5 Recovery Tools That Work for Me

Before I begin this post, I need to knock very hard on a piece of wood. I haven't had any major injuries in over four years, so this is me officially knocking on wood that I am not jinxing myself by writing about this topic.

I often get asked about how I prevent injuries and how I've managed to avoid them for so long. My last major injury, with "major" being defined as having to miss over a week of training, was in July of 2013. I had a stress reaction in my shin and it sidelined me for about six weeks. Prior to that, my injury history was as follows:

• December 2011: Strained/pulled calf muscle
• January 2011: Three tibial stress fractures 
• August 2009: Peroneal Tendonitis
• May 2008: Patellar Tendonitis
• January 2008: Pinched Peroneal nerve

Of course my immune system is a different story, as I have suffered from mono-like viruses twice in the past five years. I also was knocked out by a virus for over 4 weeks in the summer of 2008. But the musculoskeletal system has held up pretty well.

I am not a physical therapist, doctor, or running coach. But over the past four years, I've found the following recovery tools to be helpful in preventing injuries.

1. My Bed

I believe that sleep is the #1 factor in recovering from training runs. Without enough of it (or without high quality sleep) your body doesn't have the opportunity to recover from hard workouts, so you end up feeling fatigued when you do your next workout. And the cumulative effects of this can cause injury. Not coincidentally, I stopped getting injured at the precise time that I had my mental breakthrough in sports psychology. 

Prior to the summer of 2013, I suffered from insomnia. It was difficult for me to sleep straight through the night and my sleep was not restful. I would wake up in the middle of the night and my mind would race with all kinds of random thoughts. So despite my best efforts of falling asleep early and allowing 8+ hours of sleep time, I rarely got a truly restful night of sleep. That all changed once I learned to have a more relaxed mindset. None of the remaining items on this list compare to the importance of sleep, as I believe sleep is the foundation of staying healthy.

2. Massage Therapy

When I'm training for a marathon, I typically get a professional massage once every 2-3 weeks, for 75 minutes at a time. I'll go once a month if my training load is lighter. Yes, this is expensive, but it's cheaper than having to go to physical therapy for an injury and it's also enjoyable. My massage therapist is excellent at helping the muscles relax without inducing pain. So not only do my muscles enjoy it, but it's a great way to wind down from a busy week of running, going to work, and doing lots of other things.

3. Salonpas Patches

Whenever something starts to ache or feels particularly tight, I apply a Salonpas patch. I absolutely LOVE these things. They're basically small rectangular patches that stick to you and stimulate blood flow to the area. I've been using them for about ten years and I truly believe they help in recovery. Greg was skeptical at first and thought that they were just designed to make the area feel good, but I think I've converted him into being a believer as well. I particularly like sleeping with them as I find them to be relaxing. I sometimes wear them to work, even though other people can smell the chemicals in the patches. I have a weak sense of smell so I never smell them on me. 

Over the past six weeks I've been experiencing some tenderness and stiffness in my Achilles tendons. On the nights when I sleep with the patches on, the tendons feel great in the morning. Just saying! They're also great post marathon, and I think I was wearing up to four at a time after Boston last year.

4. Protein Smoothies

After my hard workouts, I typically drink a Naked smoothie boosted with protein. I love these drinks because they don't take any time to make-- I just grab one out of the refrigerator post run. One smoothie has 420 calories and 30 grams of protein so it's an easy way to replenish the calories and give my muscles the protein they need to recover. I've noticed, however, that they are becoming more and more scarce at the grocery store so I wonder if they will soon be discontinued. They have already stopped making the "green" flavor, which is a shame. Another quick post-run snack is cottage cheese, which is protein-packed and also takes no work to prepare. In the mornings, I am all about convenience. 

5. The Foam Roller

No recovery post would be complete without mentioning the foam roller. I primarily use this on my quads, hips and IT bands. I use it regularly so usually it's not painful. However, if I am recovering from a particularly hard race or workout, then I've been known to scream while foam rolling. If I wake up and my muscles feel tight, I will foam roll before running. Usually I foam roll for about 3-4 minutes at a time, which I think is shorter than what most people do. But I don't seem to need any more than that.

