A Lean and Hungry Look

After Saturday's race, I hobbled around for hours trying to be a dad and to watch Brooke and Katie come in.  Fortunately, I was able to cheer both of them on and the kids were super patient.  Unfortunately, I felt like I was walking on a 95-year-old's legs the whole time.  In spite of a great massage (thanks, Ivan!) at the finish, my hamstrings were still killing me and my left hip felt injured.  It got worse throughout the day, and I was concerned that I was looking at another layoff due to injury.  Fortunately, by the time I woke up on Sunday the real pain was gone and my legs just felt really stiff, just like they're supposed to after a hard race.  I hollered in pain when I got out of the car in Fillmore for a potty break on the way home, and again when we got home, but the hip just felt stiff, not injured.  As a result, I decided before going to bed last night that I'd get up and try some light jogging to warm up the legs and speed up the recovery.

For the first 400 meters or so, it felt like I had 15 people hitting my legs with sledgehammers.  I almost turned around and went home.  After that, though, I think the crowd thinned out and there were only 2 or 3 people swinging at me, so I decided to trudge on.  I should point out that what I was doing cannot really be called running, but I was managing to propel myself forward with some daylight under my feet, so I guess I satisfied the technical definition.  By the final mile, I was getting closer to normal form, although the hamstring tightness felt similar to the last 6-8 miles of the marathon.  Fortunately, the run warmed the legs up enough to allow for some quality stretching after I got home.  Hopefully the effort will help speed up my recovery.

By the way, I ate a juicy burger and fries on Saturday night and a steak on Sunday.  Oh, the joys of post-marathon gluttony!

Wow, it was chilly this morning!  I should have worn gloves.  The legs are recovering nicely now, and I probably felt 50% better this morning than I did at the best point of yesterday's 3-mile spasmodic lurch in a generally forward direction.  I ran down 900 South through the Gulley, then down 15th to Emerson and back up the hill to 17th and home.  As I emerged from the Gulley, I saw a guy running south along 15th East with a briefcase, apparently trying to get to his bus stop.  He was moving at a nice clip, especially for being in a suit.  The funny thing is that he continued at the same clip on 15th East just a bit ahead of me all the way to 15th and 15th (passing several bus stops along the way)--he was still cruising along at the same clip when I turned on Emerson.  Admittedly, I was not breaking any land speed records this morning, but I never gained an inch on him.  Wish I could have figured out who he was.

What a beautiful day for an easy jog!

Slept in and called it recovery. 

Relaxed pace with Maja in tow. After running with Brooke most of the summer, she does much better at holding a steady pace and not stopping dead in her tracks when she sees sprinklers within 200 meters or so. Beautiful, brisk morning. Right hamstring is still pretty tight, but legs are otherwise recovering nicely.

Took another day off in the interest of recovery.  Right hamstring still feeling pretty tight.

Easy, relaxed pace up to Wasatch, across Parley's and out to Millstream Lane and back.  Listened to This American Life on the way out.  Although it is usuallly my favorite podcast by far, this particular episode just didn't do it for me.  The entire thing was based on conversations 9 TAL producers had with travelers at a rest stop about 90 minutes north of NYC.  Some of the stories were mildly interesting, but the cumulative effect on me was boredom and a really slow pace.  As a result, I listened to Coldplay on the way back and picked up the pace.  By the final half mile, I was moving along pretty well.  Right hamstring still bugging me, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good.