Recovery time,

Running Sunday only a few hours after running a 100 miles was indeed pretty rough. I got on the tread mill and set it for 15 minute miles. I tried to not think about how much my legs hated me for doing it. However, my streak must live on. My run on Monday morning was still pretty rough. Tuesday, I ran 4 miles. I did not do much other than a short run as my ankles and feet were slightly swollen. The next couple of days went pretty much the same way. By Friday, the swelling has subsided in both feet. The following Saturday, I ran 10 miles on the trail albeit; I was still pretty slow.

The following week, my legs still felt sluggish but I pretty much returned to my normal running routine. For the last 2 weeks, I ran 70 miles each week. When I could, I headed for the soft dirt of the trails. This seems to help more than anything else.

To eat up my extra energy, I am back in the Y now. After missing my weight workouts for nearly 2 weeks, the aches and pains seemed to come out everywhere. This took several more days to subside.

Instead of falling back to my old routine for lifting, I am changing it up yet again. I brought more free weights in to my routine. I like to think that it requires more fine motor control and gives me a better workout. However, I will settle for just doing something different.

As my racing season winds down for ’19, I love to go and experiment with different workouts and different machines in the weight room.

Staying with the status quo means likely I am losing rather than gaining. Improvement only comes through indulging in constant change, and only through this change is there any possibility to improve.

Kickin’ up trail dust

The Cool Down Runner