Friday, October 9, 2009

3R's and very little P



Rest, Recover, Refuel and trying my hardest to possess a little Patience.

It's not so easy; my legs wanna run.

When I came back from running Pikes Peak Ascent (I think that was the race), I told t-man I was taking 12 days off after Portland, I was so tired and I wanted to do nothing! I had run the Georgetown 1/2 the previous weekend followed by Park City Marathon the weekend following Pikes Peak. The CO relay two weeks later. And Portland three weeks after the relay. That's a grand total of 5 pretty major races in 9 weeks (6 races in 11 if you want to count the BIX 7-miler I did the end of July). When I got back from the CO relay, I just was not recovering well and I was super-duper tired! 12 days seemed like the magic number to get my legs happy and healthy and ready to get back into the game.

At that time, anyway, that 12 number seemed logical. It's amazing what a tired body will say to you at the moment.

The next time I met up with Rob to work out, like two days later, I regretted that 12 day hiatus (my body was obviously feeling better), knowing my legs would be wanting to run, and renegotiated for 11 days. He agreed. Now it's been 5 days since Portland and it's about killing me not to run. A run is detox for my soul, it is my 'reset' button, it is my emotional chiropractor causing everything else to clack-clack-clack-clack back into proper place and perspective. Things that are tight somehow loosen up, and things that are loose somehow tighten up. I feel out of sorts with myself right now; I don't know what to do and thus, I've been eating to pass the time. ARGH!!!

I did manage to make it to the pool last night and swam a mile. I am probably more of a natural swimmer than a runner but swimming doesn't do anything for my mental state other than give me a headache staring at the bottom of the pool for an hour. I don't have an odometer when it comes to swimming; I just swim one speed. I don't think it's slow nor is it fast, it just is. At the end of every swim I do, I like to see how far I can make it underwater. I give myself two attempts. I have no idea why I do this other than I did it on the swim team in college and could make it about a lap and a quarter....so it's a test now of sorts, plus I think it's going to help build my lung capacity or something. Happy to report, I am ALMOST to one full lap. Not quite but almost there. But even better than the almost 1-lap-under-water feat was that when I finished and walked over to the hot tub for a few minutes of defrosting (the pool was freezing), a guy said to me: you are an amazing swimmer. Yeah, that made my day. I may just have to join the DU Masters swim team afterall!

What I DO like about this week after the marathon is how incredibly good I feel (after all the post-marathon muscle soreness left my body). As you know, I had a list a mile long with aches and pains and ailments and concerns. It's amazing how everything is exacerbated 10-fold whenever the stress of a marathon comes into view. This week, after all marathon soreness has finally seeped out, I have no calf problems (Elizabeth told me there were no pulled muscles, no knots and very few trigger point areas of concern - yes! (only a small one in the ole glute ... that annoying glute!!) ); no backache (okay, just a tiny bit); no throbbing head (a wee-bit there, too. 2 weeks of this is MORE than enough already - go....a....way!!); no ankle pain from the sprain; no heavy quads. Everything is aligned perfectly right now and I'm going to do whatever I can to try to keep it here.

I know it's in my best interest to lay low for a few days; I know I will come back stronger if I just try to be a little more patient and let my legs heal fully. Our minds like to play little tricks on us and tell us our bodies are all healed and ready to go - when really they are not.

I got the ok today from t-man to go back out on the streets on Sunday for a short jaunt. 7 days post-Portland, not 11 - he feels my pain to get back out there. I can't wait. I have no scheduled races coming up, though I'm seriously thinking of the Tucson Marathon on December 13th. I may squeeze in a Halloween 5K if I can find the one I did last year (it was a blast: everyone dressed up in really fun costumes). I am not, however, going to schedule 6 races between now and Tucson and I'm just going to get stronger....and faster!

A huge congrats to my friends that ran St. George last weekend. Dennis managed a 3:19 PR and Boston qualified at the same time; a year of injuries dogged him but he finally managed to get that BQ monkey off his back. Elaine, who, I admire more than the sun, BQ'd sporting leg braces on both her knees. Jonathan ran a strong race even after running something like 10 marathons this year already. And a new friend, Angela Gohlke, ran a PR by 21 minutes finishing in 3:36. Fantastic job, guys!

And good luck wishes to those Prostates running Chicago this weekend (Jeff, Jay and possibly Matt) and to Steve C. who is doing the Kona Ironman in Hawaii (amazing!).

Run well, my friends. And don't forget to rest well, too!