Usually it takes me about 3-4 days after a full marathon to get back
to running again. Once I stop hobbling around like a peg-legged pirate
and am able to use the bathroom sans handicap bar, I figure I am good to
go with running. Sometimes it is easy and I feel great to get going
again. Other times I wonder why I am jumping back into it so soon
again.
This go 'round I had no choice but to wait until
a week after the race. The flu took me out like a bulldozer about 36
hours after I raced. For 4 miserable days, I laid in bed accomplishing
nothing except commenting on each and every bloop. I went to work
yesterday and was about 2 hours in before I was like, wow, I still feel
like someone knocked the wind out of my sails. Fortunately, by the end
of the night, I felt much better and was happy that I was starting to
feel normal again.
This morning I was determined to
run. Any distance. Just as long as I didn't have a goose egg on the
week, I'd feel better. It was rainy and cold so I played it smart and
ran on the TM. 1 mile turned into 2 and I ended with 5 easy miles. It
felt fantastic while I was running! When I finished and started walking
around the house, I noticed my ankle was feeling wonky. I won't run
again until Tuesday, so I'm hoping this is just a casualty of a
marathon-followed-by-a-week-off.
Now, I get to enjoy a
little reprieve and run for fun until I decide when my next will be. I
don't know if I will ever be the type of runner that just constantly
has a race on the docket. I like the idea of it and wish that I had the
weekend time and money to do it, but I also just enjoy the freedom of
running just to run. It's great to have the goal and camaraderie of
racing (I mean, duh, the camaraderie is an added bonus of blogging), but
not having a training schedule to adhere to is nice as well. Besides, I
can live vicariously through other runners and then go frolic around in
the woods using their inspirational stories as mental fuel.
No comments:
Post a Comment