In additional to using all of these recovery tools, I also do preventative hip strengthening exercises and calf strengthening exercises. In the past, I have struggled with an achy hip when the mileage increases above 55 miles per week. But doing the hip exercises three times a week has left me pain-free for years now. My left hip is the trouble maker, and it can flare up if I make too many left turns. This is why I run on the track "backwards" or clockwise. 

Training Update

I'll finish off with a quick training update. After the race last Sunday, I made up for the missed long run by running 14 miles easy on Tuesday of this week. My legs felt surprisingly good for having raced a 5K on Sunday, and I was able to pick up the pace a bit during the last three miles. 

Saturday, August 26th

On Wednesday, I ran easy for 60 minutes. On Thursday, I did a hill workout that I had never done before: 3 x 10 minutes of continuous hills at 10K effort. I ran up a hill that was about 40 feet in elevation gain over the course of 75 seconds at 10K effort, and then ran back down the hill at a slightly faster pace to keep the heart rate up. I did this for 10 minutes at a time, with 3-minute recovery jogs in between. Each segment was long enough for almost four full ascents. 

Friday was another easy 60 minutes and Saturday was my first "longer" run of the cycle at 16 miles. Greg and I drove to the W&OD trail and ran together. We were treated with low-humidity and temperatures in the low 60's, so the run felt amazing. The W&OD trail (paved trail) is a hillier route than my normal neighborhood running options, so it was a confidence booster to run strong on it.

Total mileage for the week: 61.4

The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon is in 10 weeks, and I feel like I have a solid foundation for a strong training cycle.

Finally, as I mentioned in a previous post, I was interviewed for Coach Jenny's podcast while I was on the Great Alaskan Running Cruise. You can listen here.

You Can't Do Amazing Things EVERY Day

The first half of 2016 was amazing:

• March: I set a huge PR in the half marathon despite 20 MPH winds and a torrential downpour
• April: I ran the Boston Marathon and then took a week-long vacation in Mexico
• May: I published my book, Boston Bound
• June: Promoted the book, and it ended up on the best-seller list on Amazon!

When June rolled around, I had my hands full. I was running hard workouts in the heat, actively promoting the book, working my full-time job, and admittedly not sleeping well. 

But then things came to an abrupt halt on June 30 when I came down with mono. This meant no more running, no more going to work, no more socializing with friends, no more book interviews. I was crushed when the doctor told me that I wouldn't feel 100% until the end of August. 

My mother, who had accompanied me to the doctor, said to me, "You can't do amazing things EVERY day." It's true. Even though you can be your amazing self every day, you can't always do amazing things. There's a difference. Once again I find myself needing to accept life's imperfections. And I need to remember that I am person who runs, not "a runner." Considering that I may not ever do as many wonderful things in a six-month period as the first half of this year, I guess I can't be too upset that I need to take a break from it all.

Greg reminded me though, that I actually DO do amazing things every day. Because I love him every day. I support him every day. I'm a kind person every day. I guess at look at these things as "being" myself not necessarily "doing" anything amazing.

The doctor told me that I could look at this a summer bug, or I could look at it as my body telling me that I needed to slow down and get some rest. I chose the latter. 

When I look at everything I was doing in June, and how I wasn't really paying attention to my physical health, it all makes sense. Unless I was running a speed workout, I wouldn't eat anything after my runs until I got into work, two hours later. My thought was that I wasn't really hungry, and "it's just a 5-miler" so I didn't need to refuel immediately. 

Also, I was only getting about 5-6 hours of sleep per night during the week leading up to the illness. I was super excited about my book, and the Amazon sales dashboard would only update in the middle of the night. My body somehow knew this, and I'd wake up at 1:00am to check the numbers. Totally not healthy! I couldn't control the fact that I was waking up in the middle of the night, but I could control how much I thought about the book immediately before going to sleep. Not to mention, working out in the heat is tough on the immune system. Much tougher than working out in sub-freezing temperatures.

