Recovery Week

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Recovery Week

Hot on the heels of the extremely wet but surprisingly successful First Half Half Marathon on Valentine’s Day, I spent much of last week being pretty inactive. Here are my excuses well thought-out reasons justifying ‘Recovery Week’:

  • The rain – honestly, I just couldn’t take being drenched anymore
  • Work – a very busy week, resulting in quite a bit of working from home after hours
  • Recovery – I pushed pretty hard in this year’s first half marathon, I felt I ‘deserved’ some self-care
  • Sheer laziness

Despite all of the excuses (because, face it, that’s what they are), I still accomplished a wee bit. This is what the week looked like…

Monday

OK – generally, I’ve been attending Coach Carey’s running clinic. But it was the day after the half, and it was pouring…and I mean pouring. Emotionally, I just couldn’t handle being soaked to the bone. I stayed home and watched The Biggest Loser.

biggest loser

Tuesday

Although I didn’t think I’d be able to fit it in, Jill and I still went for a quick gym workout. It wasn’t anything significant – some cardio on the bikes, a few kettlebells and body weight exercises. Our mantra is: “Something is better than nothing!”

Our community choir started up again for a new season after 2 weeks off following our concert in January. I think to think of singing as a form of wellness – or spiritual/emotional fitness – even if it’s not physical.

Wednesday

Wednesday was one of those days – where you can’t believe where the day has gone, but feel like nothing got done. Work came home with me, after a visit to my chiropractor (Brenda – who is awesome, by the way – an Ironman competitor and all-round inspiration!)

Thursday

I was working late on Wednesday and it was raining, and again the thought of running in the rain dissuaded me from getting up early to run with the #RunVan gang.

As part of my BibRave Pro ambassadorship, I got a sample of Luvo frozen foods. They arrived in this gigantic cooler:

Luvo

…which I had to manhandle with me to physio. NOTE: a review of the food will be forthcoming!

The good news about physio – after some dry needling and electric shocks – is that things are improving. The strengthening exercises I’ve been doing seem to be helping. Staying positive and hopeful!

If you haven’t had dry needling – it basically uses acupuncture needles, but they go deeper into ‘trigger points’ and cause some remarkably painful muscle contractions. This serves to ‘tire out’ the muscle and help it relax. A few minutes of that and I was sweating. So, in reality, I didn’t need a workout at all!

Friday

Another busy day, with the added bonus of Pilates after work! The instructor, Christie (you can visit her website here), asked me about my race and I told her it had gone well. She asked what I attributed it to and I answered, truthfully: “Pilates”. It has helped me build my core strength and, I believe, improve my running. That and, I’d like to think, a good attitude!

Saturday

Heavens be blessed, no rain! Joined the Forerunners gang and ran the shortest of the three distances available: 12 kilometres. Those training for the Vancouver Marathon ran 24 kilometres. And those training for Boston – coming up in April – ran 30 kilometres (Laurel – you’re my hero!). It was also a great chance to catch up with running buddy Emily. We always have a great chat!

Sunday

Another rain-free day! Slept in a bit, but decided I couldn’t close out the week without at least one more run. Enjoyed the sights of Stanley Park, and did about 8 kilometres.

IMG_2597 IMG_2594 IMG_2595 IMG_2596

And that’s the week that was! In retrospect, not too shabby for a recovery week!

What do you do the week after a tough race? Do you relax or keep going?

Weekly Wrap

Rare for me, this is an actual weekly wrap for the Weekly Wrap LinkUp hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin! Drop by and read stories from other inspiring bloggers!

7 Comments

  1. After a tough race, I rest 🙂
    The dry needling sounds tough! If it helps, though, why not!? I do have my limits with rain as well, sometimes it is hard to get motivated to get drenched, especially when you have already run the race 🙂

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