It’s been a long time coming, and now it’s here and gone: race week.
When I ran Chicago in October, I had hoped to notch a BQ – in the low 3:00’s, with sub-3:00 as a stretch goal. If I did well, I was considering skipping a spring marathon and focusing more on a half marathon and some shorter distances.
But, Chicago didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped. It was a PR – but my 3:06 fell short of the 3:05 I needed to BQ (and the sub-3:00 that I needed to be confident about beating the cutoff). So, after I took a nap, I immediately signed up for the Jersey City Marathon and marked my calendar.
This week started with a race – and the focus of the rest of the week was recovery. This was timely, since I was also headed out of town for a conference on Monday. It’s a lot easier to get a short 30-40 minutes in before a conference than it is to put in solid marathon training.
Obviously, success on race day is important. But a successful week is also one where I’m healthy and running at the end. So monitoring that return to running throughout the week is important to check in on how my body is feeling.
How’d the race go? And how is recovery going?
The Plan for the Week
The week will start off with the Jersey City Marathon. From there, I’ll follow my typical post-marathon return to running plan. I’ll start with 30 minutes easy on Monday, see how that feels, and work up to 4 miles later in the week.
Here’s how things broke down:
- Sunday: Jersey City Marathon! 27 miles
- Monday: 30 minutes easy
- Tuesday: 3 miles easy
- Wednesday: 4 miles easy
- Thursday: 4 miles easy
- Friday: 5 miles easy
- Saturday: 4 miles easy
And here’s how things went.
Sunday: Race Day in Jersey City
I woke early Sunday – 4:55 – to drink my coffee and get prepped. The weather was just about perfect, and I had a good feeling when I got outside and met up with one of my teammates. We were set on running sub-3:00.
The first half went great. The first couple of miles were a titch slow, and then I made up some time in miles three and four. For the first half, I was right on pace – with a split at the half of roughly 1:29:45.
That’s when things started to go downhill. My gut had started to feel uneasy around mile 10, and I had to make an urgent pit stop at mile 14. That cost me some time, but I was hopeful I could get back on track and still finish in 3:02-3:03.
For the next 10k, things were still on track until the stomach issues resurfaced. That sealed my fate, and I ended up jogging it in around 3:25.
You can read the full race report here.
Not the result I wanted. But on a positive note, the first half felt super strong. Not only was I on pace, but after I faltered after the half, I was back on track for the next 10k. If not for the stomach issues, I think I definitely would have broke 3:00.
You roll the dice often enough, and sometimes you crap out. But I’ll have a better day next time – at the Twin Cities Marathon in October.
Monday: The Morning After
We walked around Jersey City a bit after the race Sunday, and my legs felt pretty good. Stiff for sure, and I was walking slowly. But I wasn’t hobbling about.
Monday morning, I needed to be out of the house by 6:15 to catch a flight to Cali. I usually aim to do an easy 30 minutes the morning after a marathon – so that meant getting up super early two days in a row.
I rolled out of bed at 5:00 and hit the road. My legs felt good walking around the house. When I hit the road and broke into a shuffle, my first steps were pretty slow. But over the course of that first mile, things loosened up a little bit.
It was slow going for sure, but I rolled through the second mile. I took a quick walking break at that point, and then I finished up about 3/4 miles home. ~2.8 miles in 32:00.
Sure, it was slow. But it felt good to move.
After that, we had to walk through the airport and around downtown San Diego. Didn’t have any issues getting around, which is a good sign.
Tuesday: Jogging Around San Diego
For the remainder of the week, I’m out in San Diego for a conference. The weather is beautiful. Or at least, it is for me. I guess the Californians think it’s a bit chilly, because there are a lot of people with jackets, sweatshirts, and long sleeves on. Meanwhile, I’m out in my tank top.
My hotel is about a half mile east of the cruise port, so I went west to the port and then south along the water. The first mile was slow again, but my legs loosened up.
I passed by Seaport Village and looped through the park. By the third mile, I was starting to feel ok. I finished up in just under 30 minutes. A definite improvement over Monday.
Wednesday: A Little Further, A Little Faster
With two successful days under my belt, time to increase the distance slightly to four miles. I followed the same route, just going an extra half mile before I turned around.
