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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Half Recovery



It's over a week post-half marathon, so - how's the old creaky body doing?
After the race, I had...
1. A painful right arch. This actually starting when I was standing on my bare toes in a drawer at work, straining to reach a burglar alarm battery. It ached after the race, so I slapped some tape on it, which promptly ended up balled up in my sock. It's fine now.
2. A weird right hip. I wish this thing would stop falling out of socket. The muscles around the joint are sore; the joint itself feels a bit off still. I ran long on it Saturday without issues, but it still concerns me that it bothered me during and after the race.
3. Chapped lips. Because it was windy!
Wind = hair everywhere
4. Sore left hamstring. Same old story. So tight I couldn't straighten it Sunday...better Monday.
5. Stomach cramps. This has become more and more of a problem: my stomach gets cramps after long runs and races (and sometimes just short regular runs!) and I have GI bleeding. However, it was not nearly its worst on Saturday - thanks to an empty stomach plus just one gel. We went to a party at 1 pm Saturday and the hostess offered me the richest German eggnog I've ever had: ingredients egg yolks, heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and brandy. Oddly, it was perfect for my stomach! It settled it right down! And more oddly still, my stomach was really well behaved all week, ever since then. Cured by eggnog!

Off topic, but the photo above reminded me, Louisiana Running Company was out taking some excellent pictures on the levee that capture the views of the river and the Crescent Connection Bridge.
QUADS.

Ships on the river
Anyway, so, my recovery went like this:
Saturday: All my hip and hamstring PT in the late afternoon after the race.
Sunday: 5 very easy miles on soft dirt followed by form drills, also on soft dirt. Later, foam rolling and more hip and hamstring PT.
Monday: Usually my day off. Did a core video for no real reason.
Tuesday: Usually track, but I didn't want to do track after a race, so I slept in and did some upper body weights and some glutes exercises instead.
Wednesday: Woke up to weird, warm, windy weather and ran 9 miles slow. Felt really good, although my hip was still - grumpy.
Thursday: 6.5 easy
Friday: 3.2 easy plus Iron Strength workout
And then Saturday I did 18 slow in the heat. Not my best 18 miler, and I was still aware of my hip.

But considering that a year and a day before the race I was having surgery on my right hip, I think I can call the race and recovery a success!




6 comments:

  1. I'd call it a win if I could run a half as well as you on my mostly healthy, non-surgery hips. I'm glad you're recovering well. :)

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  2. Your LRC pictures are so much better than mine! The lighting on mine made me appear like I had massive old lady crepey skin and quad cellulite. Sigh. Aging sucks. The side view close up where I'm smiling was the only one that didn't completely depress me. I really liked the background of the city skyline in it.

    A couple of products that you might like are Tailwind (drink mix) and VFuel gels, if you are looking for something easy on your stomach for before/during races. I've had good luck with both. I usually drink Tailwind before my track workouts. And gels, for me, during a race/long run (especially if I had a big meal the night before) are essentially insta-poop fuel. I have to find a toilet about 5 minutes after ingesting one. (#tmi) Has not been the case with a light dinner and VFuel gels. :)

    Glad you are recovering well. Yahoo!

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    Replies
    1. I've never tried Tailwind, but one of my friends moved to it b/c of stomach issues and she swears by it. Might be something you should try.

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  3. How weird that eggnog cured your dodgy stomach. I'd have thought it would do exactly the opposite. Weird but wonderful.

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