For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to get back into training mode with little success. I'm finding that I'm struggling to maintain paces I was able to keep towards the end of my marathon training. I've tried some speed work with some success, although my paces are a little slower than I wanted. My tempo runs however, they just plain suck. My last training run before the marathon was 7 miles at just under an 8 min pace. I've tried a couple times to do 4 or 5 mile tempos and I'm hovering close to 10 seconds above an 8 and really struggling to keep that. Granted, it is summer... but I'm finding it hard to put the blame on just the weather.
After several weeks of frustrating runs my coach recommended I hit the reset button. To do this, I ignored my garmin, adding my ipod back into the mix and just ran to enjoy it. Yesterday it was close to 90 degrees with 70% humidity and I did an 8.5 mile run at a moderate pace, and I loved it. The music was a great distraction that I haven't incorporated into my running for 6 months or more. With the weather being so hot I expected to hate this run, but I actually really liked it. It wasn't easy by any means, but because I enjoyed it we are counting this as a successful run.
This week I'm going to do 3 more runs just like this, ignore the garmin, add the music and just run to enjoy. Hopefully this will get me over my hurdle of bad runs so that I can be ready to start training for marathon #2 in a couple weeks. I'm hoping that recovery after my second marathon will go better than the first one, as in faster. I don't know if I can handle another recovery schedule like this.
I wonder if I'm the only one struggling like this? Is it just because it's my first one and I didn't know what to expect? Or maybe I'm just not cut out for the marathon?
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Marathon Recovery... Dislike!
You know how sometimes when people post updates on facebook and instead of wanting to "like" it, you want to "dislike" it? Don't you wish there was a "thumbs down" button? Anyways, I'm currently in the "dislike" mode for marathon recovery.
Being that this was my first marathon, I really had no concept of what the recovery would be like or how long it would take. After all my half marathons my max recovery was 2 days, other race lengths would be 1 day or less. Just based on the time I needed to recover from a half, I figured I'd be set for the full after a week. I was already planning an aggressive 5k plan for a new PR and wanted to get started right away. Well... I was wrong, really wrong. It's been almost 4 weeks now and I'm still waiting for the run where my legs feel fresh. I took a full week off from running and since then have only averaged 2 runs a week. I've picked up extra spin classes to try and stay active and increase recovery time, but it's just not going how I thought it would.
I've been in training mode for the last year and a half straight, always training for something. Always planning hard workouts for speed and distance work and never taking more than a week off from running. It's quite the shock to all of a sudden not be able to train for anything, not even a measly 5k, because my legs can't handle a run at even marathon pace, let alone 5k pace. I'm pretty miserable and am worried that I'm losing all of my speed and endurance that I have built up over the last year.
I have noticed some small improvements on my runs, but it's not enough for me to be excited about it. I'm trying to accept that recovery is a necessary evil and that eventually I will be back to normal and ready to train again... it's just really hard to believe it at this point. I've already signed up for my next marathon and my training will start Aug 1st... I sure hope I've recovered by then, otherwise I'm screwed.
On a side note, my foot appears to be completely healed, hooray!
Being that this was my first marathon, I really had no concept of what the recovery would be like or how long it would take. After all my half marathons my max recovery was 2 days, other race lengths would be 1 day or less. Just based on the time I needed to recover from a half, I figured I'd be set for the full after a week. I was already planning an aggressive 5k plan for a new PR and wanted to get started right away. Well... I was wrong, really wrong. It's been almost 4 weeks now and I'm still waiting for the run where my legs feel fresh. I took a full week off from running and since then have only averaged 2 runs a week. I've picked up extra spin classes to try and stay active and increase recovery time, but it's just not going how I thought it would.
I've been in training mode for the last year and a half straight, always training for something. Always planning hard workouts for speed and distance work and never taking more than a week off from running. It's quite the shock to all of a sudden not be able to train for anything, not even a measly 5k, because my legs can't handle a run at even marathon pace, let alone 5k pace. I'm pretty miserable and am worried that I'm losing all of my speed and endurance that I have built up over the last year.