Salad with mango, blueberries, spinach, egg white, avocado

Finally, I wasn't getting enough fruits and vegetables. I was so busy that I would eat whatever was most convenient. We have free whole fruit at work, but instead of taking the time to cut that up and eat it, I would usually grab a granola bar or chips. While those aren't necessarily bad choices, I really needed more nutrients. I often didn't feel like leaving the office to get lunch, and I didn't bring lunch, so I would just graze on office snacks. 

So, yeah, I'm not all that surprised I got sick. I didn't exactly treat my immune system very well. And so I'm learning the hard way. 

I'm slowly starting to feel more normal, but I still haven't run yet. My legs feel weak and I want to wait the three weeks that the doctor prescribed. And, of course, I just don't have a ton of energy. Oddly, the most energizing thing is core work. You'd think that running (something I used to do every day) might help me be more energized, but my one attempt last week proved that theory wrong. Instead, core work (which I hadn't done in about a year) makes me feel strong and really peps me up. So I have been doing some light core work every other morning.

With that said, here are the changes that I have made to my lifestyle, and that will continue even once I am recovered. Some goals/resolutions:

• Stop looking at my phone right before bedtime. 
• Start reading in bed instead.
• Stop thinking about stressful things at bedtime.
• Start thinking about the book I'm reading in bed.
• Start making time in the morning for breakfast (or some substantial nutrition) before I leave the house.
• Stop grazing around the office for lunch.
• Start bringing a full lunch to work or leaving the office to get a real lunch.
• Start buying more fruits and veggies at the grocery store and eating them during the week.
• Start drinking more water. (I actually had been pretty good about this, but not every day.)
• Start taking vitamins every day.
• Reduce my stress level by thinking positive, more self-loving thoughts, like it's OKAY to not be doing amazing things EVERY day! 

Light core work has helped me feel better.

I was really fortunate to be injury and illness free for the past three years. In fact, being able to train with such consistency is really what led to my extreme jump in fitness over the past year. I never thought I took it for granted, but now I realize I need to make the above changes to really take care of my body and train at the level I want to train at.

My coach wanted to pause on re-working my training schedule until we really knew what we were looking at. The first priority is to get better so that I can train at full capacity. I'm starting to accept that I may need to drop Indianapolis down to the half and run the Rehoboth full four weeks later, in early December. It definitely won't be the end of the world, it's just not what I had planned on doing. I figure I might as well accept this possibility sooner rather than later. 

Meanwhile, the support of my friends throughout this whole mono ordeal has been incredible. People have offered to bring me stuff, and I'm getting frequent texts/IMs from people. I'm well enough to go into the office to work, with a modified schedule, so that's making me feel more "normal." I just need to be careful not to overdo the work because when I had mono in 2012, I kept trying to go back to work too soon and I kept relapsing. My goal here is to recover quicker than I did in 2012 by avoiding the mistakes I made back then. Some days I feel like I'm moving in the wrong direction because I feel worse than the day before, but I have to remember that's part of the illness and I WILL recover 100%. 

Inaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC

I'm going to start this blog with a key lesson learned: there is no correlation between race performance and race organization/management.

I was seriously impressed with the organization of the inaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC this morning. Everything went as smoothly as you could possibly imagine. Most inaugural races have noticeable hiccups, especially larger ones. But after years of experience with the San Francisco race, Nike has it down and gets an A+ for race management and organization. Well-established races that have been put on in DC for years (Army Ten Miler, Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, Marine Corps Marathon) cannot compete with how well executed both the expo and the race were.

I have to admit I was skeptical. Having an expo on the Georgetown waterfront where there is very limited parking and no metro seemed like a bad idea. They didn't even have a real web site. Just a Facebook page. Their corral system seemed awkward in that 3/8 of the corrals were reserved for runners faster than a 7:30 pace. But every step of the way, I was pleasantly surprised. This was probably the best organized race I have ever run. And I've run over 75 races. If only stellar organization made for stellar performances! Even though Nike made it very easy for runners to run well, my body was not up to the task.

