Recovering: You Can. You Will.

I have noticed in the past few years that not only have my race times gotten slower and slower, but my long runs seem to be longer and longer; thus, a 10-mile run feels like a 20-mile run used to feel.  I thought about that some during the race on Saturday, but I realized that my final mile was strong and relatively fast, not at all like the final mile of a marathon.  So recovering has not been as difficult, either.  After a marathon, it would sometimes be difficult to walk down steps, for example.  And I would often take an entire week off, "as a matter of principle!" I would say.

Still, a 70-year-old runner needs to take recovery seriously.  We ate carefully after the race, and we kept moving, too - taking that long easy walk on the beach Saturday afternoon, for example - perhaps the most important thing to do.  We drove back to Atlantic Beach on Sunday, and when we stopped for breaks we could both feel the stiffness in our legs, which quickly diminished after walking around a little.

Yesterday we walked on the new section of trail they have constructed just this side of the entrance to the Bath House area at Fort Macon.

The trail was very nice, winding under sprawling live oak trees, and then crossing a little marsh on a well-constructed walkway.  Finally, it crossed a little pond, visible from the road, where we have often seen egrets and herons in the past.  We saw no birds, but it was exactly the right thing to do.

Finally, after three days, I decided to complete my first recovery run this morning.  It had rained all night and turned unusually cold, 35 degrees here and farther inland, in New Bern, there had been traces of snowfall.  It had almost stopped by late in the morning, but I still thought that a few stray drops I encountered along the way seemed to be half-way between rain and sleet.  I took several walking breaks and was glad to return to the warmth of the condo.  I felt as if all of the stored-up reserves of strength after two months of training was depleted.  Now it is time to build those reserves back up again and carefully increased the distance of long runs.  The old rule of thumb is a good one to remember this week:  Don't run hard again until "X" days after the race, X being the miles run in the race.  So I will not run hard for 13 days.  And then, if all goes well, I will be prepared for the next race.

We have been enjoying wearing our shirts from the Myrtle Beach half marathon (see pictured in post of March 2).  We saw many other runners wearing them after the race, in restaurants and on the beach, and they were instant conversation-starters; "How'd you do in the race?" we'd ask.  In addition to the Skywheel on the front, they have this phrase on the back:  "You Can.  You Will."  Many runners wore their shirts in the race, and it was inspirational to see that phrase all through the long 13.1 miles.  And that shall be my mantra in the days and weeks ahead.