Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Strength Within Us is a Magical Thing

First off, have I mentioned how grateful I am of everyone's advice/comments?? Thanks again SO MUCH to everyone. Your encouraging words and advice mean more to me than you will ever know.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Mentally, I felt ready for the 11 mile run. Physically, I was still dealing with tight muscles from Friday's run...and I was also coming down with a bit of a sore throat. Then I went to yoga....(a few of you have asked about my lunch time classes -yoga & muscle conditioning- and they are offered here at my work - one of the perks of working for corporate America - we have a fitness center equipped with locker rooms, showers, etc right here at work)...and suddenly, for the first time in about a week, my left calf felt fine. 100% completely fine. It was a miracle, lol. I also stopped by the nurse's office (yes, we have a nurse too) to get some medicine for the drainage I was experiencing. 3:00 rolled around and I was feeling good...so off we went to the downtown airport for our run.

When we got there, I told the girls I was not going to do the full 11 miles. I planned to at least do the first loop, and then maybe the second, but that would probably be it. So we headed off for the first loop - 3.6 miles. During the first loop, we got told by airport personnel that they had construction going on and that they preferred that we did not go back between the baracades, so that altered our route a bit after the first loop. We stopped at 3.6 miles for a drink, stretch, and power gel and then headed off to run the east side and back. At 6.5 miles, we had a quick drink and stretch and I felt like I had a few more miles in me so we ran the other side of the loop and back. At our last fuel break, we were at 9 miles. At this point, I was just thinking "what's another 2 more miles?" So we set out for our final 2 miles.

Sooooo....11 miles: accomplished! And once again, NO WALKING. The run went really well and I really didn't have much pain during the run.

Today, however, is a different story. My left calf is definitely angry with me. Mainly, it just feels sore and fatigued. I'm moving very slowly today. My legs are tired and stiff...and I have another black toe. :( Ouch. I also still have some minor congestion that could turn into something, but I don't feel any worse than I felt yesterday. In fact, as far as that goes, I feel a bit better.

Not sure if I'll be making it to muscle conditioning today. I think my muscles need a break. I already rubbed aspercreme on them this morning and I'll be hitting up the icy hot when I get home. I iced my calves last night and stretched a TON and I've been taking naproxen, but I'm not sure if much can be done to aleviate the pain I'm feeling right now. But at least I have a break from long runs now until race day, which is 10 days away. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. I just wish I was recovering from a long run at home and not at work. Oh well...

Wednesday, April 8, 2009: yoga, 11.4 mile run

11 comments:

Janice {Run Far} said...

Sounds like you need another Yoga class. Yoga fixes me every time. Way to go on the 11 miles. I get black toe nails every time I train for a marathon and if the training didn't do it, then the marathon does every time. I ran a marathon in Feb and I have lost 3 toe nails from that race. I have another marathon in 15 days... I wonder how many I will lose then.

Being Robinson said...

Nice, glad the calf held up! Mine is still sore, I hope it magically goes away. :) And wow about the yoga class, I have to head to the Y and it's only a 45 minute class. BOo:( Once the marathon is over, I'm devoting my summer to yoga, back to one hour or 1.5 nightly classes. I cannot wait!

Anonymous said...

Funny that we are both doing a half the same weekend and just finished the long run. Sorry your calf is bugging you. The down time before the half should be a good thing for you. Take care and good luck!

Unknown said...

It sounds like you did a great job of listening to your body on that run. Great job! You now have plenty of time to recover before the race. I'm betting you are going to be just fine.

Dancing Sweet Pea said...

First of all congrats on running 11 miles! That's so awesome Ashley! I really think you should take a day or two to let your muscles rest. You definitely don't want any injuries, you've worked so hard for this! Maybe a yoga class or two would be good though.
Again congrats!

Aron said...

great job on the 11 miles!!! definitely take some time to rest now, especially with race day so close!! continue to ice and stretch and you will be good to go for race day!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

Yippee 11 miles!! I sure hope your calf gets better, LOTS of stretching. Race day is coming soon :)

FYI just found your Blog today..sorry I am a slacker..

Mel

IzzyBubbles said...

Ouch on the black toenail. :( I currently have two, they are not pretty things at all. But at least we can paint them, right?? At least while they're still attached, LOL.

RunToTheFinish said...

wohoo, way to go on getting it done! Especially since our weather is so nutty.

The black toe is crazy! that is one ailmetn I have not had

teacherwoman said...

Glad to hear you had a great run!

BTW, I just tagged you... feel free to play along! :)

kilax said...

I knew you could do it!!!!! :)

Do you feel better today? You are such an amazing athlete!