By contrast, I think of the Love Rox half marathon that I ran in February. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong-- Nobody was directing the leaders on where to run, the course was mis-measured, a defunct timing system failed to time many runners, a narrow course for half marathoners to pass 10K runners presented a safety hazard, there were six large staircases to run up and down, and the list goes on and on. Oh yeah, and it was 37 degrees with wet snow. And yet, I killed it! Despite all of that- I ran a 1:43:xx for a course that was actually 13.5 miles.

When comparing the two races, I can instantly see that my performance is not related to how well the race is organized. We all want to run well-managed races, no question. But if I race doesn't have its act together, I doesn't mean that I can't. And vice versa!

The Expotique
Nike calls their Expo an "Expotique" in that it is tailored to women. You can get your hair and makeup done,

The course route is highlighted over a map of the city

and the theme is all about celebrating the strength and power of women. I got there right when it opened at 8:00am on Saturday to avoid crowds. I parked easily, waited in a short line, got my number and headed for the expotique. The energy there was contagious. Not only was it a unique expo in terms of the vendors and what was offered, but all the staff were so extremely welcoming and all the runners were so excited. I kept hearing choruses of "woo" everywhere and everyone was so extremely hyped up about this race. It was a really unique vibe that I hadn't experienced at any other expo.

At first, I didn't understand what the big deal was about an all-women's race. I didn't get why so many women had their heart set on running this. Was the Tiffany necklace really that much of a motivator? But now I do see. And I actually can't really articulate why specifically- just the feeling that I had when walking around the expotique and interacting with everyone there. I'm sure the expo was jam-packed later in the day and my good experience was partially because there wasn't a crowd. But the fact that they had 3 full days of packet pickup (as opposed to 1.5 for other large races) definitely helped.

In the photo above, they had a guy standing there whose only job for the day was to take your photo. Many expos have "photo ops" but this was the first time I saw someone staffed to actually take the photos. I went to the expo alone and I was lucky to get my picture in front of this cool backdrop.

Closeup of my name on the We Run DC wall.

One of the coolest things about the expo was the wall with everyone's names on it. It covered an entire city block. I was surprised at how excited I was to see my name on this wall. I guess it's because it makes you really feel like you are part of something special. Nike celebrates YOU. They make everyone feel special because they build up their event so much.

It's a good thing I liked this expo so much, because I had the pleasure of going there twice yesterday. After the expo, the plan was to go grocery shopping. I drove 20 miles outside of the city, parked at the store, and decided to check my Nike bag. This would have been smart to do before leaving the city. But I guess I just wasn't stressed or worried about not having everything. I noticed my corral bracelet was missing. This is the paper bracelet that you need to wear on your wrist to get into your assigned corral. Without it, you start with the 14:00 and slower group. I searched every corner of that bag but the little slip of paper was nowhere to be found. I definitely saw the person grab a bracelet, but it must have slipped out of her hands and never made its way into the bag.

So, I drove 20 miles back into the city, paid $10 to park for 15 minutes to get another corral bracelet. I was glad I had it, but definitely annoyed at the extra driving and parking fees. Thankfully, the goodie bag was a true goodie bag, so I had a Luna bar and other small snacks to hold me over until I got back to the grocery store.

Before The Race
I only slept two hours the night before the race Maybe even a little less. I simply wasn't tired. I tried every technique in the book to fall asleep but it wasn't happening. I didn't think it would really affect my race because I had gotten six hours the previous night. But, the night before that and the night before that were both 5 hours or less. I think Tuesday night was only 4 hours. I had proven that I could run well on little sleep and I knew that stressing about it would only make things worse. So I honestly went into the race expecting there to be very little impact.

