Recovery training

I knew I was in for a world of hurt.

When I finally got the shoes on and hit the pavement, it was slow going.  And it was painful.  Every muscle in my legs felt sore.  Even my feet felt fatigued from the moment I hit the ground running.  So it went for the next week or two.  

In addition to following Hal Higdon's programs to train for races, I also follow his post-marathon training guide.  The Advanced level five-week plan is an excellent reboot after any marathon, whether triumphant or grueling (or both).  It focuses first on simply getting back out on your feet.  Then it re-introduces some speed work - some 400-meter track intervals and some one-mile intervals - each week pushing a little faster.  So at first, you do your repeats at marathon pace, but after a few weeks, you do them at 5K pace.

The program concludes with a 5K race and that usually dovetails nicely into a season of continued short races for me until I burn out from it and need to get back to the long, slower miles.  Remarkably, I have run some of my best 5Ks at the conclusion of this post-marathon training.

I knew that thanks to Higdon's training schedule, I would be ready for a late-September 5K, but I also knew a PR was not in the cards.  What I needed, then, was a mental boost, so I specifically set out to find a race with a "soft field" (I just learned that term from a fellow runner) - one in which I could conceivably get some hardware. Sure, running a race has its own rewards but there is nothing like bringing home a medal, even if it is for third place in a five-year age group, to make me feel great about my accomplishment.

Among the dozens of September races in northern New Jersey, I found a tiny 5K in Chester called the Heroes Run.  Last year, its inaugural, the race had 82 participants and the winner clocked in at 20:34.  I wanted a soft field, and I found one.


to be continued...