Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Battle Wounds: Two Days After

Recovery from a marathon is always a fun process. Its painful, but every ache and pain reminds me of the race; which is a good thing.

The most notable ache is my quads and hamstrings, which is exactly what forced me into my survivor's shuffle on Sunday. My quads have this really strange sensation where they hurt to use or press on, but on the surface they feel numb. I made an attempt at jogging across my apartment, just to see if it worked. Oh, believe you me, it didn't! I looked very much like a 400lb man in a hurry to get to the bathroom!

I have a whole list of other issues, but thought I'd save you all the details; don't want to scare away any future marathoners!

Right now the plan is to eat as much protein as I can to help these muscles repair themselves. I also want to keep moving as much as possible to help loosen things up; I'm planning a recovery jog tomorrow after my massage. A friend also suggested filling dixie cups with water, freezing them, and using them for an ice/massage combo -- slowly tearing away the cup as the ice melts.

The strange thing is even when I'm in pain after such a rough race, I'm already trying to plan the next one. I'm looking at different options to try and get a Boston qualifier in so I can still run it in 2008. I'm trying to open a lot of doors, though, because recovery could go quick or slow and I really don't want to push it too hard and bring out more injuries!

Heres to ice, Aleve, self-massage, stretching, protein, and an attempt to keep moving!

-Doug

5 comments:

Jess said...

Best of luck with the recovery and congrats again on such an awesome finish in such awful conditions!

nwgdc said...

hey doug!
i'm thinking about Green Bay. I've run it the last two years and it's very well run for a smaller race. look into it! we'll give you a warm roof and a full belly!

Nancy said...

Good luck with that. Keep moving. I did a little recovery last week - I though I would die trying to jog a little after my famous 10 miler behind the cop car experience, but pretty soon the blood was pumping through and getting everything moving. Amazing how that works. In about a half mile I didn't hurt at all. That's when you know you are hooked, when it feels better to run, than not to :D

Jes said...

I hope that your recovery goes well. (o:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on doing so well!