Hmm... well this has been an interesting week. No one talks about recovery from long runs, in my case this week, 20 miles. It's almost like running is the easy part. (I said almost) Last week's long run was surprisingly good. Surprising because I did it, and did it without knee pain. yay! One foot in front of the other, constant reminders to myself to hold my running form, stretching every now and then, and it all worked out. Miracle.
Now for the hard part. We get done with the run, we stretch, inhale any sort of calories available (in my case Gatorade for the drive home). When I get home all I want to do is eat but I have to stretch more, stretch, stretch, and ice. 30 minutes later I'm finally getting to the eating part. Heaven. Then more icing and the feeling of sheer exhaustion taking over. Nap time. Then wake up, more food, ice, and back to sleep. That was just Sunday.
Monday I woke up and I was pretty sure something was wrong with my body. My legs weren't moving right and there was a constant dull throb in my knee (oh no!). @#$#%$#@!@?! did I mess up my knee again? More icing, minor freak out at work and a call to the running clinic to schedule an appointment. More icing and freaking out. Then an e-mail to Adam to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. I'm supposed to feel tired and funky right? Adam suggested a short run (umm seriously?), deep water run (would love to do this sometime), or stationary bike to work out some of the soreness and yes it's normal to feel funky and tired. Minor sigh of relief. None of this happens on Monday due to work/life.
Tuesday. Feeling somewhat better, but only a little. I drag myself into the gym after work because I'm ridiculously tired. I do my workout and attempt to run a couple laps. That's funny because I can barely move them in any sort of manner that resembles running so I hit the stationary bike. Success. oh yeah more stretching and icing.
Wednesday I attempt a run on the track. According to Hal I should have already run 5 miles on Tuesday and 8 miles Wednesday. Is this guy for real? How does anyone do that? I ran 3 and walked a 4th. stretch and iced. Oh yeah, I'm beyond tired.
Thursday (tonight) - workout at the gym and some running. ahhh... finally some relief. I can actually run again. huzzah. Just in time for another long run this weekend. stretch and ice of course.
So why do I put myself through this?
Gosh, isn't that the question. Yes, this is something that has been on my life goal/bucket list. But why? Am I trying to prove something? Why a marathon? I'm not sure yet. But I think I'm getting closer to the answer. I watched a cute movie tonight called "Saint Ralph" which is about a kid who runs the Boston Marathon in hopes that if he wins, that miracle will get his mother out of a coma (hey it was about a marathon ok). It turned out to be an ok movie but something that rang true to me was when Ralph asked one of the kids on the cross country team why they run and one of them replied, "it's in our blood, we have to." Hmm.. I wouldn't say running is in my blood per say, the Arnold's are not known for our speed and running form, but it's definitely in my heart. hmmm.. closer. But I'm still not sure. Maybe that's why I'm running this marathon? Maybe it's to figure out why?
17 days to go
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