Also, I'm not gonna lie - this was a challenging month for me, both mentally and physically. At first, I couldn't fathom running 5 miles on a random weekday - do you know how early we had to get up to get that run in? My alarm was set for 4:30 am twice a week, and even earlier for our Saturday runs. Plus, just the idea of running for more than twice as far as we used to during the week was something I had to wrap my brain around; I will say that there was a great feeling of accomplishment after every 5 miler, because in normal times, that is a Saturday long run for us.
On the physical side, I'm feeling pretty decent, all things considered. Aside from some hip flexor pain a few weeks ago, the only other thing that is bothering me are super-tight calf muscles. I use my BFF Buffer on them at least once a day which helps quite a bit, but still, the next time I go running, they seem to tighten up again. Overall that's not bad for me, especially when you look at how much I ran.
I finally started doing some recovery stretches afterward my weekday runs - this is something that I should be better at doing, but I'm not. Well, until now - I've actually gotten into a good routine of immediately doing the legs/wall stretch:
This pose helps with draining fluids from your legs after a run, plus it's a good stretch for the hamstrings. I also like to reach my arms to the sides and above my head for a nice spine stretch while I'm in this position.
And then, once I'm done with that, as long as I'm already on the ground I'll do more stretches for my hip flexors, glutes, and hamstrings. I've also started doing planks while I'm down there - hey, might as well, right? I really should be doing this after my long run every Saturday, but more often than not I sit down and don't get up again until it's time to change for Blue Baker.
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This month will also probably come close in the same mileage, but after that? The month of May will go way down - and I'm good with that, although Diane and I have discussed making some changes after she's recovered from her marathon...we might keep up running 5 miles on one of the weekdays, and we also might try running without intervals on another weekday (which would make for a shorter run). I'm also looking forward to having my long run on Saturday being only 5 miles - that will probably feel like enough, especially as our morning temperatures climb into the mid-70s for the low (and we won't mention the high humidity that will come along with those high "low" temps, ugh).
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So, speaking of running, Diane had 10 miles on her schedule on Saturday. Jeff and I planned on running the entire distance with her, and we all started out together, but my stomach wasn't feeling great to begin with, and I felt like I needed to do a little more walking than what our intervals were calling for, so I cut the run short at one turn and ended up only running 8 miles...and yes, I felt bad about that! Jeff told me I was crazy, and he's right, but when you set out to run one distance and don't complete it, there is a sense of failure, even if you do run 8 freaking miles! It's all good though - Diane got her 10 miles in, and that's what was important.
from My Journey to Fit: A Fifty-Something's Weight Loss Journey http://ift.tt/2nWMDSI
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