Recovery Runs

I'm happy with my progress since race day last Saturday. I took walks for 3 days, went to massage, and did my strength work every day. On Wednesday I ventured out for an easy 5k, which felt fine, but my hammies were a bit shocked at the ask. My "easy" pace was something like 6.12. I took another rest from running on Thursday, just walking and doing strength. Went to a yoga class as well - that instructor is so good. It should be called "yoga for runners."

Yesterday I headed out for 18k of beautiful single track with beautiful trail running people. It's just a joy to be in such surrounds with people who feel the same way. Gosh, do I sound like a hippie? Mum always said I was born in the wrong generation!

Today I went for another hour run at an easy pace to find that my "easy" has come back to 5.18. That's nice to see. My running HR seemed fine but my resting HR is still a few beats high, indicating that the endocrine system hasn't recovered yet.


And aside from my HR, I can tell that I'm feeling the chemicals from the race still, as I have been a bit nostalgic and contemplative these past few days. Herdsman Lake, where I ran today, was where I ran for the first time after I arrived in Perth 3 years ago. I found an apartment for rent on the lake, moved there, and that 8k lake circuit became my "local." My training has come a long way since then. I used to go out on every run around that lake at top speed. That's all I did. 8k sprints. I had this Excel spreadsheet that I used to track my time and pace. I'd write little comments beside each run, to try to justify the pace and look for correlations with my fastest days.

Oct 23 time 42:09 distance 8.15 pace 5:10. 2 pm, 26 degrees and muggy. Never felt so hot, as trying to hold a fast pace

Jan 2 time 46:48 distance 8.27 pace 5:40. Tired of running hot and vomity - went slow for a change

All in all, I'm enjoying these few weeks post-race to focus on strength, feed my body good omegas, antioxidants, and beetroot juice, and feel all mellow and groovy. Next weekend I hope my body's ready for a 2-3 day fastpack on the Bibbulmun Track to test-drive some gear for my end-to-end attempt. Then it will be back to speed work!