Life is not fair

I was feeling pretty knocked out by the half marathon on Sunday, but I wanted to try something different in recovery, rather than just slodging on the sofa (which feels great until you need to get up). This time, I tried a bunch of different things:

1. Ice bath on Sunday for 15 minutes
2. Very hot bath before bed on Sunday
3. Long session of stretching Sunday evening (as well as the post-race stretch)
4. 5 mile gentle cycle on Monday
5. Lots and lots of protein through Monday (at least 200 grams)
6. More stretching Monday evening
7. 4 mile run plus two miles walking on trails on Tuesday
8. Even more protein through Tuesday
9. Another long session of stretching

And here I am on Wednesday morning with my legs feeling fine–just a couple of minor twinges when I squat or bend right over. None of the stone-leg syndrome I felt after my last long run. In fact, I feel like I could do another long one now. But . . . I’m cutting down on the frequency of runs, and I’m going to try to make them more intense instead. I’m planning three runs a week. First will be hills/intervals, or a recovery run if I’ve gone long the weekend before. Say 4-6 miles. Second will be a medium-long run of about 6-10 miles, depending on how I’m feeling. I’m going to try and run these faster than race pace, which means a target of around 9.30 mins/mile. And last is the weekend long run, which will alternate between 10-15 miles and the really long runs–I’m planning an increase of 2 miles every other week.

I’m hoping that my problems with not recovering fully will be solved by this, but that it will also give me enough mileage to complete the marathon. We’ll see.

Very nice recovery cycle ride along the Ebury Way. Didn’t break a sweat–not because of lack of effort, but because the weather has turned pretty chilly. There were small patches of ice in the shade, so I’m guessing it wasn’t more than 1 or 2 degrees, and that’s before wind chill. My face feels rosy. Time to go and get the old man’s moisturizer out.

9.31 miles. 54:25. 10.3 mph. <= slow, but it was a recovery ride.