Post-Marathon Non-Sequiter

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It's been a little over two weeks since Grandma's Marathon and I have several things to report on.  Even though I can't imagine moving on from that incredible race, I will have to start training again for the Madison Marathon which I am running on November 11!  This post is a little all over the place.

I was going to take my standard one week off of running, post-marathon but extended it to two weeks off after:

a) a friend recommended taking two weeks; and

b) re-reading the post-marathon recovery chapter in the Hanson's Marathon Method book which also recommended two weeks off; and

c) after a week off, my legs still didn't feel totally great.

I did absolutely no activity for the first 7 days post marathon. During days 8-13, I did a daily JasYoga routine which really reactivated my love of yoga and made me wonder, "Why did I get out of the habit of doing this?!"

After 12 days of no running, I really wanted to run.  I did all of my morning run prep last Thursday night, set my alarm to get up before work on Friday and then woke up to my husband's alarm on Friday morning (i.e., I overslept).  I had set the time for 5:00 PM not AM.  These are the moments when I think there is some higher power looking out for me! "Alright, alright.  I will not run until Saturday!!"

I had much more success rising early on Saturday morning to do the 30 minutes of easy running prescribed in the recovery plan in the HMM book.  In recent years, I have done a spring marathon and a fall half marathon and I definitely took my time getting back into running over the summer.  Since I am doing a fall marathon, I feel a bit more urgency in setting myself up for success to return to marathon training.  That, and if you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I appreciate having a plan!  

Back to Saturday morning - I was dressed and out the door by 5:15 AM and the hot air hit me as I opened my front door.  GROSS.  We were under a heat advisory for most of Saturday.  I was glad I only had 30 minutes of easy running to do.

I logged 3.6 miles in 30 minutes for an avg pace of 8:20/mile.  I didn't feel great. Heat and humidity are not my friends.  I don't know if they are exclusively to blame for feeling blah but I wanted to have a bit more pep in my step after two weeks off.

The 3.6 miles was good enough to get me the June Running Distance Challenge badge on Strava.  I hit 200km exactly!  My total June mileage was 124.48 miles.  This put me at 907.56 miles for 2018, which is 1.6% lower than my 2017 mileage through June. 

My husband was away Saturday night and most of Sunday so I didn't get out yesterday until after the kids were in bed.  It was slightly less hot and humid.  I logged 3.64 miles in 30 minutes for an avg pace of 8:14/mile.  

I have a goal of doing a JasYoga routine every day of July to participate in JasYoga July (those are my feet on the photo posted!).  Sunday I did the 5-minute foot reset because my arches are still apparently not happy.  My left arch really bothered me with every step during the last several miles of Grandma's Marathon but both feet haven't really bothered me since until Saturday afternoon.  We took the kids to a trampoline place that had a Ninja Warrior course (we are all obsessed with that show in my house!) so I attempted to do the course.  You aren't allowed to wear shoes anywhere in the facility.  You have to have special "jumping socks" (which really are just glorified versions of those anti-slip socks you would get in the hospital!).  The course had a lot of bars that every time I stepped on, my arches were screaming.  So clearly, they still aren't happy.  The 5 minute foot reset was definitely helpful and I foresee doing a lot of that in the coming weeks!

Finally, two weeks is not that much time, but it certainly is enough time to lose some good habits. My early bedtime went out the window over that time frame and I will have to work to get it back as I am currently DRAGGING.