Life is busy…

The last few weeks have been crazy busy!  Going back to about the time of my last blog post my schedule went something like this:

The first weekend in May, friends from Germany were in DC early for Erinn’s and Mike’s wedding.  I did manage a 6ish mile run that Saturday with Bennett though, and it felt good.

Then, that first full week in May, Wednesday evening through Sunday we were in Raleigh for Erinn’s and Mike’s wedding.  I fit in two 3 mile runs in earlier in the week in DC, and I totally meant to run in Raleigh, but I was too tired and we were too busy.

Last week my schedule was all messed up by a grantee meeting for work Wednesday through Friday.  I lost my work from home day Wednesday, but got home early Friday making an ok trade off.  I managed to run three times, including 10 miles on the treadmill Friday afternoon after the conference ended.  My Monday run of that week, 4 miles, left my left leg feeling odd; so I took Tuesday as a rest day.  It felt ok though during 6 miles Wednesday evening so who knows what was going on…

This past weekend we were back in NC, this time in Highpoint/Greensboro, for another wedding.  No running which made the opportunity for that 10 miles on the treadmill so much more exciting than running 10 miles on the treadmill ever actually is.

This is the first week I’m hoping to get in a normal amount of running, which for me, currently without a specific race to train for, means 5 days a week of running (plus lifting yuck) totaling around 28 miles give or take a few.  So far I’m on track with a 4 mile run Tuesday, 6 miles yesterday, and another 4 miles today.  I think my current holding pattern of running will be something like three 4 mile runs, a 6 mile run, and a 10 mile run, with some of those runs easy and some tempo or hills.

                 

First post marathon run!

After work this evening I got in a short, easy, 2 mile run.  It felt great!  I can tell my legs aren’t 100% yet, but nothing really hurt.  I was very tempted to keep going, but I opted to follow Hal Higdon’s plan for the week after the marathon and stick to a 2 mile run.  It was hard though; it felt really good to run, even if only on the treadmill!

Marathon recovery

*Written yesterday morning…

Three days after the marathon and my legs are feeling a lot better.  I am still somewhat sore though.  This morning I managed a lot of stretching and some quality time with the foam roller which definitely helped.  I also did some upper body strength training and some crunches.  My legs can definitely wait a bit longer before doing any resistance training. 

Monday my legs were very sore and stiff, but oddly, I think they were in a bit better shape than the day after my first marathon.  Even Bennett mentioned that I seemed to be doing better.  I find this really strange since running Gettysburg was sooo much harder than running MCM.  I had a fabulous massage at Spa on the Hill Monday night, and that was a huge help in loosening up my legs!

I have a few spots that are still sorer than the rest of my legs, including my outer left foot, outer left calf, and outer right quad.  I’m thinking these are just places that got extra overused for whatever reason.  Hopefully by tomorrow everything will be feeling better, and I can try a short easy run.