Thanks so much for your nice comments earlier this week! I can’t believe it has only been five days since Wineglass – seems like so much longer already, but not in a bad way. I’m still riding the high from a fun, tough race, but at the same time almost immediately shifting focus to NYCM which is in just 23 days (!!).
from last year, but the 2013 banners are up in the park!
Since I held off thinking about how I would get back into training for NYCM until after Wineglass, I’ve been winging it for the most part this week. I took two full days off and then met Betsy for an easy run around the bridle path on Wednesday, which felt a little strange and painful, but overall ok. Plus I hadn’t seen Betsy in two days and the bridle path in four, which is far too long. My quads have been especially sore and tight, but after some aggressive foam rolling, icing and a visit to Dr. Levine, they’re actually not feeling so bad. I’ve kept my runs to 6-7 miles the past two days and will shoot for a long run of 10-12 miles this weekend.
I’ve been doing some random Googling for “running two marathons in one month” to get an idea of how other runners have trained for something similar, and I think the consensus of advice is to “reverse taper.” In a nutshell, just go backwards from what I did before Wineglass and time it to the next race. I want to make sure I’m recovering appropriately from the marathon so am not setting a hard plan, but at the same time will shoot for something like this the next few weeks:
- Week of October 7 – easy runs, long run of 10-12 miles, total 30-35 miles
- Week of October 14 – easy runs, workout TBD, long run of 16-18 miles with TBD miles at MP, total 55-60 miles
- Week of October 21 – easy runs, workout TBD, long run of 12-14 miles with 5 miles at MP, total 45-50 miles
- Week of October 28 – race week! easy runs, RACE
Any of this can and probably will be tweaked based on how I’m feeling the next few weeks, but I feel better now that I have some sort of idea as to what I’m doing. So, here goes nothing!
Recovery Nutrition
Also can’t forget about the nutritional component of recovery! I’ve been making sure I get plenty of protein to help rebuild muscles and lots of carbs to replenish glycogen stores and fuel my return to running. I’ve been focusing on what we call “high biological value” (HBV) protein sources, which means they contain essential amino acids in a proportion similar to the body’s tissue so they can be quickly absorbed and incorporated in to the body’s protein.
turkey sweet potato stew: protein-packed!
A lot of my patients have had recent surgery and need a lot of protein to promote healing, and I try to push HBV proteins as much as I can to help them recover. Granted runners are recovering from something a bit different than surgery, but we still want to maximize protein absorption! These HBV protein sources are also called “complete proteins.” Animal proteins are considered good HBV protein sources, as well as a few special plant-based sources:
- Eggs
- Dairy – milk, yogurt, cheese
- Chicken, fish, turkey
- Beef, pork
- Soy
- Quinoa
Lower biological value proteins are the plant-based proteins, which are lacking in some essential amino acids (“incomplete proteins”). These are not as easily absorbed by the body when consumed alone because of the different amino acid profile, but when combined with each other can form complete proteins (i.e., beans and rice). Sources:
- Beans
- Legumes
- Nuts and nut butters
- Grains
- Vegetables
- Seeds
Previously, it was thought that these sources needed to be combined and eaten at the same time in order to form complete proteins and maximize absorption. But, new research seems to be moving more towards the belief that as long as you consume a variety of these incomplete proteins during say, a day, then your body can still recognize them together as complete proteins and absorb accordingly.* Good news for vegetarians!
Watches
A while ago I received an email asking if I wanted to review a watch from Watchco, which is an online website full of nice watches. The offer (a free watch!) was very generous, so of course I responded back asking what the catch was. Turns out, nothing other than to review the watch on my blog. Now, I will be the first to tell you I think posts reviewing stuff can be kind of boring and have my own opinions on “sponsored” bloggers and such. But! I have a lot of student loans to pay off and desperately needed a new watch for the hospital, as my old Timex Ironman did not really go with my labcoat.
So I picked this watch from the Seiko watches section on the website and received it the next week. I have small wrists so had to get three of the links removed before wearing it, but after that have worn it every day since. It’s solar-powered, so it doesn’t require a battery change, which is awesome. It is also accented with Swarovski crystals, which makes me feel fancy. I don’t really have any negatives to say about the watch, except that I had to get used to reading the analogue dial as opposed to the digital time on my Timex Ironman (i.e., I had to learn to tell time again). I didn’t need a new running watch, but Watchco also has a bunch of them on their site, which are all pretty good deals.
Anyways – have you ever run two marathons in a short time period? Advice or thoughts on training through? Favorite protein sources?
*a lot of this research is ongoing, so could change at any time!