Hi all.  Here is a quick check-in on my recovery after Phoenix and my training as I start looking forward to my next race, the Big Sur Marathon on the beautiful California coast!  Check out my full race calendar and completed races at the updated map!

Let’s just jump in:

Workouts…

True confession: I have run two miles total in the three weeks since the Phoenix Marathon.  I seems like Phoenix took a lot out of me — physically and emotionally.  I am of course super happy about how the race went, but I still don’t really know what I want next in terms of running, and I haven’t felt particularly motivated to get back to running right away. Actually, since I returned from my post-marathon skiing (amazing!), I haven’t been very active at all.  Put simply: I’m spent.  Oh, and I’ve slept for like 11 hours on days when don’t have an alarm set.  However, to mix things up, I did go to a thing called Dance Trance this weekend using ClassPass, and it was fun.

It snowed this week, and not pretty Switzerland/Colorado snow — gross DC snow.  Definitely a good excuse to stay inside in sweatpants.

Food…

After wrapping up my 12-week cut on Renaissance Periodization just before Phoenix, I was looking forward to not focusing on my food intake for a few weeks and indulging in all the things I’d been missing.  The first week after the race, I had lots of treats but stayed fairly close to RP principles for meals — keeping up my protein, for instance. But then I had a real free-for-all week, I started feeling bloated and like I was falling back into my old “eat because eating is fun” routine.   I missed that clean, strong, non-bloated feeling I had gotten used to on RP. It’s actually a really shocking difference in how I feel after eating an RP-type meal vs snacking on carbs all day.  I’ve never been sicked out by eating a pint of B&Js, but I did it the other night and woke up the next morning feeling ugggggh.  So I’ve decided to go back on a rough form of RP, just for maintenance.  (AKA bring back the tofu!)  I might do another cut in the future, hoping to build on my results, but I am going to wait at least a few more weeks.  First step is to rein in the junk food and mindless snacking, and up the satisfying, strength-promoting protein.

I’ve also decided to go back on a multivitamin.  Not sure if I am missing something in my diet or what, but hopefully this helps ensure I have my bases covered and can get my energy levels back up.  I like Alive! Prenatal Gummies, not because I am pregnant or planning to be pregnant, but because they are delicious and they have DHA, which my doctor recommended.

What’s next…

Looking forward, I want to focus on leg strength — running hills, hiking, deadlifts, squats — as I prepare for Big Sur, the Bayshore Marathon, and then my first ultramarathon in Colorado!  I picked up a good tip from the East Coast Trail and Ultra Podcast about doing intervals of walking lunges followed by sprints to prepare for the downhills.  Sounds brutally awesome.  So the plan is to get in the gym a time or two this week, and then hopefully next weekend I can get myself on the dirt and get the momentum going back in my favor.  I’ve also been thinking about returning to my Saturday ballet classes — just mustering up the motivation to get myself there.  And of course Orangetheory.

How do you usually feel after a marathon?  Exhausted and directionless?  Or motivated and eager for more?   Have you ever achieved a goal and then hibernated for a few weeks (or months) afterward?