The two best words in the english language...

RECOVERY WEEK.

I haven't been so good at keeping this thing up to date, seeing that recovery week is now over and we are into our Speed Training portion of the training. But since it was such a lovely week, I'll reminisce about it now...



Tuesday I learned that I run incorrectly, which was totally awesome. Apparently you are supposed to land on the ball of your foot rather than land flat-footed, or worse, heel first. So after practicing this for an hour as well as learning other running and stretching fundamentals, I tried this "ball-landing" strategy during our loops around the reservoir... not so successful. The gigantic puddles and the fact that it was dark out didn't help either. I managed to run this way for approximately 200 meters before I reverted back to my flat-footed approach. Apparently this is okay though, according to our coaches now is not the appropriate time to change our entire running stride... who would have thought? According to our coaches, I should stick with being a flat-footer for 90% of my runs with occasional 10% bursts of correct form. I think I can handle that.

Wednesday I went back to yoga for the first time in weeks and got my butt kicked, literally. Afterwards, my hips felt like they had been beaten with a tire iron. This is when I realized how tight running can make your body, and I have vowed to not skip yoga anymore.

Thursday I took the term recovery week a little too literally. I had to rest up for the long weekend.

Saturday, despite feeling the onset of a cold, I did our recovery week short(er) long run, a casual 10 miles. (Not gonna lie, I feel kind of awesome that I can now honestly say "oh, yeah, this weekend is just 10 miles, no big deal"). Ran the 10 miles in Chatam, Cape Cod with my two fabulous friends Emily Geiger and Paige Fitzerald, who were super all-stars and ran 8 of the 10 with me! We went on a really nice run on the streets, along the beach, on a great bike trail, and I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh sea air.

Saturday evening, Paige, Emily, and I enjoyed a post-run romp in Provincetown where we met this lovely lady and saw her hysterical show. Try to top THAT for a post-run activity.