Back at it

I was all set to take a rest day today. Maybe a rest day tomorrow too, depending on how I felt. Even though I was pretty antsy after such minimal exercise last week, I wanted to honor the work I put my body through on Sunday.

And then my stepsister, SuperRunner K, emailed me and mentioned an article she read in NW Runner magazine. It said that you shouldn't fully rest the day after a marathon, that it would impede recovery.

I just happened to have the magazine -- they were giving them away free at the marathon expo over the weekend. So I looked up the article. First thing I noticed was that it was directed at people who want to run another marathon as soon as reasonably possible after finishing one. Not a day or a week later or anything crazy like that, but maybe a month later.

I am definitely not one of those people. I don't have any immediate plans to run another marathon -- although, almost 36 hours after completing my first one, I would say that I'd like to do another one. I did in fact talk to SuperAthlete J about it this morning. I offered to train for another one with her, since she wasn't able to finish this one. (Meanwhile, a voice inside my head said, "Are you out of your freakin' mind?")

Honestly, I don't know if I'll run another marathon. When I was in the thick of training, I didn't like how much time it took out of my life. How I had to make so many changes because of it. I resented it and said I wouldn't do another.

Now ... I'm not so sure. Of course that's easy to say while I'm still coming down off my first. But I would like to have a chance to improve: make the experience better, do it faster, do it without walking.

So we'll see. In the meantime, I don't want to lose a lot of ground by not running for a few weeks while I recover from the marathon. I don't want to start all over again, feeling like 8 miles is an impossible distance.

And who knows, that might happen anyway. But this plan that I read about in NW Runner is designed to get runners running as fast as possible after a marathon, and without injury.

Here's how it works:

1. Walk or cross-train (cycle or swim) for 20-30 minutes. This starts the day after the marathon and continues until you feel ready to move on to step 2. The author says it's important not to take a complete day off for at least the first week.

2. Walk or lightly jog, or mix the two, for 20-30 minutes. Continue until you feel ready to move on to step 3.

3. Jog 20-30 minutes per day. Start taking every third or fourth day off, if desired. Continue until you feel ready to move on to step 4.

4. Jog 30-40 minutes per day; take two days off per week if desired. Continue until you feel ready to move on to step 5.

5. Continue step 4, but add one run per week of 1:00-1:15. Continue until you feel ready to move on to step 6.

6. Continue step 5, but increase the time of the long run to 1:15-1:30.

7. When you can run 1:30 and feel fine the next day, you can consider yourself recovered and resume rigorous training. (Or run your next marathon.)

I don't know what I think about this, but I'm going to give it a try. I walked for 20 minutes on the treadmill at the gym today. It was hard to get started but it felt good after just a few minutes. Then I got sore all over again an hour later. I'll be curious to see how it goes.