Marathon Recovery  (Photos from Marathonfoto.com. Great place to get your pics!)

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The last thing we think about when training for a marathon is the recovery to follow.   Actually, recovery should take as much planning as the marathon training schedule.  Recovery begins within 15 to 30 minutes of finishing the race.   You need to start repairing your body and you do that by eating some healthy foods (healthy protein and carbohydrates), recovery drinks and/or supplements.   Those hours and the days following are just as important as every other phase of training because it allows you to be your best when you start running again.  General rule of post race running: 3 – 4 days of no running.  2 to 4 easy miles after four days, walking if the legs feel heavy and you haven’t gotten your “spring” back.  The 2nd week should be no more than 50% of the total weekly mileage you were doing when training.  After 4 or 5 weeks, it’s time to look for your first post marathon race.  A 5K or 10K is great.  You can do a 15K or a half but don’t expect to be at your 100% best.  No more than a half marathon during that first month.  Give your muscle strength a chance to come back.

I was on such a high the day after Boston ,  all I could think about was running again.  “When’s the next marathon?!” With all that post marathon energy (I think it was “mental” energy, not physical), I still let my body heal and tell me when it was ready to exercise again. The first week of recovery:

Tuesday:  The day after a race, 100% rest.  We drove home, unpacked and that was the extent of my exertion effort.

Wednesday:  Two days following, I worked out with weights for my upper body and took Shane for a 3 mile walk.

Thursday:  Three days following, more cross training and a little more aerobic. Stretching exercises using body weight resistance, 30 minutes of recumbent cycling and 15 minutes of rowing.

Friday: Four days following, and still overly anxious to get my legs in running mode again, I went for a short run with Ted and Shane.  The soreness and aching from the race had gone so a slow and easy run for 4 1/2 miles seemed doable.  My legs were heavy and energy was low.  Whoops!  Guess I went out a bit too soon.

Saturday:  Day off. It was pouring rain so it was pretty easy to forgo exercise and spend the day in the kitchen, baking, cooking in preparation for our Easter feast.

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Sunday: Six days after running the Boston Marathon, my running feet were back!  Granted, it was a slow run but I felt good.  Our running group consisted of Ted, Rich, Shane and myself.  We ran to the golf course and into the switchbacks for a hilly run. It slow and we took a couple of walking breaks but the legs felt good and it was great day to run weather wise.

Ted and Rich are training for their first triathlon’s this summer.  Ted’s is on May 29 The Cooperstown TriMake sure to check out the site. It’s going to be a GREAT DAY! Rich is going off in June.  The making of an exciting summer!

The question of day:  Do you plan for post race recovery?

Zucchini Fingers

Maybe you caught this simple recipe for zucchini in Fitness Magazine? If not, here is my, slightly altered version, but just as delicious.

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Serves 4 as a side dish

  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 2 medium zucchini
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven broiler on high.

Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with olive oil

Slice the zucchini in half then into thirds

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and cut in half again so you have 12 fingers.

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Do the same for the second zucchini so you finally have 24 fingers.

Place in a single layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle with Parmesan.

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Place under the broiler for 8 to 10 minutes, until cheese browns. *The closer to the broiler, the quicker that cheese will brown so watch carefully. I had mine about 6 inches away from the heat source.

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Enjoy this healthy side dish while hot.

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