Category Archives: Injuries

March 28, 2013 · 8:41 pm

Post Marathon Blues

girlskipping

What I felt like the 48 hours following the marathon.

I was on cloud 9. Loving life, proud of my accomplishment, bragging, rewarding myself for my Boston Qualifier.  I was excited when anyone asked me how the marathon went. I’m pretty sure I squealed a few times, or at least I did in my head. I was at a good place not worrying about my next race, not worrying about a taper. All I was focused on was being proud of my accomplishment. And recovering. I knew I needed a few days to let my body heal. I let myself eat bad food and be a normal person for a few days.

birthdaygirlcrying

What I felt like a few days after the marathon.

Then a few days passed.  And I found myself missing my training schedule. Missing the daily accomplishments as I crossed runs off my list.  I was missing looking forward to a race and getting anxious/nervous about it.  To most non-runners, they think I’m crazy. Maybe I am, but I actually missed being in training.  I couldn’t just jump back in because I had injuries that needed to heal. I had to let myself recover or I’d be injured for a while and really out of commission.  My body needed to rest. And I knew if I tried to push it, I’d just end up disappointed in my workouts.

At almost 2 weeks since my Boston Qualifier Marathon, I decided I need to let myself be OK with not training year round and that taking a break is normal.  I’d typically jump right back into training for my upcoming race in May (half marathon).  This time however, I decided to make it a fun run. I’m not going for a PR or to win any race categories. I deserve to run a few races a year that let me enjoy the run. So that is how I plan to cope with the post marathon blues: to let myself enjoy running and take it easy this summer and not let running overpower my life. I’m looking forward to a fun run. And will try to make the most of my free time by doing more yoga, pilates, and spin.

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February 15, 2013 · 1:05 pm

Runners are bad at recovering

marathon-recovery

I’m really bad at recovering. It’s one of those things that you don’t do until you have to.  I should know by now that I need to focus more on things like recovering, stretching, and healing.  I recently started to spend time each week on aiding my body in recovering from long runs and tough runs like tempos or sprints.  I’m at the point in my training where I start to get injured and I want to have just one successful training period without an injury.  So I’m doing what I can to take care of my body after beating it up.

When I get home each night, I have my compression socks and foam roller waiting for me.  I have to keep them right next to my Recoverybed or else I won’t use them.  I’ve recently started running my long runs with compression socks on as well.  I’m not sure if it helps during the run but I figure with my blood clotting history and the stress I’m inflicting on my legs, it can’t hurt.

I also started taking notice of what ailments and aches I have during my runs.  Usually, if I feel a pulled muscle or a knee pain, it tends to pass after a few miles. But now, I’m taking note of it and dealing with it post run. That little knee pain can become much more a few weeks later.  I’ve also started planning my recovery days better. I use to push through and my runs would be all over the place. After reading about how to properly let your legs recover, I know I need to work my rest days into my schedule as a mandatory training day.

I’ve had too many regrets about not recovering properly after a run. It’s now becoming part of my workout rather than an afterthought.

How do you recover?

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