Friday, April 6, 2012

Week ending April 1: Recovery

Mon 3/26  Mon 3/26  0 miles. Though I did ride my bike to work comfortably, stairs were a challenge, especially down. Kismet led me to an interview on irunfar.com with Karl Meltzer, legendary 100-mile-winner-32-times-at-least-one-for-the-past-13-years, who had this to say about his post-race recovery: 
 "I’ll take my dog for a walk the next couple days to move my legs. Yes, the way I feel now, I’ll probably take Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. I’ll take walks, and I’ll keep moving around the house because I don’t like to sit still. I’ll start running when my body feels it’s ready. It might be a 3 miler...
“Overdoing it is a big mistake I’ve seen a lot of people do. If they have a great race and let’s say they feel great on Tuesday, they’ll start banging out, banging out, banging out miles and all the sudden two weeks later they have this low period where they’re tired again. They’re not really recovered from three weeks ago. So you want to recover in a week and a half then get back to training if you can. There’s a fine line of doing too much right afterwards. That’s what I try to avoid.”
76-2
Tue 3/27  3 miles on Cottonwood. I drove the less-than-a-mile to the trailhead to avoid a long downhill on our street. I felt surprisingly good on the flats, but the slightest dip in the trail was a reminder. 77-2
Wed 3/28  4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. Oh, and I guess in all fairness, I wear socks. 78-2
Thu 3/29  5 miles on Cottonwood. Very nice early morning run. 79-2
Fri 3/30 2 miles. Reminding myself to come back slowly. Felt a little stiffness in my calf. 80-2
Sat 3/31 2 miles. Bristol was very confused by the loop around the neighborhood all on pavement and passing a pile of dogs in yards. Again, a little stiffness in my calf, but not in the usual spot. Get out the Stick. 81-2
March totals: 168 1/2 miles in 29 runs
Year to date: 531 miles in 82 runs
Sun 4/1  0 miles A nice walk in the morning up in the mountains. Spent Saturday night playing music, drinking, laughing and eating with my old friend Shan (I’ve known Shan for 45 years) and his wife Bev, Bev’s mom Jane and a couple of her friends celebrating Shan’s 50th birthday. 81-3
Total: 16 miles in 5 runs
Shan: I've known only my family longer.
Caution led me this week. I felt a little niggling in my Achilles area on Saturday morning. I think the value of the streak was in the preparation for Terrapin Mountain. I had confidence in my training, which obviously went well. So I’ll start a new streak to the next race, the Highlands Sky 40 miler, as soon as I’m recovered.

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