This is a post I've been working on for several months. This is a topic under-researched and woefully misunderstood.
It's important to recover after racing. This is something we all know. However, just HOW does one best go about recovering? What does it feel like to recover correctly? ...Incorrectly?
For me, the biggest problems have been:
-Confidence: The confidence necessary to take a recovery day and truly relax and let myself "be" within that day. No worries about training.
-Calm: I love running and the physical exertion that it demands. It's difficult for me to feel comfortable throughout the day without a bit of that familiar, cherished fatigue in my legs, etc.
etc?!!? oh god.
So, I've developed a sure-fire, one-step strategy to correctly recovering after a race.
It seems like race names are getting longer and longer. Surely, the title of "The North Face Chile Endurance Challenge" isn't helped by the company's ridiculous three-word name, but I can't help but feel that the "endurance challenge" part is just totally redundant and dumb. You could just say "The North Face 80K Run" and make the whole thing more concise and more informative.
What the fuck is an "endurance challenge" anyway?
...reading my stupidly long blog posts!! HA!!
Let's keep it short.
Finished 9th/93, a bit over 10 hours of motion and 13,000ft. of gain.
Ended the race feeling really very good. I said hello to Mike Foote who won in 8:23ish and Ashley Arnold who won in 9:25ish. She complimented my pink/yellow/blue trucker hat and so I gave it to her as a sweat-encrusted memento from her Chile trip. Every time she wears it, she'll longingly think of the beer-bloated creep she met in South America.
I feel fine legs-wise, but I'm still going to stick to the gym for a few days. The week before the race, I felt a marked decline in my running stoke. A few days of pouring sweat onto the stationary bike should get me hungry for the mountains again by Friday.
Daniel had a much better run, placing 5th in the 50k about 10 minutes behind the winner. Cold crushin'.
Upcoming:
Ruta del Condor 50K in November.
La Misión 100 in December.
With one of the wilder expressions I'm familiar with as the title of this post and more than my fair share of bourbon doing whatever magical things it does in my stomach, I regret to inform you, True Believer, that this post is not especially interesting.
For some reason the photo uploading feature on Blogger is not working for me and my browser, right now. I don't know why. I don't know anything.
For instance, at this very moment you could be gazing upon a photo of me hang-gliding from the back of the world's largest naked-lady-human pyramid. I set a world record!
...but you don't get to see that photo, because Blogger is a seedy, porno-theater-district of a website, where people collectively open their trench coats and feverishly masturbate in front of one other. The irony, of course, is that we're each opening our individual trench coat to another trench coat-opener who, horribly, is facing towards yet another trench coat-opener and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
It's like an M.C. Escher drawing crossed with an M.C. Cock n' Roll Will Never Die! rap song. Don't bother searching for a song by M.C. Cock n' Roll Will Never Die! because he/she/it is not real. I just made he/she/it up. Just now! Poof!
...consider yourself on the losing, confused end of the open trench coat deal. Sorry, True Believer!
Thanks "mucho" to this guy and this guy for getting me to sign up for something so painful and silly!
NOTE:
It's when I re-read posts like this the next morning that I remember why I made a pledge to myself to post only photos with captions and no blocks of text.
A lot of people make the "running is my addiction!" or "running is my drug!" analogy. It's a funny correlation to draw, though. I've found myself dwelling on it, lately. I dunno why. I dunno why I do anything.
Given my past, I thought...Hey! Let's make a totally stupid blog post out of this idea that running is also like having a chemical addiction!! The parallels might BLOW MINDS!!!
You can play along at home, True Believer! Let's get going!!
In each sentence, choose "running" or "doing shitloads of drugs" to complete the sentence. Every correct answer is a point, most points wins!
READY? GO!!!!!
1.) I've called in "sick" to work or taken a vacation day because of running/doing shitloads of drugs.
(Not often, but...it's happened.)
2.) I've arrived late and a little out of sorts for various functions because I was running/doing shitloads of drugs beforehand.
5.) Sometimes I worry that I'm not bringing as much energy and concentration to other important parts of my life because of my running/doing shitloads of drugs.
34.) Occasionally, I feel like I can barely sweat out another hour at my job because I'm thinking about running/doing shitloads of drugs.
53.2 c ) I spend most of my time at work thinking about running/doing shitloads of drugs and even sneaking little breaks for running/doing shitloads of drugs.
69.) I've had people ask me "Hey, are you doing OK today?" because I arrived to work or a social function totally wiped-out after running/doing shitloads of drugs.
420.) I have turned down fun invitations from friends, spending time with loved ones and even casual sex in order to have more time for running/doing shitloads of drugs. The casual sex thing is really sad, hahaha, but true!
8==> When life hands me some shit, running/doing shitloads of drugs helps me deal with it.
( . )( . ) When life hands me some awesomeness, running/doing shitloads of drugs is my way of celebrating!
3.) I find it difficult to totally relate to people who aren't also into running/doing shitloads of drugs.
1.) I can't imagine getting through life without running/doing shitloads of drugs.
1.) I need running/doing shitloads of drugs to help me feel like "me."
1%) I've picked myself up off of the floor because of running/doing shitloads of drugs and then...running/doing shitloads of drugs was the first thing I wanted to do!
666.) I've puked because of running/doing shitloads of drugs!
23.) I've gotten laid because of running/doing shitloads of drugs!
Hahahha, ok ok. #23 is a freebie. No one has gotten laid because of running! Heehee!
I hope you got the Big Joke here, True Believer. I just want you to feel good!
Whether you're doing shitloads of drugs AND/OR running, I hope that it's worth it for ya! I mean, c'mon...life's 2 SHORT to be fuckin' around!
