Friday 15 April 2011

Aftermath

Overall I'd say my post marathon recovery has been good.

Immediately after I could feel rigamortis kicking in so had a really good stretch and by the evening was happily able to run up/down steps in the Metro stations. Strutting easily round Paris on a warm evening in my finisher t-shirt felt very, very good.

Next day I was hit by a touch of DOMS so that I needed to keep up with the ibuprofen and stairs were far less easy. That said I probably walked 8 miles or more: Montmartre (including the steps to Sacre Couer); the beautiful and moving Pere Lachaise cemetry to see Oscar wilde and Edith Piath's tombs; a good walk round the left bank including the Eiffel tower, over the Seine and walking back to Place de la Concorde; over to the Marais for lunch; back to the Eiffel tower and Trocadero; around Denfert Rochereau and back to my bonsai hostel room.

Tuesday was similar and by the evening I had the post marathon sniffle. That's quite common as the immune system is shot through. A good number of Paris runners I know have the same symptoms: headache, sore throat, runny nose. Still got it now.

Had a massage yesterday and physio believes I've recovered well. Some tightness in the calves and left quad but that's all. Been given a clean bill to run again but headache means I won't do so until at least tomorrow. That'll aslo test whether my two black toe nails will be falling off!

Entered 2 races so far and looking for a couple of others. Any suggestions for 10k - half marathons?

5 comments:

BabyWilt said...

Aaaahhhh I love Paris and the description of your walk if I close my eyes can see it all :-)

Jessica said...

Wow, walking 8 miles around Paris after a marathon? I'm surprised you have any feet left. It sounds wonderful though, so idyllic and the perfect way to end a hard, gruelling day.

Glad the recovery is going well :)

Running Rob said...

Cheers girls!

Pere lachaise was really worth the visit. Grand, peaceful and (with the various holocaust and resistance/execution memorials at the back), very moving too.

Alison said...

Oh I LOVE Paris! I never thought I would -- I'm more Germanic in artistic temperament. But it is an amazing city. Reading this makes me want to go back there again!

Also, reading these posts and thinking about 10ks and halves is making me want to get properly back into running again. I've been able to fun 5-10k at varying levels of comfort, but for some reason haven't quite had the mental focus to get back to proper training. Maybe I'm still frustrated with the knee pain. Or perhaps I'm just in a funk and need to drag myself out of it kicking and screaming, rather than waiting patiently to pass.

Maybe I'll go buy some new trainers today and see if that helps!

Running Rob said...

Ooooh, new trainers?

Now yer talking. Was considering that myself...forgot...but now you've reminded me.

Could be a pair of Saucony ProGrid Peregrines on the way.