Spoke Too Soon

I may have been premature on my post-race analysis.

As it turns out, I did, in fact, put my body through a rather difficult ordeal on Sunday, and it hasn't actually forgiven me yet. When I headed out for my run yesterday, I started very cautiously and ended up dropping into a steady rhythm easily. I took this as a sign that my body had already completely recovered from the race. Today's run showed me otherwise.

Since I was up on time, I got out the door before sunrise and jumped right in at a goal pace. It was slower than most days that I run, but given the length of the workout, I was fine with that. Within two miles, however, it became clear that my body wasn't up to any real challenges today.

The body can take a long time to process certain things. For example, when preparing for a race, the most important night of sleep is actually two nights before the race. Sure, you need rest the night before, but if you have a little trouble falling asleep, it's not a big deal as long as you got in your hours two days out. Your dinner from last night is far more important to today's run than this morning's banana. And in my case, at least this time, the soreness and exhaustion from a race will hit 48 hours after you're done.

But I still had the miles to do. I refused to let myself push the pace, but kept my head up and my feet moving. Mostly, I'm just thankful that I've got another night off ahead of me. I've got big plans for getting ahead on my work for the week and watching sitcoms. I know, watch out world.

I feel like I learned some lessons from today's workout. Number one: waking up on time is much easier when you go to bed on time, so I'm going to try and do that more often. Number two: regardless of how good you feel, don't push the pace the day after a big race. It might go well for that workout, but you'll be regretting it early on day three. And finally, number three: when you're most exhausted and struggling is when you get the greatest benefit from simply staying in motion. And that's my number one goal for the rest of the day.

Just keep moving.

Tuesday's Run:
60 Degrees, dark
8.98 Miles