What comes after....

the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon?
-a 50 mile race.

and after a 50 mile race?
- a Marathon.

And after the marathon?
-um, gosh, I don't know.

I think I've forgotten what recovery from races is supposed to look like. I had 2 weeks between racing the Quad and the Old Pueblo 50 miler. And then, 3 weeks after that, I ran the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon. Though I kind of took 3 days off after each race, if you look at my weekly miles, it doesn't really show.

I had a lot of time to consider this practice of taking 72 hours off and then jumping back into things this weekend. A lot of time. About 7 hours, solo on the trails above Albuquerque, all told.

I found out that the Watermelon Run (20 miles, self supported, loosely organized trail run) was this past weekend. 1 week post-marathon. I told Bones on Thursday that I probably wasn't up for 20. (I was right.) I thought that I'd, you know, just start with the group, and turn around at some point. But maybe I'd feel good and do the whole thing. (*cough* *cough* IDIOT *cough*).

We started out a bit fast, with 4 or 5 others - about a 9 min mile pace, I think. Within 3 miles, I had dropped back, and Bones slowed with me. Another friend caught up and chatted with Bones - perfect. We were at the first water stop, so I told them to go on ahead. I wasn't feeling great - my stomach was cramping. I thought maybe I should turn around here. After the bathroom break and water stop, though, I felt better.

"Let's go to the rock slide."

        -but you know if you get to the rock slide, you might decide to keep going. Is that really the best thing?

"Oh, it's been a WEEK since my marathon. and I didn't even do that very fast. I feel better. Time to GO already."

I caught up to Judy - but she soon turned around. My legs were tired, so I hiked a lot. That's NORMAL. I'm going uphill. (but you've only come 6 miles.. ) ITS UPHILL. I FEEL FINE. 

So I got to the rock slide. The friend that had stayed with Bones passed me going the other way - he too turned around. Not being particularly sheep-like that day, I told him I was continuing on - he was glad I was feeling better. I AM FEELING BETTER - SHUT UP. (i didn't say anything...)

I paused at the edge of the rockslide.

(don't look at your garmin - you know you'll just have to do the whole thing if you see that you've come close to being halfway.... 

-you idiot, you looked.)

Oh come on, I'm at 9 miles. The snow/ice on the rockslide doesn't look so bad - see over there, I can walk on the edge and be on rock instead of snow and ice! Easy. Might as well keep going. Tra la laaaaa-

Mmmmm maybe I will put on my Yak Traks after all. It's slippery!  (you, my friend, are a genius. don't forget that.)

And then one of my Yak traks came off, and I didn't notice right away. Once I noticed, I turned back and looked for it for ~20 minutes, then gave up. And continued on, of course. I was almost through the rock slide. DUH! 'Sides, I wouldn't want to go downhill with only one Yak trak. That'd be suicide. (did I mention you are a genius?)

From the saddle to the tram station was clear, so I ran. Hey. Wow. My legs are really tired. Say, I wonder. I think... yes, I'm pretty sure.. I think maybe I've been missing the recovery thing. I used to take like 2 weeks off after a big event. huh. (silence) Oooo, look, another bathroom.

After the top tram station, the trail dives into the forested eastern side of the Sandias. And the trail is several feet deep in snow. It's tricky snow - the kind that has a crust on it so that 70% of the time, you can walk on top of the snow. But that other 30%, you punch through and sink up to your knee. This gets funny, and then gets tiring, and then, yes, then it gets a wee bit old. And it takes a lot of time to get through.

Ah well, nothing to do but continue on. So. That recovery period. I mean, TWO WEEKS?!? That's a lot of time. Was it just two weeks? I seem to remember some times I'd take longer than that even. (silence.) And what, exactly did I DO for that time off. Surely it can't have been nothing. (silence.) I don't really need that two weeks off. I recover quickly. I DO! 

hmmm. my legs are pretty tired. 

*Slip - slide - punch - teeter - totter - slip - step - slip*

Yeah, I knew I should have turned around. (ya think!!!!) Bones is going to laugh at me that I did the whole 20. I think maybe... Maybe I'll go back and look at some of my running books about post marathon recovery. That hard hill workout I planned for Wednesday, maybe I'll skip that. Yeah. And maybe I should tone down the speedwork on Thursday. Just for this next week....

I thought it a bit odd that noone had caught up to me on the trail - I was going pretty slowly. I even took the downhill Pino trail easy, as everything was tired and sore from the snow crossing. All in all, though, nothing hurt - it was just fatigue. I pulled into the parking lot, and was surprised that there was noone there. hmm. As I walk over to my car, the run leader pops out of her car. She had heard from Bones that I was turning around - but then she saw my car and got worried. I asked about the people I assumed were behind me - turns out they had turned around. So I was the last one off the mountain, and noone had known where I was for the last 2 hours. Ooops. I quickly explained, and she was really just relieved I wasn't lost.

I may not have been physically lost, but my training has been a little off track. Spending 7 hours on a run that probably should have taken me 5 or 6... yup, time to rest!