Monday Shakeout: Recovery week

What to do when you’re not running

One of the weird things about endurance racing is that after committing to the idea of building fitness on a daily basis, you are then asked to do literally nothing following an event. It’s a real mind-bender. 

The early days of post-race recovery were generally easy in that my body was so tired and sore that even small amounts of effort would have been too much. I couldn't run if I had to, and even if I could, I’d rather not because I used up all my motivation during the race. 

That was a good thing! It meant that I went deep into my reserves and needed time to rest, recover, and replenish. Also: eat. Just because I wasn’t working as hard as I did during training didn’t mean that my body wasn’t working just as hard, if not harder, to repair itself. 

After a few days of general idleness, augmented by some light walking on flat ground and several dozen tacos, I was ready for the next stage of the post-race process: active recovery. That’s the theme of this week’s Shakeout.