Friday, April 22, 2022

Recovery and a Race

As you read this, I'm hopefully flying down a mountain in Georgia, running the Teardrop Half Marathon with my friend Holly. Teardrop is a race she and I have had on the calendar 3 times, the previous 2 being postponed due to the pandemic. I'm hoping the 3rd time is the charm!! I felt strong going into this race and as it is a net downhill course, the hope is for a speedy finish time. But of course, Mother Nature has to have a say and she is throwing heat and humidity at us. So stay tuned. You can check my IG for updates and of course, I'll have a recap coming up. 

This week was a combination of recovery and training. I was really hurting from last Saturday's 15 mile trail race. I was using that race as a training tool, and boy, was I schooled! Specifically, I need to do a better job of fueling. I took several complete rest days this week and skipped CrossFit and strength training. I wanted to focus on keeping my legs moving but not pushing them to the point of soreness or exhaustion. I did do some stretching as well.  An actual taper for a half marathon? Who am I?

Oh, and I read a really good book that I'll be sharing on the blog next week!


Weekly Rundown
Sunday: rest
Monday: pool running
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: trail run 7.7 miles
Thursday: rest
Friday: run 4 miles
Saturday: travel to Georgia

There's not much to share on this week's recap. On Monday, I headed to the pool for a pool running session. I was so looking forward to this and the water really helped flush most of the lactic acid out of my legs. My quads were the most sore of all my muscles and that was from all the downhills I ran on Saturday. 

On Wednesday, I was excited to head to the trails! Cloudy, cool, and breezy, I hoped that there wouldn't be as much mud as I had experienced over the past couple of weeks. While there were muddy spots, it wasn't bad at all and that was reflected in my pace for this run. With so much dry trail, I was able to settle in and enjoy moving along the trails and leaping over all the fallen trees on the path. I tripped on a few tree roots but fortunately managed to stay upright. And of course, I went farther than I had planned. 


On Friday, I wanted to get a few easy miles in to shake out my legs and calm my nerves. Traveling for races always makes me anxious! It's been a few years since I've done this, too! Anyhoo, the rain stopped just in time for me to head out the door for an easy 4 miles. I held back my pace and ran a nice, evenly paced 4 miles. No matter what happens on Sunday, I can't blame my training!




How was your week? Is anyone racing this weekend? How do you like to recover after a hard race? Do you get nervous about destination races? By the way, I'm not back in town until Monday, so it might take me a few days to follow up on comments. 

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 


34 comments :

  1. Good luck with race weekend!! Hope everything works out perfectly. Enjoy!

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  2. Good luck. Have a good race and if you don't at least I know you and Holly will have fun together. But I bet you do great!!!

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    1. It turned out well! But it was a much harder race than I expected. Recap to come.

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  3. I know you are having fun with Holly! I hope the race goes well. I’ve heard downhill can wrek havoc on your quads, but I bet yours can handle it. ;-)

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    1. My quads are really unhappy today. I'm home this week for a remote CME, so I'm grateful for that.

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  4. You will do very well at the half marathon, Wendy! I think I should have gone to the pool as well. I'm sure that works wonders for a quick recovery.
    I'm looking forward to your recap and your book review! It sounds like a great book.

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  5. Good luck with race weekend! Hope you had a blast!

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  6. Well, the heat and humidity will probably play a part, but you're well prepared for this race! You're probably running right now. I hope it all goes well, and I'll be looking forward to the recap!

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    1. I didn't do as well as I hoped but as always, I had so much fun.

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  7. I hope you both had an amazing time at the race. I've never done a real downhill race. Looking forward to reading all about it.

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    1. There were more uphills than I expected and that killed my pace!!

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  8. Hope you and Holly had a great race! Looking forward to your recap.

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  9. Hope you were fully recovered by the time you hit this race and that it's gone well!

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    1. I hope that I can walk by tomorrow, lol! My quads are so angry at me.

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  10. Sounds like you planned your week well. One needs recovering time. I hope you have decent weather for the downhill. My calves hurt thinking about downhill. Let's hope the 3rd times the charm for you both. LOVED the picture of you jumping. As a person who's had more sprains than I can count, I actually flinched seeing you flying through the air. Sure glad you stayed upright. We've been having nicer weather so I've managed to get out and walk some this week, plus got lots of movement with mowing and other yard work. Every little bit. At 72, I do notice a difference after mowing and doing yard work, maybe it will get a bit easier as the season progresses.
    Sandy's Space

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  11. I hope your race went well! I like traveling, but not for races. I am always paranoid there will be an unforeseen glitch, even for my Des Moines races. They're less than an hour away, but traffic can be anyone's guess, no matter the time of day.

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    1. I thought I would be out of sorts, but it all fell into place.

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    1. It went as well as it could have! No glitches and it was fun!

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  13. I hope you had a great race but more importantly I hope you and Holly had fun! I haven't been nervous about a race in quite some time. Not even the international ones. I just remember that I love to run and take it from there.

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    1. I was worried about that GI issue I shared with you but nope, no problems. I call that a win!

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  14. Congrats on finally getting to run this half -- and fun to do it with Holly! It's been a very long time since I've traveled for and run a half, so I imagine I will be nervous. Have a safe trip back!

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    1. Thanks Judy!! It felt great to run a real race with a real afterparty!

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  15. Congrats on your race! Sounds like it was a success even despite the weather and hills. Well done!! All of that training is paying off. I look forward to your recap.

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    1. Even with all that training, it was a tough race! The heat was an issue for me. There's no way to train for that here!

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  16. Congratulations! This sounds like such a special and fun race! I've only run in Savannah, Jekyll, and Atlanta, so none of the fun mountain races of Georgia. Hope you ladies had the best time!

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    1. I loved it. It was so nice to see green leaves on the trees. Such a beautiful area!

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  17. Can't wait to read your review of the book. GLad you had a mini taper, we need them even if they're abormal. (Sorry i fy ou get this six x. Having log in issues)

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    1. I had log in issues with Blogger blogs yesterday too! They changed their commenting format and I can't work around it.

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