Back on the Horse...

It was nice spending the week after the marathon not running, and eating whatever I wanted. My body was feeling great with no soreness or aches and I didn’t really feel any ill effects from the race. Things seemed to feel almost too good. I was ready to get to start running again and was even entertaining the thought of doing a second marathon this year (getting some revenge on NJ), which I have never attempted before. Usually, I feel sluggish and down for several weeks after a marathon and another one never enters my mind. I went for my first running with friend JT last Sunday on a leisurely 5 mile run in Central Park. I was just looking to get my body back in the swing of things and moving again. It was nice to get outside and I felt OK. Then I went for a run with the downtown group on Monday night. The weather was beautiful and there were cool breezes along the water. However, during the run my legs felt pretty sluggish and I could not muster faster than a 9-9:15 pace. I was glad that this happened. It brought me down to earth and reminded me very quickly that I have to respect the recovery process after a marathon. Although I was feeling good a week later, I need to know that my body went through a lot of stress and wear and tear leading up to and including the marathon and that I can’t expect to just jump back into my usual routine at the pace I was running a few weeks ago and that I should eventually expect to feel some side effects of a marathon. The plan is to build my body back up by bringing back my twice a week cross training activities of strength training and spinning, which I stopped doing during the last month and a half to two months of training, and cut my running down to three times a week including a run of 10 miles. This was my pre marathon schedule and it has worked pretty well for me over the past two years. I plan to keep that schedule up until the end of June and then decide whether or not or will attack another marathon this year. I’ll see what I feel like after the sting of NJ has worn off and if I want to put my body and mind through another training cycle this year. Physically I am probably able to run another one, but whether or not I want to commit time and effort to training again only a few months after my last marathon is another story. If I do one at the end of the year, I wouldn’t have to start training until the last week of June/first week of July anyway.

The rest of the week will be filled with the Ragnar Relay. I’ll be running 15 miles in a 24 hour period which will be the most I have run in the past 2 weeks. It should be a good time. Let’s go Kids Who Wiz.