Not dead yet

Holy. Crap. 

I know I made mention of the importance of recovery in previous posts, but until today I had no idea what it felt like to recover COMPLETELY. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been absolutely dead at work. Where I once zipped around the halls getting all sorts of work done, bounding up and down the stairs without fatigue, lately I’ve been dragging my ass around listlessly, barely able to conjure the mental strength to do much of anything. I almost wondered if I was depressed.

Then this shoulder issue hit me, which although I still think is connected to some of my emotional stress, certainly showed itself in a series of knotted muscles in my back. Fortunately, my gf’s sister has studied massage therapy and gave me a complete upper body massage last night, giving a little more attention to my neck and shoulder area. I wasn’t cured instantly, but by this morning I was A-OK. I still felt the pain, but only very slightly, and I was able to actually do work today.

I went in at 7:00, started a project I’ve been working on, and all of a sudden it was 9:30, then 10:30, then 1:00. Like magic, I was busting out projects left and right, bounding all around the building, working non-stop without even a moment of fatigue, physical or mental. It was like my batteries were plugged in and charged for four days. 

Then I get home, throw on my shoes and shorts and head out the door for a “break-in” 10 miles. I try to stay conservative, but it felt so good to move again that I slowly picked up the pace. Then I’m saying to myself, “Dude, you’re going to fast, slow down. This is gonna hurt. It feels good now, but later you are gonna hurt. Seriously, slow down.” But it felt too good. And I didn’t. 

Now I’m tired and my muscles are tight. I knew this was going to happen. S’okay though, it’s not bad really and I should still be golden for the Tuesday night workout tomorrow. Then Wednesday I have another friend coming over to give another massage…just to make sure. I gotta hook up a sponsorship with a local massage therapist, cause that stuff is nice! 

So yeah, this recovery stuff. I’m not saying that during marathon training you should take 4 days off at a time (absolutely not!), but recovery should be taken with more seriousness than one would think, even a day completely off can’t hurt. I learned this the hard way. Still, it feels better to be back at it again.

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Political vegan theme following: 

This video is interesting. Although I do take exception to the use of the word “Pussy” and still believe that a worldview that doesn’t encompass a manner of total liberation is destined for failure, I can’t help but find this as a fascinating angle on a tired perspective, from a sociological standing anyway. Those in or once in the hardcore music scene will be doubly fascinated.

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Log

10 miles – 1:02 and change. Felt so good to be out…now I’m a bit sore.

Diet

Breakfast – Oatmeal w/ peanut butter, almonds, brown sugar – coffee
Lunch – Vegan “chicken” pattie w/ ketchup and mustard, brocolli, baked beans
Dinner – Bean soup w/ tofu and tofutti sour cream, croissant rolls w/ margarine
Snacks – coffee, water, Emergen-C drink, tea, banana