Recovery Week

It is hard to believe that the Illinois Marathon was one week ago.  My legs are recovering nicely from the race as well as my face from smiling so much.  As I type this post, I am still smiling about the race.

Recovery and taper weeks are hard for me.  I like to run, so giving my legs the proper rest they need is something that I struggle with.  My next race is in 2 weeks - a half marathon, and I want to be ready for it when the day arrives.  Therefore, this week was about taking it easy.  Here's what I did:

Sunday - rest
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 6 miles
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 1 mile
(tomorrow) - 12 to 15 miles, to be decided in the morning

I also did some biking and walking this past week to help in the recovery process.  I've discovered that walking helps my legs recover so much quicker from a workout.  Plus, I find it very relaxing. 

After my marathon on Saturday, I decided that I would take 1 full week and not run 1 miles faster than 8:00 pace.  It worked well for Sunday and Monday, when I rested, and Tuesday and Wednesday, when my legs were still recovering. On Thursday I went to my running group run and ran a nice, easy pace with my friend. 

Then came Friday.  My legs were starting to feel better and I just wanted to run.  The weather was practically perfect, nice and warm.  I lifted my 7:xx ban but decided that all miles had to be above 7:30 pace.  The run was wonderful, and ended in a 7:45 pace for 5 miles.   I'd say recovery week is going well thus far.  Soon, it will be over and I'll be able to run normal mileage again.

How do you recover from races?  I eat when I'm hungry, which is usually all of the time, and run a lot less.