Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Post Race Routines and Recovery [Afternoon of 10.10.10]

Yay! I crossed the finish line.

Now starts the road to recovery as I walk through the chute and grab a banana, bagel, mylar blanket, and most importantly, beer.

A transformation happens as you walk through the few blocks of the chute - You go from being in motion to completely stiff as a board. Walking becomes, quite quickly, a difficult thing to do. Your feet are swollen, so priority #1 is to take of the running shoes you've been in since 5am and get in to a more roomy shoe or sandal. Before you make this transition however, you're going to need to sit, and that's where the problem lies.

My quads are shot. I can stand and I can sit in a chair, but can't do anything in between.

Remember the blog entry 'Curbs and Stairs' from a few weeks ago, after the 20 miler? They are by far my worst enemy now.

My walk resembles more of a shuffle. My stride has been shortened by 3/4 it's normal length. Routine movement are now difficult.

To sum up, suddenly, I'm....old.

It's weird because I have a recent amazing accomplishment of physical and mental strength, yet now, I'm weak, tired and slow.

It's easier to list the body parts that don't hurt rather than the ones that do hurt.

So what to do?

Move, slowly, to the beer tent and follow it up with a lunch.

There's no way I'm taking the two flights of stairs down to get on the red line at Jackson, so my Dad offers to drive us home. Suddenly even a small SUV is luxurious for it's easy in and out access.

Once I'm home, it's time to sleep, at least for a little while. Later on that evening the 10:30's got together to celebrate the day. After all, it's a great reason to wear the finisher's medal around town. Dave gave Kim and I old lady aliases as we walked out to the car. We feel like we're 70 anyway, so it's fitting.

The top priority Monday is an afternoon massage. It is worth it's weight in gold. I'm feeling more flexible, but stairs and transitioning from sitting to standing is still hard. I'm hovering around 65 years old on Monday.

Here's a great video from Flora, the sponsor of the London Marathon, depicting the the day after a marathon:




Tuesday it's back to work. I can't take the chance of going through the crosswalk on a flashing red because I won't make it to the other side before traffic starts moving. I'm feeling better though, just moving slow. maybe about 60.

Wednesday's a big day. Stairs are no problem and my stride's coming back. I'm still a bit achy, but around 50.

Thursday I'm easily in my 30's again. Thursday's the recommended day for a two mile recovery run. I go out for a walk instead, but I feel pretty good. I've somehow started to forget how hard the race was and start thinking about how tomorrow at lunch, I'll get out there and run. Just an easy three or something...

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