Recovery & what's next

The Myrtle Beach half marathon was last weekend.  I always hate the recovery period after a race.  I get it with fulls and, while I may be a little impatient the following week, I know it takes a little time for me to get my "running legs" back.  But I have a harder time with halfs. I underestimate the length of the recovery period and, once the soreness goes away, I tend to think I can jump right back to where I was in my training - both in regard to distances and paces.  Maybe because the race distance is shorter than some of my training runs, which I recover from fairly quickly, and I fully neglect the whole "racing" component?  I feel as if I go through the week following a half marathon finishing up one disappointing run (in terms of what I had hoped to get out of it) after another and am continually thinking, "I guess I might still be recovering…."  Fortunately I feel as if I turned a corner yesterday when I was able to crank out a 6 mile progression run.  Let's hope so, because I'm ready to get back at it!

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So what's next?  Next up is the Bayshore Marathon.  I have a half in April, but my training will be geared towards a big PR at Bayshore.   As I've mentioned, I didn't have a specific training plan for Myrtle Beach and that was good then, but I'm ready for the structure and discipline of a training plan....this calendar-dependant Type-A planner girl has been itching to get my workouts for the next 13 weeks on paper and scripted out :)

I wanted to give myself a week after Myrtle Beach before starting the training plan….so maybe, on some level, I was cognizant of a recovery period, maybe I am learning?  My training plan isn't finalized yet, but it will be by the end of the day today.  However, I do have a pretty good idea of what it will look like and I'm excited about it.  It is definitely different from my prior plans and it will challenge me.  I feel as if I have been complacent for some time and have been afraid to believe or think I can do more than what I was currently doing during any given training period.  In this training plan, I'm looking to push my limits a little and see where it takes me.  

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Beyond that, I'm excited to say that I will be running Chicago!  I feel very fortunate to be one of the lucky ones who got to register without the headache so many others experienced and before they temporarily closed registration. This has been on my wish list for longer than I can remember.  I first fell in love with running while living in Chicago and also ran my first half there, so aside from being the first time I run one of the "Big 5," I simply love the city and can't wait to cover it on foot.

What's your take on recovery periods following race - love it, hate it, or don't even notice it?

Do you ever find yourself afraid to test the limits or believe that you could do more or go faster than your current training?

What's coming up on your race schedule?