Recovery Circuitry

Man, I was creaky this morning as we started our warmup jog over to Austin High School! A very tiny crew of hardy souls met up before dawn today at RunTex. It was downright chilly, around 30 degrees, but at least I was dressed properly for it. I had planned on either running an easy 7 miles with Alex or doing easy circuit training, if that was an option. Gilbert confirmed that we would be stepping, hopping, and lunging, so I went with that option instead. This is sort of new this year, but I've discovered that circuit training makes a pretty good day-after-a-race recovery workout. I don't push the running segments at all, and I don't hurry through the circuits, but instead just use most of the exercises as active stretching.

Some of the drills showed us exactly where we were sore, but I was surprised to find that I felt pretty good today. I was definitely still tired, but I wasn't as stiff as I had been after Motive, for instance. It was good to see Gilbert out there this morning, after his long series of flights back from Sacramento last night. He didn't have to be out there for us. We'd have understood. But, it was sure a treat to have him there to give us good-natured grief about our workout.

After four circuits, we had to do some extra core stuff. That consisted of the 15/30/45/90 degree leg lift deal (2 sets of that), and then lots of variations on the "Arch/Press" core deal. As we jogged back, Colleen and I could both tell we'd been working over the core muscles. For the day, a modest 4.75 miles, but it did the job.

I did most of the stretching routine, and except for my numb toes, I felt pretty good once I finished. Alex stayed around and kept me company, and he regaled me with his stories of hunting down his very own Wii game system. With all my post-run clothing bundled up and keeping me warm, it was really pretty nice out there. A little more chatting with Gilbert, and it was time to get going. Now, all I have to do is get my massage scheduled for Wednesday, and the recovery shall be complete!