First things first: it’s been two weeks now since my marathon. My body stopped hurting, so that’s good news. However, my legs still feel tired. I am not sure if that’s still from the marathon or is it from the new set of exercises. I am trying to figure out if the stretching is making my hip better or worse… I think I will go with better, while the workouts are making it worse. Hopefully, at some point it will all work itself out. In the meantime, I need to go see an orthopedist. I have a small bone sticking out on my right foot and it sometimes hurts (especially when wearing ‘cute’ shoes). I showed it to Diana and she agreed that something is wrong and gave me an exercise for it. It was one of the best feelings you can tell your family over a dinner table… The pain just went away. If we were still in the habit of burning witches, she would so be the first one in line! Every time I tell her about something that’s going wrong with my body, she makes me do some exercise and suddenly I’m ok. Pure magic as far as I am concerned 😉. I am still planning on making my way to an orthopedist though. This may need a more complex solution than just pain relief and I put a lot of strain on my feet.
I also got done with compulsive overeating (although I still want to eat more than strictly necessary). Well, maybe I should go back to eating more carbs though. I did 30 minutes running intervals and 30 minutes swimming Friday night, 10 mile run on Saturday and went for a 20 mile run today. I ended up with 18 miles, mostly due to lack of good will for running further, fueled by hunger. I have been eating normally since Thanksgiving and it looks like I need to up my carbs intake. People carb load for a half marathon, what made me think that I shouldn’t do it for 20 miles??? I guess I ate a large plate of pasta last night, but that’s definitely not enough. I actually had to stop during my run and pull out a snack I was carrying (I always carry food, since I don’t like being hungry and just dealing with it).
I have been asking my friends for thoughts on increasing my carbs intake. I started by asking my Filipino friend about rice. He had zero understanding for my feeling that plain rice is no fun and I get bored of rice really easily. He said he eats it three times a day and can’t imagine a meal without rice. So no help there. Even though I’m Polish, somehow potatoes are not really my thing. I loved french fries like the next person, but come on: all that grease isn’t good for me. Pasta? Yes, I enjoy that, although I would like to step up my pasta sauce game. What I make has been getting repetitive and rather low on veggies. I do love bread though. For now, my main carbs are bread. Any carb-heavy, healthy recipes will be appreciated 😊
Are you wondering yet why I am still running 18-20 mile long runs and thinking about carb loading? It’s because I have only 6 weeks left until my next marathon: Disney World. That will check off state #5. I am a little excited, although right now I am looking mostly forward to tapering 😉 I already entered lottery for the Chicago marathon and I will probably sign up for Ogden, UT in May. The four months between marathons should give me a bit more time to rest, although I will still be trying to stay on top of training. I guess keeping things closer together forces me to ensure that I don’t stay on the couch too long and lose it all. On the other hand, my legs keep feeling tired and being a couch potato for a weekend sounds appealing. Even I can get tired sometimes. And believe me, I am that person with levels of energy that scare people. Oh, well, I surround myself mostly with people who have similar energy to me (or at least can handle it). Time to stretch for a bit and then get some much needed sleep!