Race Recovery Week In Workouts

Geez. How is it Monday already? The weekends fly by so quickly, especially this time of year when I spend my days outdoors at the beach or pool.

I had my first iced coffee of the season yesterday by the pool. I’m not a huge iced coffee drinker but this time of year usually heightens my interest and need for cold over a hot coffee. Not first thing in the morning though! I still need hot coffee when I wake up!

Anyway, let’s discuss my workouts from last week.

The early half of the week was focused on race recovery after last Sunday’s race. The bright sun and heat experienced during that race morning left me feeling like I spent the entire day at the beach by the time I went to bed that night! It wasn’t so much my pace or even the distance, it was the effort in the climate that affected me most.

I took it easy for a few days until I felt a natural return to normal. It’s always so interesting for me to watch my easy pace return to normal as I recover in the days after a race.

I should mention that I got my period on Wednesday which added to the recovery mode effort in terms of my workouts. My PMS was slightly heightened after the race (the hot/cold/hot/cold feeling is the worst) and I did not feel well AT ALL on Thursday. Ah, the pleasures of being a girl.

Posts of interest based upon the above:

What Female Runners Should Know About Their Menstrual Cycle– Some months are better than others but overall, our hormones play a huge role in how we feel and perform during our workouts. It’s worth noting the different points in our cycles in an attempt to best understand our bodies and how they work and feel at various points throughout the month.

That Time I Didn’t Finish A Half Marathon – I am very in tune with how I feel, especially while running, and I just knew during this race that something wasn’t right so I stopped running and exited the race course in Central Park. Long story short, I had gotten my period during the race. As I do have a history of fainting during this time of the month, I made the right decision in stopping when I didn’t feel right.

Okay! On to my race recovery workouts from the week!

Monday – Morning Walk

I was not ready to run yet so I went for a walk to loosen up after yesterday’s race.

Tuesday – 30 Min Run/5 Min Pure Barre (arms)

I was ever so slightly sore but felt as though an easy, 30-minute run would make me feel better so I gave it a try. It worked because whatever soreness I had before the run, was gone when I was finished. I had some time so I chose a 5 minute Pure Barre workout for arms. It was a bodyweight workout which is always a killer. Don’t underestimate bodyweight workouts.

Wednesday – 30 Min Run/10 Min Pure Barre (seat & abs)

It’s nice to see my pace slowly recovering. Same effort level as yesterday, nice and easy.

Thursday – 35 Min Pure Barre

Friday – 5 Miles

Considering myself recovered from Sunday’s race by today and my easy effort paces reflected exactly how I felt. I wanted to keep going but knew that planned to run again tomorrow so I cut it short.