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Sunday April 29, 2018

Weekly Workouts: My Post Marathon Training!

A recap of my workouts in the two weeks since the Boston Marathon! It’s like a reverse taper. 🙂

Hey guys! It’s hard to believe the Boston Marathon was two weeks ago! I’m still working on a race day recap – so many thoughts – but I wanted to share what the two weeks of workouts after the marathon have looked like for me. I really love that my marathon training plan includes 5 weeks of recovery, so I’ve been following that. I’m slowly building up mileage, taking more days off and all my runs are recovery runs with an easy pace. Having a post-race plan helps me resist the urge to jump back into training too hard. But too be honest, I’ve really enjoyed the low-key workouts after a long build up to Boston!

Post Marathon Training Plan

So why is it so important to have a game-plan after your race? A few reasons:

Your body needs to recover and if you jump back into training too hard too quickly, you’ll delay recovery and potentially get injured more easily.
Mentally, it’s good to take a break from super structured workouts to help avoid burnout.
While I don’t like being too structured post-race, I do like having a plan in writing to follow. This keeps me accountable and say no when I need to. (A friend invited me to do a track workout after one week after Boston, and I had an easier time telling her no because my recovery training plan was still in easy running mode.)
Having a post-race plan established before the race is key; you’ll likely struggle with “what on earth do I do with myself?” after a marathon and a plan helps keep you sane. And, again, it keeps you honest with recovery!
I like to bake in things that I neglect when I’m devoting more time to longer runs like my PT exercises (so much hip work!), foam rolling and using the R8 roll recovery. Yeah, I know I should do all that just as much during training, but let’s be honest, when I’m already spending so much time running, I don’t take a lot of extra time for those things.

My workouts the week of the marathon

M – 26.4 miles, 7:51 pace – BOSTON MARATHON!!! (Apparently I didn’t run the tangents well – my Garmin picked up an extra .2 miles 🙂 ) More details about the race coming soon! In the meantime, you can read my post about the expo here and the day before the race here.

T – lots of walking around Boston!

W – lots of walking around Boston!

Th – REST

F – 3.9 miles, 8:59 pace – First run post-Boston!

It was so fun to run with Christian after the race since she did so many training runs with me! It felt like putting a little bow on the race!

Sa – Easy upper body strength + core

Warmed up with 15 min on the elliptical

3×12 of each:
Bicep curls
Triceps kickbacks
Overhead press
Upright rows
Lat pullbacks
Chest press
45 sec each:
Bicycle crunches
Toe taps
Toe reaches
Bent knee oblique reach
Glute bridge
Russian twists

I could definitely tell I still have some post race fatigue so took lots of rest between sets.

Su – 4.6 miles; 8:26 pace, Sunday funday miles with Christian & Chip

Christian surprised me with my favorite cookies ever as a Boston congrats gift – so sweet! They disappeared in about 48 hours. 🙂 She ordered them online from App Cookie Company.

Total Miles (not counting the marathon): 8.8

How I’m Feeling: I honestly wasn’t that sore the week of the marathon! I think walking so much in the two days after the race really helped flush my legs. And I really think running in the cold rain acted as a sort of ice bath – ha!

My workouts the week after the marathon

M – Massage

Oy, my quads were SO tender!! My massage therapist also said my TFL was super tight (and he had to explain to me what the heck that was).

T – 4.8 miles, 8:40 pace, with Christian

Everything felt weird on this run, like my knees were out of place and my ankles were wobbly. I kind of think the massage broke up some tightness that made me feel weird. That’s a reasonable assumption, right?

W – Driving range funtime + played 3 holes

I’m so happy that I can spend some evenings on the golf course with Tommy now that the weather is warmer. We have so much fun together out there.

Th – 5 miles, 8:49 pace

It was SUCH a gorgeous morning – all the trees are blooming and everything is SO green since we got back from Boston. Thankfully, my body felt much more normal on this run.

F – hot yoga at Yoga Dogz

I took it verrrrry easy and my hips are verrrrry tight. My yoga teacher was laughing at me in the fire log pose cuz it just wasn’t happening at ALL.

Sa – 5.7 miles, 8:16 pace

I ran with a new friend I met via Instagram (basically how I meet all my friends)! Emily also ran Boston, and she is so incredibly sweet. I loved getting to know her! She’s such a strong runner and she pushed me on this run, but it felt good to move a little more quickly and open up my stride!

Su – REST

I did take Maizey on a leisurely walk. She was clearly very grateful.

Total Miles: 15.6

How I’m Feeling:

The second week of workouts felt a little weird and I’m still really, really tired. My body is probably still recovering even if I don’t feel sore. I’m trying to focus on high quality food – lots of protein and good carbs – and drinking lots of water. Oh, and I’m finally enjoying some wine now that intense training is behind me! 🙂

Post-Marathon Reward: I treated myself to some cute kicks as a marathon rewards. I was torn on what color to keep (lots of people suggested keeping both – ha!), but I ended up keeping the purple. I still want some white sneaks but I think I’ll look for a slightly different style. Maybe these? Or these?

Don’t the purple sneaks look cute with this Fabletics outfit?? They sent this outfit to me, and I really like it! The leggings fit amazingly well and the open back of the tank is super cute. (Not sponsored but wanted to share since I was impressed! Their stuff is hit and miss, but this was adorable.)