TALES FROM THE TRAIL (AND SOMETIMES THE ROAD TOO)

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Recovery–How It Went

Recovery was a strange, strange road this time around.  But then again, I never recovered from anything like this.  Sunday, the day Nanny Goat ended I drove home and went straight to bed (knee braces still on.)  I ached from fatigue.  A couple hours later, my husband drew a bath, woke me and insisted that I soak. 

Basically, Sunday and Monday, I slept and ate.  My feet only slightly swollen were still red.  My arms, the tops of my feet, all of my legs and my scalp itched.  That darn near drove me crazy.  I also felt stiff, but amazingly I experienced absolutely no pain while foam rolling.  My knees ceased causing pain by Monday.  And by Monday I could walk around just like normal – even up and down steps.  I felt so good Monday, I thought that I might run on Tuesday.

When Tuesday rolled around however, I still had sleeping to do.  I decided to reel in the calories however.  It was time.  After I got the boys off to school, I slept pretty much until noon when it was time to pick-up the boys (early-out day) and then get ready for work. 

Even with this napping, pretty much around the clock, I went to bed at a decent hour and slept all the way through the night, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. 

Today, Wednesday, I felt great!  Great enough for a run.  And so after getting the boys off to school, I drove home to do some chores and dressed for a trail run.  I was astonished how loose my shoes felt, how in fact comfy they felt.  If I didn’t know better, I was off to run in slippers!  I’m surprised how those 67 miles got me used to dirty, grimy, sweaty clothing and swollen feet shoved into my shoes.  I drove off to Wood Canyon DOWN-RIGHT GIDDY.

I found today’s run to Top of the World, ridiculously easy.  It was as if I had been wearing weights on my back until today.  When suddenly freed from the weights, I practically floated along the trails.  I found myself dancing to the tunes on my ipod as I ran along the ridge.  Sure I broke a sweat, quite a sweat running to Top of the World.  But it was a lovely, clean, fresh sweat.  LOL.  Yes, I’m acting silly.  Truth is, I feel like Nanny Goat changed my run.  It changed my perspective on distance.  It changed my perspective on my current abilities and gave me confidence that I can train for Twin Peaks. 

When I returned home, I drew a bath, and did ab work on the living room floor.  Just prepping – next week, the training begins. 

Bring it on. (With a smile of course!) :)

My Run Today:

Entering into Wood Canyon (wearing my Nanny Goat shirt):

A Detour off Westridge for a little more elevation:

Comfy feet Smile

View of Pacific Ocean from another Westridge Detour:

I found my ex-marine trail friend (A-Rod) on Park Avenue Nature Trail – we’ve been passing by each other on the trails for about three years now (I have him to thank for nasal breathing):

Top of the World:

Flowers at Top of the World that remind me of fried eggs:

Running back, along WestRidge with a view of Saddleback Mountains:

The Elevation Profile (which Twin Peaks will dwarf)My Activities Triple Park 5-30-2012, Elevation - Distance

6 comments:

  1. Awesome recovery Lauren! I'm glad you got so many positives out of this! All good for our trail 100 miler we still need to do together one day. I've had that same comfy feeling all over my body after a really hard race.

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    1. Looking forward to that 100 miler Johann! I'm glad you could relate to that comfy feeling.

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  2. Nice recovery ;).

    What's up with the itchy?!

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    1. Thanks Giraffy. I'm not sure about the itchy. It went on for days. I "googled" it and read that some ultrarunners have an allergic reaction to their perspiration after lots of miles. Weird. There's actually a long scientific name for it. I'm not sure if that's what happened to me. Some people break out in massive red bumps. Luckily that didn't happen to me. : )

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  3. Back running already? That doesn't really sound like recovery, that sounds like you went on a short run and took a few days off. Way to get back into those shoes!

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    1. Thanks Lumberjack. I can't stay away from the trails for long. I'm am kinda surprised though. My knees were in sooooooo much pain during Nanny Goat. I thought recovery would take much longer.

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