Monday, December 5, 2011

Recovery: 26.2 miles equals 35 days in my world


Today I am wrapping up my "one day for every mile you ran" recovery plan hence, the 26.2 miles equals 35 days in my world, and daydreaming about all the great things I did during that time.

Like a good girl I followed up MCM with TWO HUGE glasses of chocolate milk. First one because they say it is good for recovery and second one just incase. Chocolate Milk may not have picked me (meaning I don't have enough friends to vote for me) but, I picked chocolate milk... happily. I take recovery seriously and I think it is just as important as preparing for the race… as do I think the six pack of beer that cames with the milk is important. Heehee. Needless to say by the end of the day I wasn’t feeling much pain. I unfortunately cannot say the same for Monday morning. It is interesting to see the different hobbles/dragging/in need of a wheelchair/crawling and/or walks people do after a big race, in fact any race. I apparently have the zombie walk.

Put left foot forward and bring right foot to meet left foot. At some point during the day it changed to put right foot forward and bring left foot to meet right foot.

(I think I was running like that too)

For the most part I recovered pretty well. Wednesday night was the only time I was concerned. I went to bed shivering uncontrollably. The Thursday after the race was the first day I went out for a recovery run, only 2 miles, and it felt fantastic. I wish I had done it sooner. Don’t get me wrong things hurt but nothing was broken thankfully.

As for the parts I am daydreaming about:

With MCM so close to Halloween I came to terms with the idea that I would not be doing anything for Halloween... that was my first mistake. Covergirl decided for us that we were going to dress up (3in heels for me, 6in heels for her) and get our groove on. Second mistake was wearing a wig… I don’t recommend it if you plan to go buck wild on the dance floor. There are other things I wouldn’t recommend from that night but I think my father reads this. So just use your imagination… chances are you are right or close. And I am not saying almost getting arrested by a very attractive cop who wouldn't let me back in the club had anything to do our night out either.  

 

Two weeks after the race I hopped on a plane to Huntsville AL to be the Maid of Honor at my best friends wedding.
 (There are no words to describe how much I love this girl)

Nothing like putting a non-religious, girl that has lived most of her adult life in New York in Bible Belt southern hospitality central and tell her to be focused on getting the job done.



Pretty sure I didn’t make many friends while I was there but I did however make sure the most important thing happened... come locust, hell or parted waters. D and Mgirl were going to say “I do”. And they did.


Sidenote: If you are not the crying type or don’t want to be the crying type… don’t go to a wedding that is completely and utterly drowning in love. Sobbing mess the entire ceremony.


Alabama was actually a great place to go run, believe it or not. A couple of times that week I came face to face with this:


 It was glorious. Do you see how the sidewalk ends in the middle picture...its like they knew nobody would go up that hill by foot.

Many folks in the house were glad I went running… apparently I am a little high strung and needed an outlet. Southerner’s don’t do high strung.

A day trip with running group that involved no running for me.



During my recovery month I celebrated my birthday which was nice and low key just like I wanted it to be.  

I also set out for a trail run race, Turkey Burnoff in Gaithersburg MD,with a fellow running buddy and dear friend. It was all on paved road in a park.

 






        
  (I am back there somewhere)
I was slightly disappointed however, the rolling and rolling and rolling hills made me forget I was disappointed. This race was a loop which the 10 milers had to do twice. I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider just crossing the finish line after first loop.



 (Totally raced ahead of him so it would look like I was in the lead)

But I didn’t. Come 50K training, my life is going to be all about endurance so I thought I would get a head start on that mantra.

(Official time 1:38:08)




Running Partner and I threw a kickass Thanksgiving party for all our friends. As you may have noticed in “MCM… I didn’t do it alone” we have some awesome people in our life and we wanted to share a Thxgiv dinner with them. 

So with good times had by all, I am now mentally preparing for Full Bloom 50K on April 21st. Marathon training was 4 days a week with a long run on Saturday. Ultra training is 5 days a week with 2 long runs over the weekend.

I said on my birthday I wanted to do things that would scare me this year. I am scared.

Do you follow the "One day for every mile you ran" recovery plan?