Week one of recovery completed. Initial plan for last week was to take the full week off and not run until Tuesday of this week, but by midweek I knew I wanted to do something at the weekend. After the 7 on Saturday I decided I would so another 4-5 yesterday. Not quite on a typical week one recovery schedule, to do 2 days consecutively, but felt it would be OK. On a hilly off road route my calf started to feel tight after a couple of miles and I opted to cut it short to 3.45.
Plan for this week is 5 tomorrow, 5 Wednesday, 6 Friday, 8 Sunday. All to be done at recovery pace. Plan then goes to 31, 36, 41 over the following 3 weeks; generally base pace but with a few strides thrown in once a week. Its the Pfitzinger & Douglas recovery schedule. One thing to learn early is to run at recovery pace. In the last 6 months I had a tendency to run recovery runs too fast so need to address that for higher mileage.
Also watched the Larnden Marathon in the morning, planted some radishes, chard and spring onions in the garden and then headed to the dales to do a short but pleasant walk of about 4/4.5 miles. That was enough for the girls for a first walk back.
At the end of that we went to the pub for a treat tea and a last hurrah for me pre diet!
VEGETARIANS MAY WISH TO LOOK AWAY AT THIS POINT
We've been to this pub a number of times before and they do good homely/traditional food. For someone who doesn't eat a whole lot of meat and who can be very squeamish over gristle or bone, I do have a strange liking for offal, and opted for liver and mash. when I was nearly finished, and very full, I thought to myself how I'd describe it and the first word I thought of was 'perfect'.
That was about to change with the final piece of liver.
With hindsight the last piece looked slightly rounded and swollen but I hardly registered that as my knife pierced it, and at that point blood shot out across the table, the condiments, the side order of chips Bethan had insisted upon, even onto the seat next to Charlotte. It was like slicing an artery. From that moment my stomach was churning round like a nauseous washing machine.
Fortunately I recovered enough to do my damnedest to eat all the remaining fudge I'd made the day before when I got in.
VEGETARIANS MAY REJOIN HERE
Might get a chance to go to the gym later today and do some weights, but not sure if that's in the spirit of recovery, so may leave that until Thursday's scheduled 'cross training'.
In a few minutes I'll brave the scales and see what damage carb loading, a week of post marathon excess and a big meal out have done. I suspect it won't be pretty but I also believe it'll come off pretty quickly.
EDIT
It wasn't pretty. Not as high as I'd feared, not as low as I'd hoped, but at least now a known quantity.
3 comments:
Oh dear, you were right -- I shouldn't have read that liver story!
I'm terrible at running things at proper recovery pace -- it sounds like that's going to be a good lesson in itself over the next couple of weeks. Do take it easy though -- no cheating! I.e. leave the weights till Thursday, etc etc..
Another oddity of mine is that I don't find blood and guts stories make me squeamish at all: I did a short internship type arrangement at a veterinary practice when I was on work experience and they were removing an enlarged spleen from a German Shepherd that practically exploded. The nurses expected me to be feeling rather queasy after that but I wasn't bothered at all. I would have been if the dog hadn't survived, obviously!
I actually have more respect for meat eaters that are willing to eat offal etc. as opposed to the ones that live on chicken nuggets and conveniently forget about the chicken inside: you're facing up to where meat comes from and making personal peace with that, rather than living in denial.
The trouble with recovering is that...well, I don't. And then I moan about injury. Brill that your plan is still going well.
I appreciated the "veggies look away now"- I obeyed and seeing Alison's comment am glad I did!
With the scales, like you say, at least now it is a known quantity. Plus right after a marathon you need to recover properly, and listen to your body, not worry about cutting down on food when your body needs it the most.
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