Tuesday workout: rest
Wednesday workout: 3 miles, 10:15 average
Three surprising things about today's run, my second back post-marathon:
1) My calves were incredibly sore.
Landing on your forefoot uses more calf muscle than anything else. I thought I had Triplets of Belleville-like calfs, but apparently three weeks was enough to obliterate them. It's strange to feel sore again. With the exception of one memorable week of marathon training, I don't remember feeling sore under the Hansons' tutelage. I assume this will disappear soon. The Hansons tell me I lost about 5% of my fitness during my first two weeks off, so assuming a linear relationship between rest and fitness, I lost about 7.5%. Even if that's wrong, I can't imagine I lost more than 10%. That doesn't seem like a huge deal.
2) My arms were incredibly sore.
I harbor no illusions about my weakling arms. They are weak. Very weak. "Lose-an-arm-wrestling-contest-to-an-inanimate-object" weak. However, I don't really understand why they're sore. I mean, yes, you pump your arms while running, but really? I see some push-ups in my future.*
I guess I could have grouped those two into one, but I like to pretend my life is difficult.
3) The humidity made this run a lot harder than it otherwise would have been.
I'll pause for a minute while you collectively punch me in the face.
...
I KNOW. I'm a pansy. Everyone, everywhere is dealing with much worse. That doesn't change the fact that it affected my run. When it's humid, I have a really hard time taking deep breaths. This freaks me out (for obvious reasons), so I try to make each breath a really deep breath. I think it's largely mental, but it means I spent much of my run mildly hyperventilating, to the extent that's possible.
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I took a summer picture to add to my fall/winter collection:
I totally got the angle wrong.
Well, I don't have anything else for you today so we'll stop while we're behind!
*Note: "seeing" push-ups does not necessarily mean "doing" push-ups.
Questions:
- Do you ever have difficulty breathing when it's humid out?
- How long after a big race does it typically take you to feel "normal" on your runs?
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Oh, we have complains about the humidity from the blogger who complained about all the bloggers complaining about cold weather in the winter, do we? (At least, this is how it happened in my mind, sorry to be accusatory if this is completely inaccurate). My guess is that your calves are sore from lack of running? Like you said, it will go away. But really, who am I and why do you listen to me?
ReplyDeletecomplaints. I really do know English.
DeleteOh, I am WELL aware of my hypocrisy. 100%. I mean, I can't be perfect, right? Doesn't that make me more relatable or something? Let's go with that.
DeleteBut really, my issue has less to do with humidity and more to do with the fact that I spent all day (mildly) hyperventilating (which my coworkers thought was just hilaaaarious), and my history with these breathing issues SEEMS to suggest that it has something to do with the humidity. It's a medical issue! Or something.
I listen to you because you're Professor Amy!
I have no real comment to add to this post, other than you two are cracking me up in the Comments.
DeleteAnd everything that Amy said? Goes double for me... :)
Well, you are going to love Eugene! And every time you have a "medical issue" you bring it to our attention and it clears up. So keep on talking about every little ache, strain, and issue you have and we can clear it up for you!
DeleteHa I promise not to punch you in the face (despite my rant in my last post).
ReplyDeleteChange in weather is ROUGGGGHHH and I 100% believe that humidity is the WORST. I agree with the breathing thing. I actually played on my college's soccer team and my freshman year during fitness testing I was struggggling. My coach knew that I could ace all of the tests (we have to send in proof of training over the summer), so he pulled me aside and asked what was up. I told him the air was too thick and I couldn't breathe. He laughed. I was serious.
Ever since then, I showed up two weeks early before training camp just to "acclimate"
My calves never feel good if I try to do speed work at goal pace. Im not sure if it is because of age starting them, but they get strained for like a week if I hit my marks.
ReplyDeleteHumidity breathing is rough. You gotta accept you'll be slower. Takes a few weeks to adjust. Hydrate!
Humidity is never easy to adjust to... but it's even worse when you're just starting back up. The important thing (as I'm sure you know) is to just listen to your body and ease in.
ReplyDeletep.s. those pictures are BEAUTIFUL!
When it's really humid out (i.e. 100%) I feel like I can hardly breath. I always describe it as "it feels like I could cut the air with a knife."
ReplyDeleteI have only ever run half marathons (first full in November!!) and it usually takes me about 1.5 weeks until I feel normal. Shorter races usually have a shorter recovery time...after a recent 5K where I ran hard I felt back to normal 2 days later.