Rejuvenated and Refocusing – Sort of

Monday and Tuesday I lay on the couch and hobbled around like everyone else after the Vancouver Marathon. Wednesday I started to refocus so I went for a short run. It ended up being a very slow and short run. My downhill legs still had stabbing pains in them. But by Thursday I felt rejuvenated and looking forward to the next big one.

I’ve been riding my bike to work this week and it is helping to stretch out those muscles. I’ll be keeping it slow and short for a while yet, but my brain is already shifting gears. I can’t wait until the next one. (Did I already forget how awful I felt during the race? That was quick!)

This post-marathon recovery is tough. Everything hurts for way too long after. When the pain in the legs starts ebbing, you realize that other things hurt that you didn’t know were hurting. Like my shoulders. They sure were stiff on Tuesday, but I hadn’t noticed them on Sunday or Monday. I guess they wanted a little of the pity party too but had to wait until the quads and the calves calmed down a little first.

The lesson is that recovery week is not all smooth sailing. One of the keys is to have patience and to keep the feet up.

Can’t trust every bridge, and you can’t trust every muscle during recovery week.

Recovery is not a smooth uphill battle. Everything is trying to trip you up.

Happy Recovery!