Recovery?

"Michelle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I know that some of you do not approve of my running in the half
> marathon on October 21, but if my training continues to go the way it
> has been going the past month, I will be running in it. My question
> is
> what should I be doing for recovery in the days and weeks after the
> half?

Only you will know the answer. There are all kinds of thumb rules which
seem to apply to no one. Since your new at the recover side a small
warning. Just beacuse some of the aches and pains seem to subside does
not mean you're recovered.

> Also, there's a 10K and a 5K on November 11th; is that enough time
> after
> the half (it's exactly three weeks) for either of those races,

I'd opt for conservativeness and do the 5k. If your recovery is
incomplete you will just fizzle at the end and not do much harm. A reall
shitty 10k is not fun.

> especially since I'm going to run in a 10 mile race on Dec 2, which is
> another three weeks later?

If the 5k goes alright, you should be ok. Once the fall race season is
over I'd get your butt back to building a nice slow winter base and
spring into the spring race season. Knowing your type A race behavior
you'll be aiming for a marathon next year.

> Crossing the starting line is 90%.
> Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

And getting back to the starting line too quickly...%.
-Doug

"Michelle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I know that some of you do not approve of my running in the half
> marathon on October 21, but if my training continues to go the way it
> has been going the past month, I will be running in it. My question
> is
> what should I be doing for recovery in the days and weeks after the
> half?

Only you will know the answer. There are all kinds of thumb rules which
seem to apply to no one. Since your new at the recover side a small
warning. Just beacuse some of the aches and pains seem to subside does
not mean you're recovered.

> Also, there's a 10K and a 5K on November 11th; is that enough time
> after
> the half (it's exactly three weeks) for either of those races,

I'd opt for conservativeness and do the 5k. If your recovery is
incomplete you will just fizzle at the end and not do much harm. A reall
shitty 10k is not fun.

> especially since I'm going to run in a 10 mile race on Dec 2, which is
> another three weeks later?

If the 5k goes alright, you should be ok. Once the fall race season is
over I'd get your butt back to building a nice slow winter base and
spring into the spring race season. Knowing your type A race behavior
you'll be aiming for a marathon next year.

> Crossing the starting line is 90%.
> Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

And getting back to the starting line too quickly...%.
-Doug

In article <[email protected]>,
"Doug Freese" <[email protected]> wrote:

> < My question
> > is what should I be doing for recovery in the days and weeks after
> > the half?
>
> Only you will know the answer. There are all kinds of thumb rules
> which seem to apply to no one.

I don't even know the thumb rules. I'll be flying home two days after
the race, so I figure that I should be able to do a short slow run the
day after I get home, but I'm not sure whether that would be too soon.

> Since your new at the recover side a small warning. Just beacuse some
> of the aches and pains seem to subside does not mean you're
> recovered.

I've already learned that lesson.

> > Also, there's a 10K and a 5K on November 11th; is that enough time
> > after the half (it's exactly three weeks) for either of those
> > races,
>
> I'd opt for conservativeness and do the 5k. If your recovery is
> incomplete you will just fizzle at the end and not do much harm. A reall
> shitty 10k is not fun.

*nod*

> > especially since I'm going to run in a 10 mile race on Dec 2, which
> > is another three weeks later?
>
> If the 5k goes alright, you should be ok.

The ten miler is much more important to me than the 5K or 10K; think I
should just skip that November race, to play it safe?

> Once the fall race season is over I'd get your butt back to building
> a nice slow winter base and spring into the spring race season.

The race season in the Phoenix area extends into early April. On Feb
17th, there will be a marathon, half marathon, 10K, and an 8K trail
race, then in early April there will be a 4.2 mile race.

The Summer racing season starts in late May.

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

Doug Freese wrote:
> "Michelle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>I know that some of you do not approve of my running in the half
>>marathon on October 21, but if my training continues to go the way it
>>has been going the past month, I will be running in it. My question
>>is
>>what should I be doing for recovery in the days and weeks after the
>>half?
>
>
> Only you will know the answer. There are all kinds of thumb rules which
> seem to apply to no one. Since your new at the recover side a small
> warning. Just beacuse some of the aches and pains seem to subside does
> not mean you're recovered.
>
Ditto on that. And since she'll likely be out there (3-4 hr, iirc)
longer than she's trained, she'll be in new territory. OTOH, it'll
likely not be high intensity (like LT), so she may not have some of the
endocrine system recovery issues.

