Yesterday, I was supposed to do my first longish run since the marathon--a six miler. Due to circumstances out of my control, I didn't get out there until 4:00 p.m. when it was 80 degrees.
It was like I had never run more than three miles in my life! My legs were heavy, I kept getting aches and twinges, and at the three-mile point, it was like I hit a wall. At. Three. Miles. What on Earth???
I had some good thinking time as I was walking a mile back to my house. The first week after the marathon, I did well. I rested and only ran two miles. The next week I jumped into the Body for Life program, including lower body weights, which I hadn't done before. The past two weeks, I've been hitting the gym nearly every day doing weights, speedwork, yoga, Pilates, crosstraining, and even had a poor showing in a 5K race.
I don't think the mileage is the problem, it's been fairly low. (Two miles, eleven miles, and nine miles in the three weeks since the marathon.) I think the addition of weight training on muscles that were not nearly recovered from the marathon and the added stress of speedwork and crosstraining instead of resting are the problems.
I had a marathon training plan. I didn't have a post-marathon recovery plan. So, I looked one up and found I was doing this all wrong. Hal Higdon says no speedwork for at least 30 days post-marathon. Running a few miles per week is fine, but rest on the rest days. It was too soon to begin weight training. Instead of crosstraining on non-running days, I should have been resting.
So, this week, I'm going to listen to my body and take it down a notch or two. (My husband loves that expression. However when he tells ME to "take it down a notch or two" I get kind of mad!) No leg weight training this week. I'm only going to run twice, maybe three miles one day and a long run of 7 or 8 on the weekend. I might swim or bike gently once or twice with my kiddos, but only for short periods. I'm going to take at least two or three total rest days.
Silly me, I had already started on a program to try to shave time off my 5K because two of my running buddies had started one. They ran the half-marathon the same day I ran the full, though. I should have waited just a bit longer. I guess I just didn't want to get left behind. We stay-at-home tanning bed moms like to stick together! :-)
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8 comments:
Yeah, you are definitely taking it too hard these days. I didn't run AT ALL for at least two weeks after the marathon and then took it really easy until a 5K turkey trot. I started picking up the miles a bit after about a month, but I don't think I did any speedwork until almost two months. You'll catch up to your "tanning bed" LOL friends. Recovering from a half is way easier than a full, but you have more conditioning, so you should see results faster.
MCM Mama
It's quite a humbling lesson to learn, isn't it? You'll do it right next time. Then after you've done a few, you'll think that it no longer applies to you, then get humbled again.
Enjoy the tanning. ;^)
RELAX...you've earned it! The marathon book I'm reading by Jeff Galloway is "Marathon!" The isbn # is 0-9647187-3-1.
Stay at home tanning bed moms ROCK!!!
do you have a tanning bed in your house?? GIRL, I quit BED tanning much to my dismay after OG was born...I am now glad I did it. LOL MUST be an inside joke.
And good for you on the rest...you need it. It will all come back to you and you will get your groove back. I mean look at my beach run yesterday...1 mile and I quit? PITIFUL!!
No, I don't really go to the tanning bed. It was an inside joke based on a rude anonymous comment on the last post. I haven't tanned in 11 years (and it shows!). I may get a *light* spray on one before going to the beach in two weeks though!
Just caught up on the "stay-at-home-tanning-bed" mom comment, which I gotta say is just bizarre.
Kudos to you to not flaming back, though. Very classy!
Glad to be back reading you moms! Good job on the marathon and your runs!
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