On the road for recovery

Yesterday's run (street): 3.75 miles at 9:34

The race on Saturday was exhausting due to the heat and extremely high humidity. I learned that seven runners had been taken to the hospital by ambulance for dehydration. I took a brief nap after returning home from the 10K and had probably slept 10 minutes before being awoken by a ringing phone. When I looked at the clock I had a classic moment of panic. It was 11:40 AM and I thought "OMG, I slept through the race!" I guess I really did need that nap.

Sunday morning was a little cooler than Saturday and I was pleased with how my legs felt a day after taking on the big hill on James Street. A few weeks ago, after our practice run, my calves were quite sore the following day. I decided to do a neighborhood recovery run to shake out the built up lactic acid in my leg muscles. I don't know if that's really what a recovery run does but it sounded cool when I read it somewhere. I had no planned route or pace in mind but I wanted to move along faster than I did on Saturday. I wore my Brooks as a favor to my feet and appreciated their support and comfort compared with the Kinvaras from the day before. It was hot but without the intense humidity the weather felt fine at the start. I did my standard first mile measured loop to gauge how well the Garmin was calibrated (almost perfectly). I then went west a bit before reentering the neighborhood from the southern end.

Along the way I was passed by a fit looking guy running along the same service road. The man said good morning as he swiftly passed by and I wondered what pace he was running. I continued straight and he turned right and I thought I detected a stutter step from him as if he were slowing or stopping. I followed the road north and circled around for another half mile when I saw the same guy walking, looking exhausted. When he saw me he started running again but I caught up and passed him saying "We meet again!" before I headed to another part of the neighborhood. Poseur! I finished my run after covering 3.75 miles and I felt good at the end. This morning I woke up to see that my calf muscles were tight and sore and I remembered it's always the second day when you really feel it. That works fine because it's Monday, A.K.A, my rest day.