The weather was beautiful again. 50’s, a little overcast, a light breeze. I could get used to this southern California lifestyle.
Things felt a lot better today. The first mile wasn’t nearly as tough, and I warmed up more quickly. My average pace was still higher than usual, but the last two miles were ~9:00/mi. One step closer to normal.
Thursday: Running Off a Hangover
Wednesday night, we met up with my wife’s cousin for dinner. Afterwards, we stopped for a nightcap at a rooftop bar. Fun times – but I think I had one cocktail too many.
Woke up Thursday morning with a mild headache. In retrospect, I might have also been getting sick, so it was a bit of a double whammy. But there’s no medicine quite like a run to get over a hangover.
I drank my coffee and hit the road. The first mile was a little tougher than the day before, but things still loosened up. By the end, I was feeling pretty good. My overall pace was slightly worse than yesterday – thanks alcohol – but it was still a decent easy run.
Friday: Last Day in San Diego
Last day of our trip. And with two successful four milers under my belt, it’s time to stretch the distance a little bit to five miles. Same route, just adding another half mile before the turnaround.
Right out the gate, things felt much better. I was no longer nearly as sore from the marathon, and I wasn’t hungover, either. I’ve been walking a lot at this conference – ~20k steps or so – so my legs have been getting worked out quite a bit. But it’s been just enough to loosen me up, but not so much that I’m worn out.
Today was much better and much faster. The first mile was under 9:30/mi, and the last two were down to ~8:30/mi. I had to pick up the pace a couple times to beat traffic lights, and it felt good to stretch my legs and open up my stride.
No, I’m not 100% recovered. But I’m definitely on the way.
Saturday: Why Is It So Hot Here?
We took the red-eye home Friday night. I thought I’d be able to sleep on the plane, but I just couldn’t. I had a scratchy throat through most of the conference, which I thought might have been allergies, but now I’m pretty sure I was coming down with some kind of cold or viral infection.
So I was awake the entire time, sniffling and coughing a little. Miserable. Got back to the house by 7:30ish, and immediately got in bed. I still wasn’t feeling great, but I got some sleep finally. After a three hour nap, my body wanted to wake up, so I had some coffee.
I didn’t feel 100%, but I felt ok. So I went out for an easy jog. After bumping up to 5 miles yesterday, the plan today was 4. I was prepared to cut that short at an easy 30 minutes, though, if I really wasn’t feeling it.
And the first few steps – I wasn’t feeling it. But slowly, it got better. My sinuses cleared, and my headache faded away. I came around the corner, finishing the first lap of the Reservoir, and I decided I felt good enough to do another lap.
It was also hot. It was in the 70’s, and there was just barely enough cloud cover to filter out the sunlight.
In spite of all that, I felt surprisingly good. The last mile was a crisp 8:07. I’m actually a little surprised it was so fast looking back at the stats.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
The week didn’t start off the way that I wanted, and I’m definitely disappointed about missing out on a BQ. But like I said before – I’m still proud of the first half, and I think this is a good sign for the future.
I’m not sure that these stomach issues were entirely in my control. It’s possible I was already getting sick, and my body just wasn’t ready. But to the extent that I can do things differently next time – I’m going to eat a lighter breakfast on Saturday (two bowls of shredded wheat might have been a bad choice) and I’m going to make sure I do some marathon tempos with gels (I didn’t train nearly as much with gels this time as I did in the past).
The other good news, though, is that recovery is definitely on track.
The nice thing about running every day – including right after a race – is that you can really feel things change. The first couple days were slow, but not terrible, and by the end of the week I really felt mostly normal.
Next week will still be strictly easy runs, with two days of strides mixed in. Then, in the third week I’ll probably start incorporating some light workouts.
For the next two months, I’ve got some shorter races on my schedule. They include a mile, 10k, 5k, 10 mile, and a 5 mile. When I get closer, I’ll decide how hard to attack each one, but of the five the 5k is the most important to me.
Then, it’ll be time to look ahead towards the fall. I’m signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon in October, but I’m considering adding the Erie Marathon in September. I don’t really want to do two races this fall, but part of me wants to take one more shot at qualifying for Boston 2026.
For now, I’ll let it simmer. And I’ll make a decision by the end of June.