OK…so, yeah, I did a 50K. Now what? Rumor has it you’re supposed to use the following week to “recover.” Well, what exactly does that mean? How easy for how long?
So, you would expect after a feat such as that….strenuous activity for nearly 8 hours, you would burn TONS of calories and come home much lighter than when you left. However, for the next about five days, I was UP about 4lbs from water retention. My feet were noticeably swollen. Apparently, it’s your body’s way of repairing itself.
I went out for our running club’s usual Tuesday night run. Did a 5K essentially. I actually felt great! This is just two days post race. Went out for our club trail run Thursday for 6 miles. Walked the first mile since it’s a steep uphill to the Mesa but then ran the next two. Did OK, but was feeling pretty exhausted–even before I started. Started running back but decided to walk. Did end up running back down the hill. So, half a trail run, I guess.
Saturday is our usual running club LONG day. I did a hilly 10 miles at a 12 minute pace. Pre-race I maintained a pace right on 11 minutes per mile, so you can still see the toll the race took. Sunday, a group of us decided to get more time on feet by hiking out into the mountains. 12 miles round trip. We walked up to the saddle then ran back thinking we were late getting one person home! We ran pretty darned fast (for me) – between 9 and 10 minute miles. For the week after the race, I totaled 31 miles. Not bad.
Now it’s time to start thinking about training for the next event–a 12 hour race in Moab. My goal is 7 trail loops or about 38 miles. I’m working off the UltraLadies training schedule, backing up the number of weeks prior to the race and the schedule suggests 52 miles this next week! Doable? We’ll see!
