Last week, I discovered the importance of recovering. I took my young half-marathon partner's advice and did a short slow run on the day after just to stay loose. So, took off for about 2.4 miles and ended up doing about 3. Did 3 more on Monday. Tuesday, I thought I might be ready to pick the pace up a bit for a 4.5 miler -- nothing doing. I was a little faster than Sun/Mon but not like I thought. Skipped Wednesday and then started out on Thursday for a 7.8 miler. I still wasn't ready and cut back to 5.6 miles. Then Friday, I thought I'd do 5.1 and only did 4.6.
Frankly, I decided that there were probably 2 things going on. First, my body just needed to back off a bit. I needed the recovery. But, I also suspect that I may be suffering from a runner's version of post-partum blues -- post-race blues(?). I worked hard to get ready for the half-marathon -- had a definite goal, had a plan to follow and knew what I was going to do every single day. Suddenly, I don't have any of that. Without a goal and plan, I think I just didn't have anything motivating me last week.
The lack of a plan hasn't changed for this week. What has changed is that I took 2 days off from running. So, we'll see if the physical rest will do the trick.
Run well, y'all,
Bob
1 comment:
I just went through this same thing after my 10 miler. Definitely was good to get moving right away, but not too much. I did a 5k a week later, that was not a good idea. I mean, I lived, it was only 5k, but it was tough. Going to try to get myself back together by the 21st !! I bet the rest is just what you needed.
Thanks so much for stopping by my race report. I'm going to add you to my blogroll. :D
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