I overdid it yesterday. My return to running has been pretty uneventful and very rewarding. Just enjoying it for what it is. For a a couple of weeks there I thought I might lose it. It wasn’t just about not running- it was about not exercising. I was grumpy & cooped up with a maniac kid in a small house and like a lot of people my outlet is sweating.
Yesterday I planned on running easy, with not a set plan of how far. I had in my head I wanted to hit 10-12, but wasn’t sure how that would go down. I peaked out at 10 last week, so wanted to hit at least that.
We’ve had a cranky/sick kid since Thursday and as soon as I started running- away from everyone and everything for the time being, I felt really good and refreshed. I was happy to be alone and quiet, no music either. Just running. I was just so excited to not be on a treadmill or have a kid or a dog with me, so I got a little ahead of myself.
At miles 2-3, I felt good around 7:40 pace and decided I’d hang there even though that was faster than I planned. Then I got to miles 4-5 and felt really good and started speeding up. The route I took had some big hills and I was having fun with them. I’m so used to running flat monon miles and hills make the run go by faster for me, gives you something to think about.
My splits ended up looking like this:
Mile 1- 8:10
Mile 2- 7:40
Mile 3- 7:29
Mile 4- 7:38
Mile 5-Â 7:30
Mile 6- 7:20
Mile 7- 7:24
Mile 8-Â 7:30
Mile 9-Â 7:00
Mile 10- 6:44
Mile 11- 8:09 – Cool down w/ Cadence
Mile 12- 8:10 – Cool down w/ Cadence
I got a little too excited about running fast at the end but had it in my mind that I wanted to run close to 7s toward the end and for my last mile to be sub 7 before I cooled down.Â
Well. I was an idiot yesterday. That run was straight up stupid. Man it felt good, but it was stupid and I paid for it last night and I’m still paying for it now.
After the 2 hour car ride home of sitting still, I was in major pain. It’s been 9 weeks since my surgery and my chest wasn’t ready for those hills, the pounding and the speed. I don’t think it was the speed as much as the hills though. I didn’t even think about it as I was flying on the down hills and working hard on the uphill. When you haven’t had major surgery on your chest area, you don’t really think about how much work you actually do there.
My expanders are right under the muscle in my chest and they were all like WTF did you do to us today? I don’t know how it all works really, but I know that I can barely put a shirt on, hardly carry my kid and am back to sleeping on my back for the next couple of days.Â
To top off the chest situation, I was also dehydrated, so my head hurt and stomach hurt and I couldn’t warm up, I shivered for an hour straight. Oh my goodness, I was a wreck, you would have thought I did an ironman or something like that based on how I felt. It’s nothing serious, but just blah!
I do think my legs and the rest of my body were ready for this run- just not the surgery site!
Moving on though- I feel fine today, just crazy sore in the chest. Oh and it really hurts to sneeze.Â
Next time I think about getting too ambitious too soon- I will very much remember how I felt last night. WOOF! Definitely taking the day off and relaxing as much as possible today.
Have you heard enough of my complaining?! Â A word to the wise- don’t overdo it 9 weeks post surgery and remember that 3 weeks isn’t all that long to be back at it. Sheesh! No complaining next post- promise!!
Anyone ever experience something like this? Getting back at it too hard too soon?Â
Thanks for listening to me whine about my poor little wimpy self haha!