Well hello there, running friends! I am back at it after a full week off of running and was literally giddy to be running again. Here’s a quick peek at what my last 10 days have looked like:

• Sunday: 26.2!
• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: Rest. And a massage!
• Friday: Slow yoga with deep relaxation
• Saturday: Long walk in the park with J
• Sunday: Rest
• Monday: 30 minute easy run
• Tuesday: 40 minute easy run
• Wednesday: 60 minute vinyasa yoga
• Thursday: 30 minute run

I’m sure you’re sensing a theme here–lots and lots of rest! This is probably the longest I’ve gone without working out in a couple of years and I know I needed it. Even though I felt fairly good after the race, my knees are still not back to 100%, likely due to the accumulated stress from all the downhill pounding. I’m a little bit mad at myself for not taking the active parts of recovery more seriously, but when my first jog back didn’t feel great I jumped back into icing and foam rolling twice a day, which has helped a ton. J and I went out for 40 minutes on Tuesday and once we got warmed up, I felt great and couldn’t stop smiling because I was so dang happy to be back at it.

I haven’t fully formulated my comeback strategy, but we’re toying around with the idea of running the Shipyard Old Port Half in July in Portland, ME. I had a great race there last year and I think it would be such a fun course for J’s first half. Now that he has been fully indoctrinated, we’re looking at potentially doing a race in New Zealand when we go there for our honeymoon next February/March–how cool would that be?? Any tips, anyone?

Anywho, after Chicago I graded myself on how I did in terms of my race goals and I thought it would be fun to revisit my “what I would do differently” post and do the same for this race. Here are the goals I set for myself:

• Run a small race: A! Sugarloaf had 1600 total runners. Can’t get much smaller than that.
• Focus on race strategy and nutrition: A! I didn’t want to share it beforehand for purely superstitious reasons, but I did have a very specific race plan that I worked on with Coach Laura. And I wrote it out in color because I am a nerd.
• Consider investing in coaching: A! ICYMI, more on my coaching thoughts here.
• Raise the mileage, not just the number of running days: A! My mileage this training cycle peaked at 56 miles/week, whereas my Chicago training peeked around 44 miles/week. Adding those additional miles (all EASY and slow) I think really helped me to learn to run on tired legs.

  

So what else? Well, life is pretty darn exciting these days. This weekend I’m heading to NYC for my bachelorette party with all of my favorite people. Next weekend I’m going to a Oiselle women’s running camp in New Hampshire. I’m less than two months away from finishing up my MBA and in 101 days I get to marry my best friend in my favorite place in the world. So–running is going to be around, with lots of other stuff, and I just can’t wait.