This last week I was in London and resisted actively romping around the city too much. I found that after the race, I still had that feeling in my chest of overexertion for quite a while. I did walk around a bit, but felt drained by mid-afternoon and returned to my hotel room for a nap each day. I did nothing but walk around; no swimming or biking at all. My legs were sore, but walking around helped my circulation and reduced their soreness and stiffness. Each day, however, I took 2 packets of Emergen-C to stave off getting sick. I knew my immune system would be weakened and didn't want to get sick out in Europe somewhere. Plus, I am sure the extra vitamin hit was helping my recovery.
By end of the week, my legs weren't sore any more, although my left IT band still is protesting a bit. I used my foam roller a lot and it definitely helped push through the remnants of the exertions on race day.
I can definitely tell that I am recovering fast this year as I am not as wiped out as last year. Today (Saturday) I hit the pool to see how swimming felt. I only did a form workout today of 1700m, but I didn't feel taxed at all like last year. I remember after Ironman NZ 2005, I swam Master's 2 weeks after the race and I was feeling very wiped out midway through the workout. Today, I felt almost no elevated heart rate or feelings of not being able to continue. I did not push the workout and only did form drills, but I could tell that I might even be able to survive a usual Master's workout.
I hope for a faster recovery as I am eager to get onto building for the Waikiki Rough Water Swim on Labor Day, and start building for the NYC Marathon coming up early November.
This coming week: lots of recovery, start biking workouts, get back into Master's swimming, and lots of ART and Graston for healing.