I have noticed some small improvements on my runs, but it's not enough for me to be excited about it. I'm trying to accept that recovery is a necessary evil and that eventually I will be back to normal and ready to train again... it's just really hard to believe it at this point. I've already signed up for my next marathon and my training will start Aug 1st... I sure hope I've recovered by then, otherwise I'm screwed.
On a side note, my foot appears to be completely healed, hooray!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Ice Bath... really?!
Last weekend I attempted my first ice bath after completing my first 16 mile run. It was recommended that I take ice baths after runs longer than 15 miles, just to help with inflammation and recovery. I really didn't know what to expect, but it was NOT what I expected. :)
After I got home from my run I proceeded to gather some items and head up to the bathroom. I made sure I was wearing some layers on top, had a hat, gloves, magazine and iPhone for boredom, radio and the all important towel for drying. So, I sat down in the already cold but empty tub, turned on the water (cold side only) and sat while the water started to fill. Based on some online suggestions I was not going to add ice to my tap water, being in Michigan its apparently cold enough here that tap water should suffice, at least this time of year... I think they were right!
5 minutes into the tub filling and my feet were starting to change from reddish pink to purple and I found my body beginning to tremble uncontrollably. Then the teeth started chattering and my breathing was getting difficult. Really? I've been in cold water for 5 minutes and its barely halfway up the sides of my thighs... How on earth am I going to make it through the additional 5 minutes to get it over my thighs and then another 10 minutes to actually "take the bath"??
I tried to switch positions a bit, hoping to somehow get my legs covered by the water so I could stop it from filling and just sit there... that wasn't working. I put the hat on in hopes it might warm me up, nothing. I was trembling and chattering so bad that I had to get out of there. I just could not believe that I managed about 7 minutes in a half-full bathtub with just cold water. What the heck was wrong with me?? I honestly did not think it was going to be that difficult to sit in cold water for 10 minutes. It felt like my feet were the coldest and I couldn't figure out how to manage it.
So yeah, 7 minutes and a half-full bathtub and I was out! Standing in my bathroom, half naked and shaking uncontrollably. Wow, what a wimp! I immediately drained the tub and turned the shower on to take a hot shower. Yyyooooowsers! Hot water on freezing feet, not a good idea. I wanted the hot water on my upper body but it was stinging the crap out of my feet so I had to adjust. 10 minutes later I was bundled in sweats and my compression socks with a fresh cup of coffee. Thankfully my most tender muscles (calves) were submerged during the entire 5 minutes so they did get a bit of healing, but my knees were lacking. I proceeded to do the traditional frozen peas for a bit to ensure they got the proper treatment.
This Saturday I've got 18 miles and will again attempt another ice bath... this time I'm going to fill the tub first, then jump in and see how long I can take it. Wish me luck!
After I got home from my run I proceeded to gather some items and head up to the bathroom. I made sure I was wearing some layers on top, had a hat, gloves, magazine and iPhone for boredom, radio and the all important towel for drying. So, I sat down in the already cold but empty tub, turned on the water (cold side only) and sat while the water started to fill. Based on some online suggestions I was not going to add ice to my tap water, being in Michigan its apparently cold enough here that tap water should suffice, at least this time of year... I think they were right!
5 minutes into the tub filling and my feet were starting to change from reddish pink to purple and I found my body beginning to tremble uncontrollably. Then the teeth started chattering and my breathing was getting difficult. Really? I've been in cold water for 5 minutes and its barely halfway up the sides of my thighs... How on earth am I going to make it through the additional 5 minutes to get it over my thighs and then another 10 minutes to actually "take the bath"??
I tried to switch positions a bit, hoping to somehow get my legs covered by the water so I could stop it from filling and just sit there... that wasn't working. I put the hat on in hopes it might warm me up, nothing. I was trembling and chattering so bad that I had to get out of there. I just could not believe that I managed about 7 minutes in a half-full bathtub with just cold water. What the heck was wrong with me?? I honestly did not think it was going to be that difficult to sit in cold water for 10 minutes. It felt like my feet were the coldest and I couldn't figure out how to manage it.
