Recovery?

Runner's World comes to my box at school. I flip through & look at the pictures but rarely read anything. Not all that interested in "8 Miracle Foods That Can Make You Faster," or "6 Tips For a Stronger Core." Maybe I'm jaded or think I know it all. I don't, but so little of the advice in there seems to apply to me or my runners. This month, there was an article about recovery with this chart. I thought it was a little funny as I saw it after my Wednesday hard run following a weekend 103 mile run. Nothing in the chart to tell me how long to go before doing a hard workout after running 103 but it says don't go hard until 26 days after a marathon. Really? If I followed that logic I think my running would be a lot different.

I am positive I do things that aren't in my best interest... often to prove something to my team. I'm still alive, but there hasn't been much recovery after running 50 miles at the Blue Ridge Relay or 103 at Hinson Lake. Two days after Blue Ridge Relay, I did 10x600 in 2:03. Ouch. Really hard. Sore. Three days after Hinson Lake, I ran 4 miles at 6:18/mile pace. I was sore then too but more than that, just completely fatigued still. I thought of every excuse possible to stop but kept going. One of the guys on my team said recently, "You're too hardcore for your own body." Maybe so. Maybe these aren't great choices, but if I followed what Runner's World seems to suggest- give yourself a day free of hard workouts per mile of racing, I wouldn't have run hard until 2012. 103 days, 3 days... same thing, right? :)