Recovery is Not Always Easy

Recovery can be hard.

Bruised and Swollen, FIVE DAYS LATER!!!!

For example, I skipped both of my running workouts this week and just struggled through a 2.3 mile run mostly level at 8:30 pace tonight. Of course I will put some blame on working overtime and the emotional struggle of caring about work leaving me less able or motivated to care about things after work. That's really a cop out though, I'm not working that hard.

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! Why can't I be healthy?

It's actually kind of funny. I've actually been smiling as I limp along on my slow runs. Where did second place on Saturday come from? Well, I prayed a lot during that race, mostly thanksgiving for being able to run a race, and some for getting through the whole thing healthy, and have a good experience. Well, I had a great experience. Next year I will probably win the thing, maybe in a course record. Plus this give me quite a lot of confidence going into serious training. However, I have experienced this before, when I try to race without a recent aerobic base, I can't recover well at all. I burned out in track 2009, 2005, and 2004 because I had no base. This time will probably be different, I have a coach writing workouts specifically for me and I am racing maybe once a month instead of once a week. Point being, having a race that good off of training that bad, I would expect it to tear me apart, let alone my still swollen ankle.