Boston Recovery week 1: the one with the CRUNK

Overall, recovery from Boston has (mostly) been going very well. I had some very normal feeling soreness, tiredness and hungriness on Tuesday and Wednesday but nothing alarming what so ever.
I wasn't too excited about stairs for a couple days, but that is a pretty standard.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Then.... Sometime late on Wednesday night (or maybe early Thursday, who can be sure!?) I awoke with a vile, vile plague. This crunk has been going around in these parts and consists of some level of fever, quite a bit of coughing, and a great deal of head congestion as well as a side order of complete exhaustion.
FANTASTIC.

This more or less laid me up for a few days. I had to work and such (and since I work outdoors, and can avoid coughing on people or touching their items I am quite sure I did not spread the germs.) But at the end of each day I would completely collapse, feverish, exhausted and quite useless. NO FUN.

By Sunday I was feeling a touch better and went for a casual 2.5 mile walk. (and then was worn out!)
And mileage wise, that was IT for the week.

After the Hyannis marathon I got back into my regular training routine pretty quickly. While I think that was a fine choice given how quickly I recovered, I have no plans to jump back into anything structured at all after Boston. (Especially since I ran quite well!) I suppose having the sickness kept me off my feet more than normal, but SERIOUSLY, I would have taken it easy regardless.

In the Boston aftermath, I'm contemplating what I did differently in the lead up that contributed to a positive outcome. There are always a lot of factors, and this year was certainly no exception.
In no particular order:
"I had a good marathon season (Hyannis/Boston) BECAUSE WHY:

-Well.... it was cold and rainy and awful at both races. My best possible conditions.

-I did not run a fall marathon but I built up a great base during the fall, and transitioned seamlessly into more serious race training.

-I had a few focused workouts weekly (or, with downhill repeats closer to every 10-14 days.) They were speedwork (and I met my goal to improve my speed work significantly) A long run at a faster pace than I have attempted in the past. And downhill reps (a 1.6 mile hill, ran at a challenging speed, 2 or 3x) This is somewhat different than past cycles.
My goal in completing my long run at a slightly faster pace, was to eliminate some miles from my weekly total. Complete experiment, and I feel really pleased with how it worked. I never ran a 50 mile or higher week during this training cycle (and still ran a 3:29 in Hyannis, so.... not a problem.) I think my highest mileage week was about 45 miles. something close to that anyway.
And the downhill work- totally clutch. I eliminated focused uphill training and replaced it with the downhill workout. For Boston- a serious game changer.
(personally, I have neither time, desire, or need to run a 60+ mile week to achieve my "3:30-ish" race pace. I might run a 60 mile week sometime in the future just for shits, but I can't envision a situation when I will add that kind of mileage to my training regimen.)

-Eric and I ran together a lot, which was really fun. Having company on almost all of my long runs was downright delightful.

-I basically trained without intending to, from mid November to last week, and never felt burned out or pissed. I took a couple days off when I needed to. I would run up the mountain in the snow if that was what I felt like. I wasn't married to any specific plan. And it worked well!

In conclusion, there are about 1.2 million different ways to get to a marathon start (and, hopefully, finish!) What I did this time worked great for me, and I feel satisfied with the whole experience. What worked for me, might not work for you. That is fine. I'm not here to tell anyone how to do anything running related.

People were curious about what I wore last Monday, in the amazing and ferocious conditions.

Please admire my fashion

(I packed a few outfits and basically cobbled some shit together when we finally realized that it was a hellacious mess outside!)
So, once I removed a huge quantity of throw away clothing at the start, I raced in:
(basically things that I bought on sale at one point or another...)

-Two hats, a "Crow Athletics" baseball cap, and a "First Run" winter hat that I got at a race like, 7 years ago...
-A Brooks Uprise Crossback bra (basically the most magical, non chafing bra that you will ever meet. which I got on a serious discount. #sothankful)
-A VERY old Oiselle Flyte shirt that I got on sale for about $17
-A vest that I bought for 50% off at Hyannis when the weather tanked.
-A 7 year old pair of Lululemon tights (my favorites. I got them on sale for like, $22)
-Darn tough socks (very good socks, no blisters. which my Dad bought for me, so FREE)
-Hoka Clifton 4's which I don't really love but I also don't hate (I liked the 1's and the 3's, so I am hopeful for the odd numbered 5's! Which I had a coupon code for 15% off for, nbd.)
-3 different pairs of gloves. Very old equestrian winter gloves. A pair of dollar store gloves (that my Dad dutifully brought home! I'm so happy, because I am cheap!) and a pair of "First Run" gloves that I literally got SEVEN YEARS AGO OR SOMETHING at the same race where I got the hat.
-And there are some absolutely prehistoric arm socks in there too, added on at mile 18. Those are smart wool, and I am quite certain that they were a Christmas gift about 5 years ago. (so, FREE)

Someday I will get a coordinated kit, provided that everything I want goes on sale at the right time. That would be sweet.

I will confess something.
The day after the race, I wandered to the Lululemon on Newbury St (or, Blueberry Street as Sarah's son called it) and bought a new pair of full priced tights.
Yeah, yeah, Lululemon doesn't exactly have a pristine reputation for labor practices (or for making non see through tights evidently- although I have never had an issue....) But SERIOUSLY, I have had the same pair for 7 years and they got me through that damn race with nary a blister or tiny spot of chafing. Show me another pair of tights that can do that and I will buy them today, and take them for a test run. (I have run in many others, pro compression, Oiselle, etc and the only ones that come close are the Under Armor ones I have and they have been discontinued...)
OH! And randomly, Lululemon had collaborated with some brewery and had a marathon beer that they were giving to finishers. So, win win!

Who doesn't love free beer?

So that's about it form the recovery front.
I have about another week or so before I will even be thinking about getting back to "it."

And what is "it" at this point?

As I was RUNNING from the marathon finish to the family meeting area I had these thoughts: "Wow I'm in really great shape! Maybe I should run an ultra! Maybe I should do another marathon! ACTUALLY..... all of these things are probably terrible ideas!!"

I'm pretty sure that all of those things were, indeed, awful ideas. While I never say "never" I expect that I am about to transition into full Spring and Summer mode.
I detect some trail running, cycling, and possibly a 5K race at some point (such a different kind of pain than marathon pain!)

It's always tempting to continue to capitalize on the distance specific fitness, but I know from experience that burnout is about one hot long run away at this point.

So, it's fun/adventure training time, and I'm really looking forward to it!