I vacillated a lot on what to do - my ultimate recovery week. Should I get a massage? Should I take some yoga classes? How soon should I start running again?
Monday: Still in San Francisco - rest day. All I did was walk around Haight/Ashbury and into a few of the costume shops. Probably a little less than a mile and a half of strolling. Flight that night, got back to Bellevue around 10:30pm.
Tuesday: Massage early in the morning!
First task of the day was to get up and walk to this massage clinic and then lay on a table. Score. It actually wasn't that relaxing since it was a sports massage, but he got most of the kinks out. He did comment that my right hip (the one that was hurting during the marathon) was like cement. Well, great. He also had to step outside the room to splash some water on his face when we had about 10 minutes left. That was weird. I think I definitely prefer the floofy (his words) massages as opposed to the nitty gritty sports massage - maybe I'll get a deep tissue massage at a nice spa next? I didn't leave feeling totally relaxed, I guess.
I went home and relaxed some, then went off to a meeting for Snowflake Lane for about 45 minutes at the mall. It required some dancing, which was the first real physical activity I had done since Sunday, but it wasn't too bad. I just felt a little stiff, and still fatigued.
That night, we went to a Jazz Club in Seattle to watch JW play trombone in a jazz band, Mach One.
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| JW in the second row, playing trombone |
Wednesday: All I did was run 2 miles on the treadmill. I was thinking of going to a yoga class, but by the time JW had gotten home, it was too late to eat dinner and then go to yoga... it just wouldn't have been a good idea.
Running felt great, albeit a little slow. I kept checking in with my body on how I was feeling, but everything was feeling fine. The massage definitely helped and gave me confidence that I wouldn't get injured.
Thursday: I activated my Yoga Groupon in the morning, starting off nice and easy with a class called Restore. I'm going to go to as many classes as I can in a 30 day period at Get Zen Yoga, a hot yoga studio here in Bellevue. It's about a 10 minute drive - pretty reasonable.
The Restore class was incredibly easy- I didn't sweat at all. They keep the room cooler than usual for Restore - I didn't really mind it. I've taken Bikram Yoga before and that room was hot, so this was pretty comfortable. We literally just laid in stretching positions for 5 minutes at a time.
The instructor even rubbed what she called China Gel on us - our choice of shoulders or lower backs. I chose shoulders because mine are always a little tight. The sensation was a lot like BenGay. The best part about class was when we were sitting on the ground in a forward fold, and the instructor came around and massaged our necks. That felt sooooo good.
Thursday night, I ran 4 miles outside around 5:30. I let the stoplights guide me and was amazed that I never had to stop! I finished just as the sun was setting. I felt awesome. I was probably running a little faster than I should have been, but it felt amazing and I didn't want to stop. I'm starting to see how people can just run and run and run and go to race after race after race....
Friday: I set my alarm for 5am for a 6am Power Yoga class, but 5am came and my brain said "NO WAY" so I reset it to go to the 9:30am class. Fine by me. I got in some extra ZZZ's and felt great when I woke up.
I wasn't sure what to expect with Power Yoga- I didn't know if it was another name for Bikram, or if it was each instructor's choice as to what they wanted to do in the hot room. I found out it was nothing like Bikram. If you didn't know, Bikram is a set of 26 poses in a room at about 105 degrees and 40% humidity. I took Bikram somewhat regularly in March, but hadn't touched it since then.
Either I've gotten a lot stronger from running, or Bikram is just a lot more challenging than Power Yoga, or maybe a bit of both - but I didn't have that much trouble with Power Yoga. A lot of people were sitting down, and I didn't feel the need to. It was only when, at the end of class, we got into some Bikram poses (Eagle pose, Standing Bow Pose or Dancer Pose) that I felt the intense heart beating and panic of It's so hot!!, but I didn't give in.
Later that evening, JW and I went to our friend's new house and hung out for a while. We may or may not have went to Safeway for the purpose of getting pastries... and they may or may not have been delicious.
Saturday: Big day. Yoga in the morning, and three and a half hours later running 3 miles, then participating as a seated actor in my Dinner Detective Murder Mystery job.
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| 3 Miles with messed up tracking... the blue is what I actually did, with black direction markers (LOL at my paint skillz) |
After Dinner Detective, I realized I had forgotten my wallet, so I rushed over back to my apartment and then went back over to Seattle, found parking, and went to the Microsoft Halloween party that JW was at. We danced and had a great time. It was such a long day - starting at 9 and ending past midnight, constantly on the go.
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| At the Halloween Party (notice no costumes..) |
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| There was a prop table... |
10:30-11:30 - Yoga
1- Leave for ferry
2:05-2:40 - Ferry ride to Bainbridge Island
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| Bainbridge Island, doing it right. |
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| Rejoicing because we got standing-room only seats.. on the stairs... |
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| Sunset |
10:30-11:40 Run 8 Miles
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| Watching Saturday Night Live (I know, I'm switching it up.. who am I??) |
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| Watching The Carrie Diaries. Sue me. |
Just reading over this week makes me tired! Glad that I'm getting back into having a bit more of a schedule now...
How are you??? How was your week??
So this is too weird! I have been following your blog for a few weeks now, in hoping to get that last bit of inspiration to commit to my first marathon next year. I keep recognizing all the places in your pictures, I live in Bellevue. I signed up for the get zen groupon over the summer and loved it - particularly Loren's classes! Small small world!
ReplyDeleteHaha! That's too funny! I probably bought that Groupon when you did but am just now getting around to using it - I really like it! Much more chill than the other Bikram class I went to in the Elements building - I think they're called The Yoga Element now (They used to be Bikram Hot Yoga Bellevue). Those were SUPER intense. Get Zen is really nice - I like Tiffany, and Loren is great too. Such kind people!
DeleteOn another note, if you've been thinking about a marathon for a while, if it's been in the back of your mind.. then you should DEFINITELY do it. I read some of your blog - if you're totally cool with 10 mile runs as long as you have fuel, then you're already in the marathon mindset. DO IT!! You'll be so glad you did. :)