recovery: a week after 50 miles

It’s been a week, actually six days to be exact, since I completed 50 miles and while I’d like to say recovery has been easy breezy and I’ve already started running again (YAY!), unfortunately that hasn’t been the case (BOOO!). Let’s just say, me not running, has very little to do with my feet or legs.

Normally, my recovery looks like this:

Day 1 after the race: I don’t run

Day 2 after the race: I still don’t run

Day 3 after the race: I think about running, but maybe I walk a little more

Day 4 after the race: I probably walk longer or try running a little bit

Day 5 after the race: I could probably run a bit more

Day 6 after the race: I rest again and don’t run

However, I can tell ya right now, this didn’t happen.

A day or two before the San Diego 50 my sister came down with a cold. Seeing as she was my crew/support/driver/entourage for the race, there’d be no way of clearly avoiding her. While the thought of wearing a hazmat suit may have crossed my mind (debating on whether it would’ve been me or her wearing it), I realize it wasn’t going to be an option. Besides, I didn’t know where to find one on such short notice. While I felt good before the race, and for the most part (aside from the nausea), good during the race, any virus was just gonna have to wait until after the race to get me.

Well, it got me.

Something I didn’t mention in my recap, was during the last couple miles, (as I was praying to Jesus to have the coyotes stay away and for them to stop screaming), I developed a tickle in my throat and a dry cough. At the time I attributed it to the dirt and cold air, but the cough stayed with me even after finishing, and as I write this, it’s still lingering here and there.

It’s no big secret our bodies become immunosuppressed after a big intense physical event such as a marathon or ultra. Last year I caught a cold a couple of weeks after the 50 miler. Darn you cooties!!!

Hey, it happens. Whatcha gonna do, right? Because you know what? Tis the season! And even without the race, there was a pretty good possibility I’d get sick anyways.

So that’s that.

Unfortunately, my sister got the brunt of it. As I was dealing with my own challenges on race day, she was dealing with her stuffy head, tiredness, and overall malaise — WHILE she waited All Day Long for me to finish 50 miles. Bless her heart. I’m truly blessed with having a sister who puts up with my running shenanigans, especially when she doesn’t feel well and who’d much rather be in bed resting. My ultra running partner-in-crime Crystal and I bought my sis and my mom dinner after the race — a small token for all their support, encouragement, and help while we were out there.

Now that I have a cold, I know exactly what my sister was feeling like last Saturday. I’m truly grateful and I’ll buy her a coffee as another token of my appreciation. But I’m not going to tell her. Oh no. I’m going to see if she actually reads this post and asks me about the coffee. 😉

So while my body doesn’t feel any residual soreness from the race, it needs rest and I’m going to give it some! I’m going to make sure I drink a ton of water and up my intake of fruits and veggies. I’m going to take my time getting over this brief cold and restart my training sometime next week, or the earliest I can get out there without surfacing the possibility of making this thing worse.

But once this bug gets kicked, I’ll be back in training mode!

Thank you for reading and Happy Running!