I ran Dublin as a training run and as much as I enjoyed the raceday atmosphere, it wasn't why I was running that day. Now I need to ensure I recover well, otherwise I won't get the benefits of the adaptation. And I sure don't want to dig myself back into that deep dark hole that is overtraining; I have only just managed to climb out of it.
Over the years I have found a post-race recovery program that works exceptionally well for me. After the race I run for 5 miles a day, slowly, until the legs feel better again, then I add a few miles and after a surprisingly short amount of time I'm back in the groove.
This time round it worked very well initially. I did 3 5-mile runs, feeling better and getting a little bit each day. In fact, on the third such run I really had to hold myself back; the legs kept pushing on and time and time again I reigned them back in. So, on the Thursday I ran a little bit longer and this time just let the legs go as they pleased, which seemed like the right thing to do. I didn't push the effort and the HR of 136 supports this. However, the legs felt a lot more sluggish again on Friday, and it probably didn't help that I ran back home from work. That's just over 9 miles, a little bit longer than would have been ideal in my post-marathon recovery program, but you can't stop halfway in the middle of nowhere. On Saturday morning the legs definitely didn't feel great so I stepped right back and did 5 miles at a very slow pace, just like I did the day after the marathon. I'll take it by ear now. I'll decide pace and distance depending on how I feel each morning, until I feel recovered again.
- 1 Nov
- 5 miles, 41:18, 8:15 pace, HR 134
- 2 Nov
- 6.35 miles, 50:25, 7:56 pace, HR 136
- 3 Nov
- 9.2 miles, 1:14:47, 8:07 pace, HR 138
- 4 Nov
- 5 miles, 43:41, 8:44 pace, HR 129
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