Marathon Recovery

I can’t thank everyone enough for the warm comments that you’ve left on my marathon post. In fact, it is my goal to respond to each comment individually over the next day or two!

I spent most of Monday sleeping and resting, never really regaining my appetite until around 4pm when Theodora and I were midway through a manicure and pedicure pampering session. Until that point I had only eaten a few saltines, sips of ginger ale, banana, and 1/2 a bowl of oatmeal.

Monday night I enjoyed a few glasses of wine and a bowl of soup before going to bed early.

Since I’m not working out yet, I’m able to sleep until 6:45 which is a huge adjustment. My body is really enjoying the sleep and as of yesterday morning the only thing that was still hurting were my hamstrings and my left shin.

I’m trying to focus on helping my muscles repair by eating healthy, whole foods this week as much as possible.

Yesterday I had a banana and oats for breakfast followed by a salad and soup for lunch. I’ve also been drinking more water than I ever felt possible as I still feel a bit dehydrated. The doctors in the medical tent said this is normal and that it would take 3-4 days for my system to balance itself.

My snacks yesterday were an apple in the morning and then dried cherries and a Chobani 0% yogurt in the afternoon.

I finally enjoyed my post marathon massage last night with Schuyler at Equinox on 54th street. I’ve been going to him regularly for the past five months which has been wonderful. Since I’m a regular he knows where I tend to hurt, feel pain, and how my body responds to his different massage techniques used during the 80 minute Equissage. Last night, since it was so soon after my muscles felt trauma during the marathon, he used primarily flowing movements instead of doing a true deep tissue massage which would have been too painful. Instead, I’m going back to him on Thursday or Friday for an hour long session to focus on my hamstrings alone which are in pretty rough shape. He and I could literally hear the fibers and knots as he massaged them last night!

Right now I feel like my body will be ready for activity tomorrow, at which point I’m going to work with Lauren, my personal trainer. We’re going to focus on doing a yoga and stretching session tomorrow limiting any use of weights until next Tuesday. Then, Friday morning I will most likely try to do a light run or a spin class but I’m going to play it by year.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and check back later for this week’s Marathons+Moderation guest post!