RECOVERY JOGS

Often times on a recovery jog I feel like
these people could blow by me... that's
okay though!

Recently I've found out the importance of the so called "recovery jog." Before marathon training I never really took one of these jogs. Sure, I took runs easy, but rarely, if ever, did I take them easy enough. In the last two months or so I've discovered the magic and importance that is the recovery jog.

My marathon training has left me feeling sore and used many, many times. My body does not recover very fast, it often takes a few days for me to recharge after a long run or a fast race. Despite not feeling great, I still go out there and do my runs though, because I need to get the miles in. Even when I would try and take it easy though I often ran faster than I would have liked due to running with my run group. I still feel the urge to stay with my normal "pack" so I end up pushing it a little.

Take last Wednesday for example. Hood to Coast was the weekend before and I pressed it a little on Monday for 7 miles at 8:13/mile (last two were 7:51 and 7:19). So I figured I would just take Wednesday easy. Well, one thing led to another and I ran six miles at 7:50/mile. Oops! While it felt good to get that speedwork in, my legs and body hated me afterwards. Luckily I had a conflict on Thursday so I was able to rest and then I moved my normal Thursday run to my normal rest day on Friday.

I did six miles at 9:55/mile (my recovery jog speed is about 10:00/mile) and while I started off feeling sore and creaky, by the time I was finished I felt great! That is my third recovery jog to date and each time by the end of the jog I am feeling much better and I can almost feel my body healing up during the run. I know that isn't actually happening, but the movement and blood flow definitely promote healing once the run is over and since you take it so easy, you don't really tear down anything, so your body can just focus on recovery. I woke up the next day feeling fresh and like a million bucks. Same thing happened the previous two times... went into the run feeling like shit, took it super easy and immediately felt better.

Moral of the story, I need to take these jogs from time to time, especially when I am not feeling great. One recovery jog can mean many more successful and productive training runs, instead of just kind of muddling through them feeling like crap.

On Sunday, after my recovery jog Friday and rest Saturday, I ran 14 miles at 8:45/mile and felt GREAT the entire time. I set out to run 12 miles at 9:30/mile but was feeling so positive and good that I modified my route in progress to add the extra miles and just let how I was feeling dictate my tempo. I think that is the first time I ever ran a long run longer and faster than I planned. Felt really accomplished after that!