Still that?

You'd think I'd know by now that recovery from a big effort is not a quick thing.

Except my brain thinks that was way too long ago to still be relevant

While I've been doing better from a cardiovascular and skin perspective - my feet have healed up nicely, though I'm at that point where a whole lot of dead skin from deeper blisters is starting to need trimming off after every shower - my poor body is still giving me grief when I try to reclaim anything resembling fitness.

I was finally ready to run in the skirt I wore for Tally on Saturday, 3 weeks post-race

I've been taking it relatively easy - I haven't run more than about 8.5km, have given myself the grace to walk when I want, and I've kept the strength training much lighter than usual. I've even started seeing a chiropractor to try to sort out some of the junk going on in my lower back, but I still find myself so sore and tired all the time.

My muscles ache so badly even from 2/3 of the weight I was lifting before the race

I know there are a few factors that aren't helping: I've been incredibly busy at work, which has caused a lot of stress and some late nights. I'm usually ok to lose an hour or two of sleep, but since the 100 miler I feel absolutely knackered - and my Garmin tells me my HRV (heart rate variability - one measure of the body's health and readiness to absorb stress) falls alarmingly - when I get less than 8.5hrs per night. 

..and let me tell you, I have NOT been getting even 8hrs very regularly lately.

I'm sure part of it also has to do with the fact I've been playing some pretty intense hockey lately. I got back in net at least a week earlier than I'd planned, and I've actually started playing twice a week again now. It's just pickup hockey, but there are a lot of really fast, talented players in Waterloo Region, and we always seem to have a bunch of hot wheels and silky mitts on the ice when I get between the pipes.

Me? I'm just a washed up 90s goalie trying not to embarrass myself too badly out there

It's tough on the legs, dragging myself back up to my feet after dropping to the ice. It's tough on the hips when I land on the ice, and it's bloody tough on my adductors and all the other little bits and pieces around my pelvis when I try to stretch for that rebound or cross-ice pass. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just too old for this stuff, or if I shouldn't just try to take it easier and not worry about pucks flying past me...but I can't not try to compete.

It feels some kind of sweet - as a 44 year old woman recently returned to the net - to stop some of these hotshot twentysomething year old guys, too.

To make matters worse, I have a way of committing to stuff that isn't necessarily the healthiest for me: we're going to Foxtail tomorrow evening to help out, and will most likely stay for the overnight as it seems most people aren't too keen on standing around by a buffet table beside a rail trail in the wee hours of the night while a bunch of smelly folks stop by..

And some runners, too!

So I might just have to give myself what my Garmin has been increasingly insistent I need.

It's really been laboring the point lately

Maybe I just won't run Sunday, either at Foxtail (I've been known to take a little trot on the rail trail after the next shift arrives at the aid station in the past) or after we get home. I do have reasons to run to the market tomorrow morning..

(beyond it being incredibly beautiful)

..but maybe I can offer myself some grace after that, and just not run on Sunday. Who knows? Maybe I won't run Monday, either. I have Monster of Mazinaw coming up in 4 weeks, but I'm more likely to be ready for that sort of rugged, technical challenge if I arrive feeling less like a shell of myself than I do now.

You can't run away from your problem if running is the problem

Good luck to all the Foxtail racers - I wish you all the fleetness of foot that I find myself missing right now, and I'll see you out there as the sun begins to drop!