So yeah, 7 minutes and a half-full bathtub and I was out! Standing in my bathroom, half naked and shaking uncontrollably. Wow, what a wimp! I immediately drained the tub and turned the shower on to take a hot shower. Yyyooooowsers! Hot water on freezing feet, not a good idea. I wanted the hot water on my upper body but it was stinging the crap out of my feet so I had to adjust. 10 minutes later I was bundled in sweats and my compression socks with a fresh cup of coffee. Thankfully my most tender muscles (calves) were submerged during the entire 5 minutes so they did get a bit of healing, but my knees were lacking. I proceeded to do the traditional frozen peas for a bit to ensure they got the proper treatment.
This Saturday I've got 18 miles and will again attempt another ice bath... this time I'm going to fill the tub first, then jump in and see how long I can take it. Wish me luck!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Recovery Run - Proud to be slow?
Yesterday I scheduled a recovery run into my routine for the simple sake of doing some sort of physical activity that would hopefully not impact my 5k tomorrow. Advice from my coach was to do a very easy run for only 45 minutes. I was not looking forward to it.
Due to the weather in my area, I've been a regular at my gym for my runs and have become accustomed to "showing off", or at least trying to, by killing it with my intervals and tempo runs. Being able to run 5 miles at 7.3mph or doing 400s at 8.0mph is pretty awesome, for me. Not to say that I'm some amazingly fast runner, because obviously I'm not blowing up records or anything, but I've improved so much in the past two years that I'm proud of my current speeds. And, I know for a fact that I'm often cruising MUCH faster than some of the other people on the treadmills around me. The reason I know? Because I look! :D And, you can't tell me that you aren't sneaking a peak at your neighbor's speed to see how you compare too, just like I do. I'm always curious how fast people are going and whether nor I'm going faster, it's probably that whole competitive thing that I've grabbed onto since I started racing.
So, when I arrived at the gym to do this "recovery run", I was all too happy to pick a treadmill where there were no immediate neighbors. I honestly didn't want people to see how slow I was going... 5.6mph... Embarrassing! Or was it? My goal was to do a recovery run, keep my pace slow and my heart rate down. I busted out 4 miles in 43 minutes, truly not an achievement by any means, but my average heart rate was the lowest I have ever seen it on a run of any kind. About halfway through the run I realized that it didn't matter if people were looking over at me and thinking, wow she is slow! Because really, my goal was not to kick the crap out of my pace that day, it was to just get in an easy workout, and I did that.
Now the question will be, the next time I'm there kicking it on a tempo run and I checkout my neighbor's speed... will I think to myself, dude that person is slow! if they are going 5.6mph? The answer is, yes, I probably will. But, I will then consider that they might be doing a recovery run like I did and I'll divert my focus back on my own running, which is where it probably should have been to begin with.
Due to the weather in my area, I've been a regular at my gym for my runs and have become accustomed to "showing off", or at least trying to, by killing it with my intervals and tempo runs. Being able to run 5 miles at 7.3mph or doing 400s at 8.0mph is pretty awesome, for me. Not to say that I'm some amazingly fast runner, because obviously I'm not blowing up records or anything, but I've improved so much in the past two years that I'm proud of my current speeds. And, I know for a fact that I'm often cruising MUCH faster than some of the other people on the treadmills around me. The reason I know? Because I look! :D And, you can't tell me that you aren't sneaking a peak at your neighbor's speed to see how you compare too, just like I do. I'm always curious how fast people are going and whether nor I'm going faster, it's probably that whole competitive thing that I've grabbed onto since I started racing.
So, when I arrived at the gym to do this "recovery run", I was all too happy to pick a treadmill where there were no immediate neighbors. I honestly didn't want people to see how slow I was going... 5.6mph... Embarrassing! Or was it? My goal was to do a recovery run, keep my pace slow and my heart rate down. I busted out 4 miles in 43 minutes, truly not an achievement by any means, but my average heart rate was the lowest I have ever seen it on a run of any kind. About halfway through the run I realized that it didn't matter if people were looking over at me and thinking, wow she is slow! Because really, my goal was not to kick the crap out of my pace that day, it was to just get in an easy workout, and I did that.
Now the question will be, the next time I'm there kicking it on a tempo run and I checkout my neighbor's speed... will I think to myself, dude that person is slow! if they are going 5.6mph? The answer is, yes, I probably will. But, I will then consider that they might be doing a recovery run like I did and I'll divert my focus back on my own running, which is where it probably should have been to begin with.
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