Hey, I survived Oakland Half Marathon! Better than survived it!
Running last week was pretty boring as I was mostly just trying to recover from the race, so maybe it's a good time to mention how *weird* that race/recovery process was compared to my memory of past half marathons. Like I said in my race report, I didn't feel like I ran the race all that hard -- for the first seven miles I was running in total comfort, and I didn't really try to run hard until the last 5K. That said, I ran hard enough at the end that I was VERY happy to be done, but I also felt pretty normal pretty quickly after (ie, no wandering around in a daze/looking for a place to throw up) and drove home feeling peppy and spry.
That evening and the next couple days, though? Oh ho ho! A different story!
By Sunday evening I was lying on the couch unable to move. I slept like 10 hours that night, barely functioned at work on Monday, and crashed mid-day for like two hours when I in fact could no longer function. All day Monday and most of Tuesday, I felt like I was getting sick--my stomach felt off, I had no appetite, and I felt like no position I could sit or lay in was comfortable. Walking to the coffee shop Monday (1.5 blocks) felt incomprehensible.On Tuesday I was supposed to do an easy 30:00 recovery run, so I jogged to the gym and back as per usual. I felt kind of hilarious as I stepped outside in my gym clothes, really not sure AT ALL how my legs were going to manage this. Was that first mile closing in on 11:00 pace? Yes it was! But eventually my legs started to feel less like those of a newborn giraffe and more like, say, a healthy St. Bernard.
I still spent the rest of Tuesday post-gym feeling semi-broken and crashed for another nap, but by Wednesday I was finally starting to feel somewhat normal again. So yeah -- I didn't feel in the moment like I ran this race all that hard, but my body clearly disagreed!
Grand Total: 18.5 miles
- * 14.9 easy
* 3.6 speed
Monday 3/21: Rest, sleep, and otherwise be a mostly broken person.
Tuesday 3/22: 3 easy miles to the gym & back
Wednesday 3/23: 4.5 easy miles - starting to feel normal again!
Thursday 3/24: 3 easy miles to the gym and back
Friday 3/25: 8 mile fartlek run (10 x 1:30 fast/1:30 slow), refuel with oreos
I wasn't feeling super optimistic about this but just kind of thought, "Whatever, it's a chance to get my legs moving fast again, whatever happens happens." The first couple were uphill and not that fast but later I ran one of them at 6:15 pace, so that felt good. :)
Saturday/Sunday: Wine tasting in Paso Robles! I think my body really appreciated two full rest days where I literally didn't have to do anything but eat, sleep, & drink wine. Highly recommend adding to your training plan!
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