I think my inability to sleep the night before the race had something to do with my excitement. That expo got me pumped up and I was just raring to go. But Tuesday-Friday nights, the lack of sleep was driven by other things. On Wednesday night, the wind was extremely noisy and impossible for me to sleep through. Also, there were other major things on my mind that I won't expand on here, but that were certainly making my mind go a million miles a minute.

The week before Cherry Blossom, I felt so extremely drained and was sleeping 9 hours a night. I came to the start line feeling lethargic and not peppy. And I surprisingly ran well. This week, I had very little sleep but was extremely energized- probably all anxious energy and adrenaline. I felt great at the start line.

My sleep was from about 1:00-3:00am last night, so by the time I was supposed to be up, I was already out of the bed and deciding on my outfit.

Greg and I got to the race at 6:00, which was an hour before the start time. I wondered how many porta-potties there would be for an all-women's race, since women tend to take longer then men. It was porta-potty city. There were no lines. I had my choice of like 50 porta potties to go into. All of them empty. I've never seen a race with so many porta potties relative to the number of runners. It was awesome! I ran into my friend Linda and we did a short warmup. The warmup didn't feel good. We were going very slowly-- probably a 10:30 pace-- and yet it felt strained. I dismissed it because my warmups often don't feel good.

I handed Greg my jacket, got into my corral, and shortly after there was a huge surprise. They brought Shalane Flanagan and Joan Benoit Samuelson on stage!!! They were both wearing shirts with "B's" on them in honor of Boston. There was a moment of silence for the Boston bombing victims and then the national anthem started.

The weather was quite nice for late April. Sunny and mid 50's at the start. When I registered, I considered the possibility that the weather could be in the 70's, but we lucked out.

My plan for this race was to go out at around 7:45-7:50 and then speed up after the first 3 miles. I was targeting a 1:40. I knew I was a bit out of shape for not having run much since Cherry Blossom, but I figured a 1:40 was realistic since I wouldn't be facing the wind that I had in Cherry Blossom.

Miles 1-4
In all my years of racing in DC, I have never gotten to run through the tunnel that goes underneath the national mall. It was so cool! I had been looking at the map and wondering how they were going to get us across the mall, but then I realized we were going underground! These first miles were uneventful. I didn't feel 100%, but I know from experience that it can take me 5-6 miles to start to feel good in a half marathon. I saw my coach during mile 4, which was a real pick-me up.

Mile 1: 7:52
Mile 2: 7:43
Mile 3: 7:59
Mile 4: 7:43

Miles 5-9
By the time I hit mile 5, I knew this wasn't going to be a PR day for me, and I was okay with that. I was

10K mark, Photo by Kim Platt

starting to feel really crappy and tired and I wasn't even going very fast. I figured I would be lucky to just hold on to that pace for the rest of the race. I reminded myself that my primary goal was to put forth my best effort-- whatever the pace. I asked myself if this was my best effort or if I was going soft, and it truly was my best.

I saw Greg at mile 6 at the top of a hill, and that was energizing. Then it was onto Haines point- a very flat area that can be windy because it's near the water. I noticed a helicopter circling the area. I thought it was probably there for security and I realized that races would now be beefing up security post-Boston.

I slowed down quite a bit. I didn't judge and I didn't get upset. I accepted it and continued to push and put forth as much effort as I had in me. There were a bunch of inspirational signs throughout this part of the course and they helped to keep me focused and strong.

Mile 5: 7:55
Mile 6: 8:07
Mile 7: 8:22
Mile 8: 8:34
Mile 9: 8:52

Miles 10-13
At mile 10, I started looking for Greg but I didn't see him. I did see my coach, who was cheering for another

Mile 10, with my teammate Esther, Photo by Kim Platt

teammate. I called out his name, but he didn't see me because I was on the other side of the course and he was probably focused on the other teammate. I later learned that Greg was here too and they both missed seeing me. I actually thought that Greg thought he missed me after not seeing me around the 1:40 pace group and he had moved on without realizing I was still coming.

