Monday, May 26, 2008

Recovery Day 1

My legs were pretty trashed after the race yesterday. I dropped Josh off at his house and took some ibuprofen there, then stopped at Home Depot to pick up some stuff for my house. I was walking with a pretty pronounced limp, such that upon entering I heard a little girl say, "Why is he walking that way, Mommy?" I didn't hear what Mommy said, although a suitable answer may have been, "oh, he's simply one of those insane runners, honey."

With my mathematically-oriented brain I tend to think in terms of efficiency of my path, and that was cranked even higher during this trip: I needed to get paint from aisle 3, woodwork from 8, a vent from 6... I didn't want to waste a single step in the store. I found using the cart helped a lot. Oh God: is this what using a walker is like? Ulp.

While I have often cursed the hot tub I have as being a financial albatross and general pain in the hinder, it was a true blessing. I sat at my computer and iced my left knee for a while, then limped into the spa. I sat in there, dozing actually, for probably 30 minutes. When I got out, I could walk normally! Somebody give me an AMEN! That told me that much of the pain I was experiencing was from tight muscles, so my strategy now is ibuprofen, ice on the joint (lower inflammation) and BenGay on the muscles. Oh, and stretching--always the stretching...

This morning I mowed the lawn, which didn't feel good: pushing the mower up the hill was hell on the left calf. However, it was necessary, lest I get 'kicked off the island' of my neighborhood for not keeping my lawn up. I often hear their drums at night; I better start behaving.

Since the race I have been CONSTANTLY HUNGRY. I ate and ate yesterday, and today I was still hungry, even though my head told me I'd eaten plenty of food earlier and shouldn't be hungry yet. I'm guessing it's a result of the race. Josh and I went to his brother's house to spend time with Josh's family. Brats, potato salad, brownies and ice cream floats. I finally stuffed myself to the point where I think I've reached stasis once again.

Later in the day I was able to walk pretty normally. The speed of recovery is pretty amazing to me, and I'm not going to push it by running this week. We'll see how I feel on the infamous second day after--tomorrow.

3 comments:

Collin Kromke said...

I laughed at your comments about how hungry you've been. I've been so hungry and thirsty since the finish of the race that I'll probably gain 5 lbs by Wednesday!

Something for you to think about - I never stretch before or after a run! I used to, but I figured out that it was CAUSING me more injuries than it was preventing. Yes, you heard that right. I did not stretch a single muscle BEFORE the marathon yesterday, or after. I'm sore today, but that's to be expected after a 26.2 mile run. I'll probably ready for a short recovery run by Thursday.

Jay Edgar said...

Thanks for the note, Collin. I'm happy to hear the hunger isn't odd, although I certainly don't want to gain 5#--that's one reason I started running seriously!

I didn't stretch much either before-hand, mainly just warming up. I think to recover from my injuries, though, stretching will be important. The IT Band, she no get better by doing nothing. : )

perpetual adventure said...

I too have been a bottomless pit since the race! I can't believe how much I've been eating. And napping. There was a lot of post-race napping too.