What’s Next With Route 66!
Happy Wednesday friends! I hope you’re having a great one. Can I say my week has been crazy already? Earlier this week, a coworker and I were lamenting about a long week and then we realized it was only Monday. WOW. Anyways, I figure I would stop by with a bit of an update and breakdown of what’s next for me this season!
Disclaimer: I received free entry to Williams Route 66 Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
After any big race, it’s common to get the post-race blues. However, I can say I didn’t get that. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the process or the race. I actually had a blast with both! It was so nice to wake up at my own leisurely pace and just be intentional with my movement. That usually meant rolling out of bed at 5 because I can’t “sleep in” naturally anymore but still! There was no pressure to do anything and it was great. Most evenings, I would stretch and roll a bit but mostly spent them catching up on shows. Mentally, it was just the break I needed.
Physically, I am doing well. Stairs are no longer my friend. Of course, it wasn’t so much about going up the stairs but the going DOWN the stairs that was tricky. My office has about 4 stairs so once I was in, I usually didn’t go out to my car until I was leaving work, haha! There is one spot in my calf that is a bit tight still. The day or so after the race, it noticeably changed my stride. It gets better each day and now it only bothers me in the morning. I have my full range of motion by the evening. Again, I have been babying it and I will be heading to the chiropractor’s office this morning so I can get it looked at as well as getting cracked. Am I the only one who enjoys a nice chiropractor session? My doc is a runner so he knows all the good stuff and really helps me out whenever I deal with little niggles like this.
That being said, I haven’t run yet and I’m honestly not stressed about it. A marathon takes a lot out of your body and I believe it’s super unrealistic to expect to be 100% okay afterwards. I am proud of my recovery because unless you really looked at my stride, you probably wouldn’t know that I had ran. That’s what I was really hoping for during training. I consider my training successful and I can’t wait to heal up for the rest of the fall races!
One race that I’m really looking forward to is the Williams Route 66 Half Marathon! Houston has recently received a cool front so I’m guessing that Oklahoma will be plenty chilly for this race. Mentally, I think my best races are in cooler weather so I’m crossing my fingers! Another awesome thing I’m looking forward to experiencing on Route 66 is their course! Not only have they designed an awesome new course but their course has elevation change! It may not seem like much but this Texas girl trains and runs on some FLAT streets. I can probably count on my hand the number of “hills” I know of and they are either man-made piles of dirt or overpasses! Since I will be playing a bit with hills on this course, I will be sprinkling some of those into my training.
A major component of hill running is making sure your upper body is upright during the inclines. I will be getting back to lifting and adding core work as well. I did strength training during marathon training but tapered off that toward the end. I know my strength is nowhere near where it was at the beginning of the year but that’s okay! I’m excited to get back to it and curious to see how I can incorporate it into my half marathon training!
My fall race schedule is packed and I can’t wait to get back on my feet and just have fun! This will be my first time running a race in Oklahoma and I’m stoked that it will be on Historic Route 66! If you’d like to join me, you can use code 2018RT66BIBRAVE when you sign up for $10 off registration!
Do you have any races coming up?
