Road to Recovery

It's been awhile since I last trained for a marathon and I forgot what a 20 miler will do to your body. Up until now I've been very lucky with my post-long run recovery. There's been a little bit of stiffness, but I've avoided a lot of the major soreness that you usually get after a long run. I think partially that's due to the fact that I don't come home, take a shower and then take a nap right away. After the past few long runs I've gone out to lunch, then come home, cleaned the house and THEN taken a shower and a nap... and even gone out later. Even though I'm dog tired, moving around and doing stuff helps things from tightening up too much :D

This 20 miler killed me though. I got home Saturday after the run, ate some lunch, did a little vaccuming and then showered and napped. For the past few days, my body has NOT been happy with me :( There's been a little bit of muscle soreness, especially in my calves, but what's mostly bothered me are my hips. I think it's my IT band :( Every time I put my weight on either leg (basically every time I walk), I can feel the sharp ache in my hips.

I've also been fighting something since I got back from Yosemite. I had a dry throat all last week, which I initially thought was just from the dry mountain air... it never turned into a full fledged sore throat, but it just felt like I was about to come down with something. After the 20 miler I think my body was having a harder time fighting it off :( Yesterday I didn't feel so hot so instead of going to run with Amy and Pam, I took the night off. I treated myself to some yummy Thai food, took a long nap and felt so much better when I woke up! Today both my whole body feels like it's finally starting to recover. There's still a little soreness, and my throat still feels weird, but I think I'm feeling ready for track tonight! I just hope they take it easy on us!