Boston Training Week 10: the one with the snow, and more recovery

I took most of last week "off" as no signs were pointing to my readiness to return to full time training.

This should come as a shock to nobody. The elites take 10-14 DAYS (I accidentally typed "weeks" in, and that would be a lot of time!) off post goal race, and if they say it is a wise move, who am I to argue? Goal race pace is a huge effort, no matter what your speed happens to be.

I may have mentioned before, that I have a quite active lifestyle. So recovery does not mean sitting on my couch, eating chips (which sounds fun, but would last 5 minutes because I need activities, haha.) My job has me walking a solid 5k a day on a SLOW day (so there's that. and I have very few slow days.) I also ride horses 5 days a week and participate in all the physical labor that running a horse stable requires.
So, my recovery is active. And I don't mind that.

Apparently, winter has arrived along with some of the biggest storms of the year. Rude! February was so mild and benign that one could almost hope that Spring was here.

WTF??

Not the case, I'm afraid.
We got a solid 12" of snow last week, with much more in the forecast. One can only hope that it melts quickly.
Even if it doesn't, I'm sure it will on Boston Marathon weekend, when it will surely be 90.

More snow than we have had all winter... Dumb!

I did some sort of easy run last Thursday (like 3 miles at solid mid 9's) and then I rode my bike (in the basement, because snow...)

I also baked a cake. So fancy.
I have a friend who is dairy free/gluten free/fun free (kidding) so when I saw a recipe for an Almond Torte in Run Fast, Eat Slow, I knew I had to give it a try.
Like any cake made with almond flour, it was dense and a bit bouncy. It had nice flavor though, and had nothing in it that wold discourage you from eating it for breakfast.
(so, not really cake. I'll have to make a *real* cake before I run out of time when my mileage gets high again...)

"Not Real Cake"

Eric and I ran 10 miles on Saturday, in some snow, and some wind, and some traffic, to the pub! YAY! We were pretty happy to get back to our regularly scheduled Saturday pub run, a tradition which will continue at least until Boston training is wrapped up.

Bear Bones with Lee

Eric celebrated his birthday last weekend too. We celebrated by biking for many hours (him), getting back to downhill repeats (me), taking a walk to look at ducks (per the photo) seeing a movie (Black Panther, very good) and having a relaxed dinner. It was a good time!

Duck Hunting

So, to wrap up my final post about recovery (until after Boston, when I shall recover ALL SUMMER LONG!!!!!) Here are my words of wisdom. This bit of advice is sponsored by my friends who actually ask me questions about race recovery that I am horribly unqualified to answer.
That being said, I actually think that I take post "goal race" recovery seriously, and do it pretty well. So read on:

1: Sit yo' ass down. Recovery does not mean running miles at a minute under race pace 2 days after your race. Despite what people on Instagram are doing, it's not smart.

2: But get yo' ass up. Low impact activity is your BFF.

3: Don't be me. EAT A LOT, especially in the 48 hours after your race. I failed at that this time, and did not recover as quickly as I normally do. Lesson learned.

4: I quit looking at Instagram/or any other social media for advice many years ago. Like I said in #1, that is not the place to go for actual logic and reason. If the best runners in the world take 10-14 days off after a goal race, I can't see why that isn't a tried and true method. In a day and age when we want to "keep up" it is easy to feel bad, lazy, and like a slacker when you look at what others "say" that they do. Screw them. Do what is right for your body, and remember that your legs will only hold up if you treat them right! *lecture over*

5: You can't go wrong with cheese, beer, pizza and bourbon. (as part of a healthy, well balanced diet. duh.)

Miles Run: 20.5

Elevation this week: 732

Lowest low temp: I don't even know! Not cold.

Highest temp: 40 something, so not hot

Total snowfall: Stupid 13"

Coldest day that I ran outdoors: 31 and clammy on Saturday

Random fact: Before I became a runner, baking was my hobby. Basically every time I have a low mileage week, I fill that time by baking something.