I'm fortunate in that most of my races don't require much
pre-registration and I don't use schedules so I can usually wait until
after each race, monitor my recovery, then go from there. (more details
in upcoming report on Sat's race, which went better than anticipated
considering a misjudgement in recovery time)

Dot

--
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I
have of it."
-Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States

Michelle wrote:
> The ten miler is much more important to me than the 5K or 10K; think
> I should just skip that November race, to play it safe?

My hunch is similar to Doug's - a 5k three weeks after is likely to be
OK. If you can't run three miles three weeks after the race, that
sounds to me like you're not merely unrecovered, you're downright
injured. OTOH your state of recovery might well inform your 5k pace,
and it's at least conceivable you'd be best served jogging it at
training pace.

But all this is very hypothetical. You're obviously someone who likes
to plan this stuff well in advance (so thank goodness you're also, as
we've noted, willing to modify those plans). But those postrace weeks
are gonna be all about playing it day by day and taking orders from
your body, not from some calendar inscribed with mileage figures and
race dates.

After you've done a few races of this length you'll start to have
enough data to meaningfully project your recovery period. Even then
the recovery will still be about listening to your body from moment to
moment - it's just, you'll have some data about your own historical
tendencies.

On Sep 24, 11:57 am, Michelle <[email protected]> wrote:
> I know that some of you do not approve of my running in the half
> marathon on October 21, but if my training continues to go the way it
> has been going the past month, I will be running in it. My question is
> what should I be doing for recovery in the days and weeks after the half?

Recovery varies tremendously for each person. For many of us there
just a lot of recovery needed after racing 13 miles. Maybe a day
off ... but forcing yourself out on stiff legs will also loosen them
up eventually.

At the pace you are participating at who knows? It very well could be
that you can continue immediately with how you have been doing.

It varies person by person and by the amount of pain that one puts
oneself in.

>
> Also, there's a 10K and a 5K on November 11th; is that enough time after
> the half (it's exactly three weeks) for either of those races,
> especially since I'm going to run in a 10 mile race on Dec 2, which is
> another three weeks later?

My advice would be to stick to shorter distances and train to push the
pace. You are not going to gain a whole lot by jumping all over the
spectrum except perhaps to hurt yourself.

Is your goal to race at a faster pace ( ok participate at a faster
pace ) or to get ready eventually for a marathon walk fest?

In article <[email protected]>,
Charlie Pendejo <[email protected]> wrote:

> > The ten miler is much more important to me than the 5K or 10K;
> > think I should just skip that November race, to play it safe?
>
> My hunch is similar to Doug's - a 5k three weeks after is likely to
> be OK. If you can't run three miles three weeks after the race, that
> sounds to me like you're not merely unrecovered, you're downright
> injured.

Thanks. That's about as definitive answer as I can expect.

> You're obviously someone who likes to plan this stuff well in advance

Not always; I have been known to make last-minute decisions--like last
week's 10K race. I didn't decide until the night before. Sometimes the
advance planning is not really a choice; for instance, the Nike
registrations opened in Feb or Mar, and sold out within two or three
months. When my friend and I went to Walt Disney World in May, I was
thinking about entering the 5K race that weekend, but decided to
register once I was there. They sold out weeks before then, though, so
I didn't run in that race.

> (so thank goodness you're also, as we've noted, willing to modify
> those plans).

If I have to, I will.

> But those postrace weeks are gonna be all about playing it day by day
> and taking orders from your body, not from some calendar inscribed
> with mileage figures and race dates.

Well, all I really was asking for was some general guidelines; I didn't
expect, nor want, a day-by-day or even a week-by-week outline.

> After you've done a few races of this length you'll start to have
> enough data to meaningfully project your recovery period.

*nod* But not having that data now is what prompted me to ask.

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.