Shortly after, I heard my name being called by another runner. It was Alexandra, who I had met last fall at the MCM 10K. She's faster than me and I assumed she must be struggling as well. She said her legs were spent and that she was so glad I was there with her. I ran with her for a mile and it was great, but eventually I just had to let her go ahead. I was relegated to the survival shuffle. It took all the mental strength I had not to walk or stop. I just had nothing left in me and running two more miles seemed impossible. So many people were passing me, but I just focused on moving forward, one step at a time. Finally I saw the finish up ahead.

Mile 10: 8:26
Mile 11: Unknown because it was under a tunnel. Probably 9:15.
Mile 12: 9:33
Mile 13: 9:19
Last 0.2: (7:55 pace)

After the Race
I just wanted to collapse post finish line but I forced myself to keep walking. I got my Tiffany Necklace and my Nike finisher's shirt. Greg found me pretty quickly and walked with me over to my coach and my teammates. Both Greg and my coach had been worried about me, but I explained I was just having a really painful race after having slept just two hours the night before. My teammates confirmed that lack of sleep can really kill a race, so I was glad to have an immediate explanation for the crash and burn.

I started to see black spots and everything just felt really bad. I had over exerted myself and my body was not happy. Greg and I walked back to the metro, where I once again saw the spots. Ultimately I was okay and just very glad to be done with the race.

Official finish time 1:50:18-- about 10 minutes slower than goal time.

Before I do my final takeaways, I have to emphasize once again how well managed this race was, especially

Tiffany Necklace

for an inaugural event with so many runners. There was great signage along the course for mile markers, water stops, timing mats, inspirational quotes, etc. The start and finish areas were well well marked and nothing seemed to be overly crowded. It was nice to have Facebook updating my wall as I ran-- but without my actual splits so nobody knew I was bonking. The celebration was simply doing the race, and that's one of the main reasons I was there. For the experience. This race is about so much more than the Tiffany necklace, although the necklace is really quite nice!

Key Takeaways
I definitely got out of this race what I wanted most- the experience of running the first Nike Women's half in DC. And even though it hurt, it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I was part of it.

• Sleep matters. If I don't sleep well the week before a race, then my performance will likely suffer. Given that, I don't want to go into sleep-deprived races expecting to do poorly, but I do need to be realistic about what my body can do when it's in such an exhausted state. 
• I've raced a lot this year: 1 marathon, 3 half marathons, a ten-miler, and a 5K. Every month since January I have raced at least 13.1 miles. I think my body is worn out from the cumulative effects. I probably won't do so many long races so close together again, unless I am doing one of them as a training run.
• It's possible to enjoy a race when you feel like crap and just want it to be over.
• Running with teammates/friends helps. I spent about 3 minutes with the teammate I saw at mile 10, and about 1 mile with my other friend who I ran into at mile 11. Those were two high points for me.
• If possible, I should avoid major life decisions in the week before a race. I bought a new car just one week before my marathon in March, and I think that added to my overall anxious state. Even though I had been planning to buy that specific car for a year, and I got a lower price than I had expected, it still put me on edge a little. 
• Once I get my body into an anxious state about something, the physical anxiety lasts a lot longer then the time I actually spend thinking about the stressful topic. Even when I am no longer mentally stressing something, it takes my body awhile to "come down" from it's heightened state of awareness.
• I'm very proud of myself for not quitting and for giving it everything I had. A year ago, I might have run/walked my way to the finish line or stopped pushing as hard once I realized that it wasn't my day. There is great deal of satisfaction and value to be had from giving 100%, no matter what the clock says. It's an important skill to have as a runner.
• No crying for me! I brushed it off pretty quickly and focused on getting home and resting
• I have the best husband ever. I woke up him up at 11:00 last night when I couldn't sleep, and again this morning at 4:45 to come with me to the race. And both times, he was happy to be with me. With all the black spots I was seeing post-race, I don't know if I would have made it home safely without him.

Thanks, Nike, for a unique racing experience!