Oh, man. I am NOT doing well. It feels like I ran for 12 hours this weekend.
Weird, huh?
Saturday night after the race I could not sleep well. I couldn’t get comfortable because everything hurt. My blisters were killing me. My legs were sore. My weird spots of sunburn where I misapplied were messing with my internal thermostat. I was just tossing and turning relentlessly.
Eventually I got up, tended to some of my blisters, took a bunch of ibuprofen, broke out the heating pad, and tried to get some sleep.
I woke up Sunday morning and was all…I feel great! Tired but not sore! I went on an easy hike to work out my legs a bit and it felt fantastic. I told everyone, “It’s because I ran slow! I’m much more sore when I run fast! I’m just tired!” The hike loosened everything so the day went well.
Yesterday was more of the same. Still tired, still a little achy, but I’ve been much more sore after much shorter races. I decided to join an easy trail run last night to stretch out a bit. After some of my longer races this is exactly what I need, but evidently last night? Not so much.
I ended the run with a HORRIBLE shin splint and my blisters were rubbed raw again. I was just MAD. I want ZERO recovery time because I have 14 million other races coming up I need to prepare for. BAH. GET OVER IT, BODY. JEEZUS.
So I hobbled around the house, bitched at my husband, yelled at my kids, channeled some bad genetics and “helped” my daughter with her homework in the most UN-helpful way around, ate all the food in the world, drank a beer (which I normally don’t do on a weeknight), and essential soured the entire world around me because I’m pissed off my body doesn’t feel 100% after I ran 52 miles on Saturday.
I mean, I guess logically this makes sense. Of course my body hurts! I need a rest day! But I’m impatient and I’m still training for a few other races and I JUST WANT MY BODY BACK, DAMMIT. I went to bed angry and grumpy and slept horrible because MY DAMN BODY HURTS.
HOWEVER! My mood has lifted a bit this morning, as I got to see the results of the race. I normally wouldn’t have looked, but my curiosity was sparked last night.
I was 16th out of 75!! OVERALL. That’s the top 25%! I’ve NEVER made the top 25% of a distance race before. NEVER!
So…my body aches. It pisses me off and I’m taking it out on my family. But I’m trying my best to be realistic and smart. Yes…I have races I’m still training for, but trying to run too soon is going to injure me. I need to listen to my body and rest a bit. And maybe not eat everything in site. I mean, 52 miles earns you some binging, but I’m not sure it earned me 72 hours worth.
Here’s to the top 25%! And to Tiger Balm!
(Seriously. Tiger Balm ROCKS MY SOCKS.)
TOP 25! Holy shit! I think your body has earned a teensy bit of rest. 🙂
So one mile is about 100 cals plus/minus depending on weight, etc. So… you burned at least 5200 cals on your adventure. OF COURSE you can binge and have a beer. Dingbat. (meant kindly of course)
I call this anger, grumpiness, crankiness, etc after a long race “lactic acid poisoning”. You can also come down with a wicked case if you skip Body Pump a few times and then jump back in. You’re not just sore; you’re pissed off.
IS THAT A REAL THING? Seriously? Because I think it would explain a lot. 🙂
YES! Unfortunately I topped out at about 6000 calories on Sunday when ALL OF THE HUNGER HIT ME so I think I can’t use the excuse anymore 🙂