As I was thinking of ideas for my next few blog posts, I thought I might document my post marathon training journey. I have 5 weeks (minus one day) between stepping across the finish line at Flying Pig and stepping behind that starting line at my next half. My next half has been a secret, except to my closest running friends, because I didn't want the pressure to perform (especially since I was running the full). Some people care way too much about other people's times and that can sometimes create an unnecessary pressure to prove one's self.
Well, someone outside of my friend circle found me out last weekend. No matter how it happened, there was some creeping involved. I don't know this person, have never met them, and received a PM congratulating me on my marathon time (before I even posted anything about my time) and asking if I was running this specific race in a few weeks. She may be a super nice person but it's slightly creepy nonetheless. Time and effort was put into finding out this information about me. (Sorry if you are reading this, mystery person. We can still be friends.) So, I will continue my plan of remaining quiet about which race I'm running but, if you do enough research, you'll figure it out! :)
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Past running Lisa would take an entire season off after running a full. I was very much a casual runner that wasn't consistent in training and didn't care if I had to start all over every few weeks. After marathon #1 (Little Rock 2005, 4:35:57), I did suffer a knee injury that hurt for approximately 6 weeks post race. I didn't run until after that subsided. Before, during, and after marathon #2 (Columbus 2012, 5:02:??), I suffered a hip injury. I think I took off almost the entire winter. I did other forms of working out but did not run for a couple of months. I was pissed about my race! LOL.
This time, with a good race under my belt, I'm not going to screw things up. That might be hard, however, because I have no idea how to recover from a successful full! I knew the first week would be mostly rest and doing what the heck I wanted. Here's a recap of my training this week:
Monday- Stretched, walked like quasimodo
Tuesday- stretched
Wednesday- 5.17 miles, 9:33 average pace
Thursday- 30 minutes of cycling (7.5 miles) at moderate to high moderate intensity, stretch
Friday- 5k, 9:22 average pace
Saturday- 8 miles, 9:18 average
Sunday- Something between 3.5 and 4 miles, low 9s for pace (I haven't uploaded this one yet!)
Based on how I feel, I did some good things and some bad things:
- Resting from running and just stretching those first two days = GOOD. I had trouble with stairs on Monday because of soreness and minor knee pain. Tuesday, the soreness was 60% gone and I could do stairs.
- Running 5 on Wednesday = BAD. Although my soreness had completely subsided and I felt no knee pain, 5 miles was not the right choice for me. I should have stuck with 3 and at a slower pace. I think I was just excited to get out there. My first three miles ranged 8:52 to 9:01...oops. The other two were in the 10s because my knee started hurting to the point that I was limping! SO STUPID! I learned my lesson but that put a little fear in me.
- Cycling on Thursday = GOOD. Best thing I could have done for myself. No pain, good workout.
- Limiting myself to a slow 5k on Friday = GOOD. I had no pain, some fatigue, and enjoyed a hot, humid day.
- Long Run on Saturday = Mostly GOOD. In hindsight, I should have run 6 miles. I did 8 and it was fine, but I was a little more tired than I wanted to feel that day. I wanted to leave feeling pretty good but I left feeling pretty tired. I was very happy that I felt NO PAIN, though!!
- Sunday short run = GOOD. I told myself I wasn't going to feel too tired and that's what I did.
So, what's next? I did some research over the weekend and found a Hal Higdon post marathon recovery program that I'm going to follow. It actually includes a race at the end of the 5 weeks. I'll keep you all posted on how things go with the program!
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