Training Update – 4 Weeks Post Marathon

I’ve very slowly been getting back into running since the Twin Cities Marathon, but I am a-okay with that. I took nearly three weeks off due to my hip not feeling 100%, but I am now finally starting to feel like my old running self. I haven’t done any speed work and will probably wait another week to do anything of that nature. Right now I’m just enjoying the relaxed approach to running (I was getting pretty burnt out at the end of my training cycle.) and being on the no-plan plan right now.

Here’s a recap of the last four weeks of my “training.”

Week 1 – 1.2 miles

The day after the marathon, I went out for a 15 minute “shuffle” and ran very, very slowly. Every step resulted in jolts of pain radiating through my legs, but my coach assures me it helps with recovery. The days following, there was no way I could physically run–everything hurt! Literally every muscle in my body was sore from the marathon: my calves, hamstrings, quads, abs, back, and neck. I had to take the stairs one at a time, ease my way down onto the toilet seat, and shuffle everywhere I went.

Week 2 – 1 mile

I told myself I was going to take 1-2 weeks off. After a week, I was getting the itch to run, so I set out for a short run Monday morning. After half of a mile, I started to feel my hip, so I called it quits after a mile. It wasn’t painful, but it didn’t feel quite right. I took the rest of the week off to give my body some more time to rest.

During these two weeks, I did no other form of cross training. I was too busy traveling back from Minnesota, getting settled back into our routine here, and honestly I could keep myself busy with so many other things anyhow: baking/cooking, the blog, Beautycounter, my athletes, work, etc.

Week 3 – 12 miles

After two weeks off, I wanted to run an easy 4 miles on Monday morning, but after about a mile, my hip started bothering me again. I ran 3 miles and walked the last mile back home. Boo! I did some cross-training on the elliptical, and then on Friday I tried running again. And lo-and-behold, my hip didn’t hurt! I ran 4 miles with no issues, and then ran another 5 miles the next morning with no pain as well! I took Sunday off because I didn’t want to push it.

Week 4 – 21 miles

This week I ran 6 miles on Monday, 3 on Tuesday, rested Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, and 7 on Friday. I wasn’t able to run on Saturday or Sunday because Craig was gone hunting. All of these runs went well. I can tell my legs are still recovering (My hamstrings in particular felt fatigued.), but my hip was fine.

Thursday I pushed Cullen in the stroller. It has been almost two months since I last pushed him, and I realized I missed my running buddy! He’s like a friend now because we’ll chit-chat during the run. Plus he still likes the stroller, so that helps.

That’s a quick recap on what I’ve been up to on the running front. I’m hoping to hit close to 30 miles this week if everything goes as planned. Our snow actually melted, and it has been raining here  a lot again, but I will take the rain over snow any day!