This morning, I discovered the return of a few things:
- First, a long run. Not long by marathon standards, but 8 miles at this point is considered long. Certainly the longest run I've had since the marathon. And not all easy peasy running either - 4 miles @ long run pace, 1 mile @ tempo pace, 1 mile @ long run pace, 1 mile @ tempo pace, 1 mile @ long run pace. A high quality run that left me knowing that I could give more.
- Second, a returned feeling of fitness. Nearly all of my runs so far have felt either "meh" or off based on perceived exertion, not to mention my running paces had slowed. Of course, with a few pounds added and more than a month of recovery workouts, that is to be expected. Well on today's long run, my paces were pretty close to pre-marathon paces, both in terms of physically hitting the actual paces and perceived effort to do so. So I'm pretty happy to have taken the post-marathon recovery so seriously. My mental game is much sharper due to the break and my body has quickly come around, indicating that the fatigue has likely been flushed out and regular training can resume. All solid indicators of a full recovery.
- And third, the return of a morning run. It's funny - besides my long runs during marathon training, I don't recall the last time I went out for a morning run. (Actually, I just checked - December 2nd! Wow it has been a while!) This was probably due to it being darker during that time of year, but it used to be a staple of my training a long time ago. I guess I started to enjoy my sleep a little more! In any case, I put in a morning run today and it made me realize how refreshing it makes you feel. Might need to do that some more.
So anyways, I thought I'd share how exciting it felt to get out there to put in a solid morning run in case you've forgotten about getting those in as well, and I feel like my fitness is coming right back to where I left it.
And speaking of exciting - I've got an exciting giveaway next week, so come back and see what it is!
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3 comments:
just getting back into morning running too... 5 this morning... what's up next for you?
Nice!
I don't have anything major on the agenda yet, but there will likely be a bunch of summer road races. Oh, and 1 fun race coming up in the next month...
I have a love/hate relationship with morning runs. I LOVE how I feel when the run is over, and its nice to have it over with during the day...but I hate waking up early! :) I try to balance it with 1-2 morning runs during the week. It's the perfect amount of sleeping in and waking up early. Glad you are back at the running/training!
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