Okay, I'm turning to you more-experienced runners for advice here. Is it normal for me to be this exhausted after my first HM?? I have been soooooooo tired all week! All I want to do is sleep! I'm going to yoga today, which will be my first workout since the race. My tri schedule called for swimming on Monday and swimming and cycling yesterday. I did neither. :\ I was just too tired. Part of me feels like I should take a few days off, but another part of me is frustrated with myself and the fact that I haven't swam in weeks. I really need to get my rear to the pool.
I'm still hobbling around. The left calf hates me again. I made an appointment to see Dr Jesse Walden again for Friday. That should help. Saturday morning I have tri practice and we are cycling 20 miles and running 3. Sunday is the Trolley Run, which is a 4 mile race. If I don't make it to the pool again this week, is it going to kill me? Is it okay for me to rest for a few days? Will swimming help me work out some of the tension I'm feeling? I'm torn... Any advice?
Facebook Badge
A Quadrouple of Jazzy Handed Runners!
Nations Triathlon 2009
Ry & Me - Mothers Day 5K 2009
Go! St Louis Half Marathon 2009
Race For The Cure 2009
Giblet Jog Challenge 2009
About Me
- Ashley
- Kansas City, MO, United States
- I'm just a girl....and no, I haven't had it up to here. But I am just girl, livin life and lovin every minute of it. If it's not fun or funny, I'm pretty much not interested. I have two beautiful girls and I cherish every minute of my time with them. I turn 30 this year and in the midst of all the craziness, I thought - hey, why not do a triathlon this year? So aside from being a wife, a mother, a quality assurance customer experience specialist, and LOL around GOOF, I'm also training to be a triathlete. I prefer to go through life with a smile on my face at all times - either cuz I'm cracking up, I'm having the time of my life, or I'm just up to no good at all! And THAT, my friends, is me in a nutshell.
9 comments:
I don't know about the swimming, although I would bet that would really be helpful to get your muscles moving again.
I know that after a big race I usually feel the same way. I think it's the adrenaline down more than anything.
Just getting out and running a REALLY, really easy run for a short distance usually helps me and gets me back in the groove.
Good luck!!
E
Yes, it's normal. Two days of rest so far? Then you need to get out there and get your muscles moving again so that you can flush out that lactic acid out of your system. Even if it is a 1 mile walk, get out there and do it. Tomorrow go for a 2 mile walk, or add a little jogging in there. The quicker you get out there and moving the faster your body will recover. Oh, and protein. Eat lots of protein to help your muscles rebuild.
First of all AWESOME on the race - not many people could go from not running to half marathon in 5 weeks or less. And survive a race in pouring rain with puking and portapottie incidents. You are hard core!!
Second, yes on the tiredness - I was exhausted after my first HM. In fact, right after the race I went back to my hotel and was going to take a 1/2 hour "nap" and woke up 3 1/2 hours later feeling like I'd just been run over by a train. I didn't really feel like my legs were normal for a week afterward. The only thing that kept me going was that I HAD to keep running for marathon training - but that first 2 mile run 2 days after the HM was completely brutal.
So give yourself a little break this week if you need it - you earned it, after all!! I do think that lighter-intensity stuff helps get the lactic acid moving out of your muscles. Yoga will be great.
I think you are fine to be tired, sometimes I am tired for a few days after hardly any running, I just think sometimes it is the cycle of life (or girl cycles in my case).
As for the calf, chica, take it easy. I would skip the 4 miler, switch to elliptical and swimming. I still haven't run a step. I'm getting deep tissue nearly every day from my PT, he also does infrared and ultrasound nearly every day, and has started slapping on the 'estim' (electronic patches or something, they massage my knot and tight shin), and after two days of no PT, i tighten back up! He explained to me that it is going to take quite a few weeks to get my calf back to normal, it isn't just going to pop back. I'm smellin' what he's steppin' in....
My advice is take it easy!
I always get tired and lag for a week or so after a big race. Taking a couple of days off is key... but I think you are ready to get backout there and wake those muscles back up.
Usually you want to get out in the first days after a big race and do some kind of activity in to help with recovery. Nothing hard or taxing. A 20 minute walk, a swim or easy bike are good options. And then a short, very easy run about two or three days after. This will also help you get over the tired feeling. But since you are struggling with your calf, you probably don't want to do any hard activity until you have that healed up. Activity will help a lot with recovery along with good nutition. You just want to make sure you don't do anything intense for at least 10 days.
After my first (and only HM), I came home, took an ice bath, popped a few ibuprofen and crashed on my couch for a couple hours with complete exhaustion. That was a big mistake! The lactic acid took over my legs and I could barely walk. I went to Target with friends later and half of the 4 blisters on my feet popped... oozing all over the place!
It's okay to be tired, so don't push yourself back into TOO-strenious of workouts if your body's not ready. Do some light workouts or walking. Now would probably be a great time to get back into the pool! I have found biking to really help loosen up my muscles after a hard run!
I have read that you should take one day off (or one day of light exercise) for each mile you ran! That seems like a lot, but I think that means it is normal to feel tired. It seems like you have some good advice above!
definitely take a few days off of running. i think its good you took a couple days completely off (esp since your calf was hurting before the race)... yoga and swimming are a great thing for later this week. also make sure to get that calf feeling better before you run again. you dont want to make it worse and after races you are more susceptible to injury.
Post a Comment