Standing on a street corner wearing my most recent race shirt, waiting to cross today while I was out for a jog I saw a man on the opposite corner also rockin’ the same shirt. He yelled across the street
“Full or half?”
“Full” I said. “Pretty good race huh?”
He simply replied, “You’re crazy!”
We both laughed and I continued on my way.
For the rest of the way home, I thought about all of the different ways I have gone about recovering and how it is such an individual part of training and racing.
After my first marathon, the best my memory can recall is that I did absolutely nothing. Going to class seemed an olympic event to me I was in so much pain. Likely due to the fact that the day of the race I crossed the finish line and sat/laid around for hours.
Since then, I have learned that pretty much for everyone it is a good idea to do some walking around the day of. But where to go in the following week or two is totally up to you and your future goals.
Today, I went out for a short, slow, easy jog with no distance in mind just to get myself moving and kind of assess where my problems lie and how to progress from here. I have always in that active recovery camp. Be it biking, swimming, yoga, pilates, walking; for myself, getting moving is the best way for me to get back to moving.
I think the most important thing in these first two weeks is to do what you want to. You have to give your brain a rest from the constant scheduling of certain distance runs and speed work and the obligation of running. Take some time to remind yourself why you love it. Even though I certainly didn’t feel even close 100% (my toe is going to be an evolving problem for a little while), today was one of my best runs mentally in a long run. I was running because I wanted to!
So for the next few weeks I will be here in Charleston, falling in love all over again with running just to run!
