Adventures in Clean Eating

The Aftermath

Luckily, I found Pete pretty soon after the race was over.  I knew I should stretch and walk, but I really just wanted to get home.  My body temperature was starting to drop and I was really cold.  I grabbed a bagel and a powerade and headed for the car.

I got progressively sorer throughout the day.  My muscles were incredibly tight.  Showering was a struggle.  Amazingly, I wasn’t hungry at all.  I kept waiting for my typical post-long run hunger to strike, but it never really did.  I had to make myself eat because I knew I was at a calorie deficit for the day.  I spent most of the day lying on the couch watching crappy reality television (“Teen Mom” Mother’s Day Marathon, anyone?), and drinking water.  We went out to dinner at Tyson’s and I had a lot of trouble walking down the mall stairs.  Getting up after sitting down for the whole meal was quite a feat.  I literally put every ounce of energy I had into the race, and I was BEAT.

Monday I felt slightly better, although I was walking with a limp.  I didn’t feel injured, my muscles were just really tight, and it hurt a little to straighten my legs all the way.  I almost took a sick day off work, but knew I should tough it out.  I took a rest day from exercise, and spent the day chugging water and elevating my legs on my desk while I worked (professionalism at its finest).  I made sure to stretch and foam roll that night.

On Tuesday I was better, but still didn’t want to exert myself too much.  I still felt tight.  I went ahead to my training appointment and explained that I couldn’t do leg work, so we focused on core and upper body, which was still challenging, let me tell you.  My shoulders are killing me today.  By the end of the day I was walking around without a limp, but not quite up to using stairs.  More stretching, foam rolling, and icing before bed helped.

Today, I’m wasn’t quite 100%, but I managed.  I don’t plan on running for the rest of the week, but otherwise I’m good to workout.  I took kettlebell class today.  I went down a weight, but I stayed strong otherwise, and lasted through all of Bill’s crazy plyometrics (“solar plexus knee-ups”?  My glutes hate you, sir).  It took a while, but I’m finally back to normal.

Lessons Learned

I’m very happy with my performance in this race, especially considering the race day conditions.  As apparent from my uselessness the last three days, though, I need to learn to recover better.  I need to stop making excuses to not stretch and need to take in more calories after long runs.  When marathon training starts, I don’t want to be out of commission for days after my long runs!  Further more, my training plan (which I’ll be posting soon), has long runs on Saturdays and I don’t want to have to waste the entire rest of the weekend with my feet propped up watching “16 and Pregnant”.

I grew a lot through doing a lot of speedwork in preparation for this race, but I’m looking forward to marathon training, since I don’t have a goal time in mind.  Running for speed makes me feel accomplished, but it’s stressful.  I miss just relaxing into a run and going at whatever pace I choose, not constantly glancing at my Garmin to see how fast I’m going.  I have a couple other short races planned for the summer scattered throughout my training plan, and I do plan on racing those, but most of my runs will just be for me, just to accomplish the distance.  If I finish the marathon in under 4:30, then super.  If not, no biggie.  Finishing a marathon at all, regardless of the speed, is a huge accomplishment.  And it’ll let me add something to this baby…

I love being able to add another bib to my board!

On a different note… I’m going to New York City this weekend to visit friends and am really excited about it!  I know I won’t be lacking things to do, but if any of you have specific restaurants or coffee shops in the area you love, I’d love to hear your recommendations!  Thanks for your help!