Running funk.

I'm allowing myself an excuse not to run this week, so I guess I can't really call it a "funk".  Recovery from this marathon has been tough.  On Sunday and Monday, my quads and hamstrings were so sore that I was barely able to go up and down the stairs.  On top of that, my digestive system has been all out of whack and I also think I pulled a muscle near my ribs because it's sore when I breathe or move a certain way.  With my husband out of town, I've been struggling to keep the household running smoothly while I feel miserable.  Thankfully, he returns home tonight.  Unfortunately, tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids and I will be thrust into that time of chaos known as summer vacation.

Yesterday I decided to start gradually working my way back into the world of the active.  I can't stand not being able to workout every day.  I think that's harder to deal with than the physical pain I'm feeling.  I started with 25 minutes of Pilates, then I rode the recumbent bike for about an hour and a half, not fast or hard, but just enough to work up a little bit of a sweat and get my legs moving.  In the evening I did about an hour of easy walking on the treadmill.  When I went to bed last night, my head ached and my shoulders were sore - I really needed my husband here to give me a back massage!

This morning I was feeling just a bit better.  I walked on the treadmill for almost an hour and a half, about 5.25 miles.  While my leg muscles finally feel like they're starting to recover, I felt completely sapped of energy just from walking.  I finally took a 5-hour Energy drink thingy this afternoon just to feel human again.

As I was talking on the phone with my husband last night, comparing race "wounds", I mentioned that I don't really get why I'm feeling so crummy after this marathon, when I've run the marathon distance several times now and never felt this bad afterward.  He reminded me to keep in mind all of the factors involved: going faster (than I usually do) for a longer period of time, the heat, the excitement of the day and not getting enough sleep, a different course than my muscles are used to running - so many variables.  I'm trying to not be so hard on myself, but I'm starting to realize this trend after all of my really long runs.  It's all part of the marathon experience, I suppose.  The actual race day, long runs, speed work - all of those things break us down, even cause micro-tears in our muscles - so that as our muscles rebuild, they are stronger.  I think the same thing occurs mentally and emotionally as we endure the hardest parts of our training.  Hopefully that means that in a week or two, I will feel stronger than ever.  I just need to keep moving to get to that point.

Tomorrow is a new day, Chris will be home from his trip and since he said he'd stay home with our youngest (who is already finished with his school year), I'm going to attempt a spin class and maybe some weights in the morning.  Maybe a good sweat-purge will boost my spirits!