Recovery, my nemesis

Pinhoti 100: Picture by Zack Sylvan

The month of November hasn’t been my best month. I’ve been a grumpy old man and I’ve been trying to do everything to get out of the funk. But I’m on a recovery cycle and that makes me a pretty miserable person to be around. I publicly apologize to all my family and friends.

Recovery is never really a thought on my mind after races. Most marathons and 50K races, I’m usually back on the trails the next day or day after. For my 50 milers, I’m back within a week. 100 mile races, holy crap. That’s a different story.

After most of my muscle swelling was gone after the Pinhoti 100, I still had tightness behind one of my knees that kept me from being active. I’m pretty sure I tore a muscle or tendon that spans the back on my knee. So what can you do when that happens?

Well cycling is a great substitute.  Luckily where my house is situated, there are no flat roads, so I can get in some good hill workouts. So time to break out the 2 wheels and find some good views.

Once my knee started to cooperate, I was able to start hiking again. My family takes a weekly hike on Sundays and I was missing that so much while my knee was taking its sweet time to get better. Recently I got a carrier backpack for my 1-yr old. I’m loving it right now, although the look on my son’s face may say otherwise. He’s thinking “Why are we out here? Where’s my blanket?”

I think I took close to a month off of running after my race.  Now that I’m back on the trails I’m taking it easy. So here is my experience with recovering from an ultra, or any race really:

1. If it hurts, don’t use it. If a muscle or tendon hurts, don’t do anything stupid and put more tension on it.
2. Find other activities to do. Be creative, there’s bound to be some kind of exercise your can do.  You may not be able to get out on the trails, but it’ll be better than sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself. Believe me…the sitting around part is not fun.
3. Go outside! Get outside as much as possible. It’ll change your attitude and inspire you to get back into a routine once you’re healed up.
4. Eat. Don’t be afraid to eat. I gained 10 pounds after my Pinhoti race. 10 pounds from not exercising for a a few weeks is nothing! I kept eating like an ultra runner because my body still needed calories to heal my muscles.

Let’s face it, recovery is not fun. But it’s a part of running. You have to let your body heal so you can tackle bigger adventures. For me recovery is a time to recenter myself and take inventory. While training for my last race I had to make a lot of sacrifices and it gave me time to think about what I sacrificed and what I had accomplished. It reminded me to be grateful for everything I have in my life. I don’t want to boast or brag, but I have an awesome life and a lot to be thankful for. Enjoy everything you have while you have it. Happy trails.