the one two days after Prairie Fire I wanted to walk.  I feel SO BLESSED to be having such a good recovery, as I fully expected that Bass Pro would be harder to come back from with it being my second.  I also did a 15 minute core workout after this run, because I finished so early.

Wednesday - 4.1 miles shake out (7:56).  I started this run at 6:10 a.m. (later than usual) since it was short, and it was light for the entire run - no headlamp needed.  Thanks, Daylight Savings Time!

Thursday - 5 miles easy (8:04).  I was feeling more fresh on this run, but I was in the Kansas City area (Weatherby Lake to be precise) for work, and have yet to find a route to run from where I stay that isn't crazy hilly, so keeping it easy meant my pace was still slower than my usual base pace runs (just 5 miles had 390 feet elevation gain).  This was also a "winter's coming" kind of run, as there was frost on roofs...woof.

Friday - 60 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of core and upper body strength.  I debated on whether or not to go to boot camp, but decided that I should wait until after White River to add back in leg strength, and my coach agreed, so I just did this all at home.  Yay for me for being conservative.

Saturday - 10.1 miles base pace (7:31) with Missy on farm roads.  This was the first run I really felt back to normal on, and it was tortuous to stop at 10 since Missy was running 15 (and also hard to keep from speeding up), but I also only had 8 scheduled and am trying really hard to stick to the plan...we all know that if I do my own thing I will get injured!  Plus, I should be used to Missy always doing more than me by now, right?  I don’t do much between Bass Pro and White River, and I know that is the best strategy and that my need for more distance and speed is much more psychological than physical.  Recovering as much as I can from Bass Pro will get me farther than any grueling workouts between the two races will; so I am trying to be okay with not doing much!

Sunday - 6.7 miles base pace (7:34) with Missy and Ashley in Springfield.  This was the beginning of Ashley’s 12-mile long run, and Missy assured me the loop we did would only be 6 miles, which was what my plan was.  This was also the beginning of feeling like winter, with a temperature of 31 and a “feels like” of 28.  This is really a nice running temperature, but it was so abrupt; just 2 weeks ago I was running every morning run in a sports bra!  I felt kind of draggy on this run, and had I run alone instead of with these ladies I’d have probably run closer to 8:00 pace.  I also requested no hills but this course had 290 feet of elevation gain, and included quite a bit of the beginning miles of the Bass Pro marathon course (ahhh, memories!).