A half marathon takes a toll on your body.
After 13.1 miles of pounding on your joints, straining to keep going, sweating out hydration and burning every calorie in your bod and then some your body is simply tired – exhausted really.
For this reason it is important to take recovery time after a long run like a half marathon. It is important to take several days where you definitely don’t run and any exercise is relatively low impact. The week also needs to focus on rehydration and proper nutrition to get your body back to normal.
That was how I spent this week. This was a complete recovery week from the half marathon. I didn’t run for a week. I didn’t workout at all and had very minimal exercise. But that is just the beginning of the story.
Stomach Flu!
Apparently a half marathon doesn’t just impact your muscles it also weakens your immune system. Your energy is so focused on getting to the finish line that your immune system doesn’t necessarily get the support it needs. So for a little while your immune system isn’t as strong as it should be and you are quite susceptible to getting sick.
And I did! I got sick with a vengeance!
On Saturday night, Sunday and Monday I was suffering with a stomach flu. I struggled to keep food down and I ended up pretty dehydrated. I also ended up usually consuming less than 1000 calories per day until mid-week. Not a good situation paired with all of the calories and hydration that I burned through in the half marathon.
It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I felt mostly back to normal. I had an odd dizziness that stuck with me all week that finally went away when I woke up a week after everything started. In all this week was pretty awful physically and prevented any exercise until Saturday morning when I tried running for the first time in a week. It didn’t feel great!
Lesson Learned: in future long runs I need to be extra diligent about caring for my immune system after the race. I need to quickly find my way back home for a hot shower, clean clothes and to start the recovery process.
Exciting News: My First Interview
This week is going to include a big milestone in my Operation Melt journey. On Friday a podcast airs which features my first interview about my journey and my book.
Clarity on Fire is a podcast I have been listening to once or twice a week for the past year. I discovered the podcast when I was in the middle of my sabbatical and it just resonated with me. The podcast features two best friends, Kristen and Rachel, who are certified life and career coaches. They share blogs, they answer questions and they share interviews with people – experts and non-experts. Their tagline is that they help you “focus not JUST on how you can have a career you’re passionate about, but how to create a whole LIFE that feels fulfilling” …. and that is perfect for where I am in my journey right now!
The day before the Cap City Half Marathon I was interviewed by Kristen at Clarity on Fire. She wanted to ask me about my story and my journey. We talked about how and why I got started, how I stayed focused, my advice to other people and several other topics. Even if you have followed my journey for all 98 weeks so far there are still some surprises in the interview. There were some things that even surprised me.
The approximately one hour long podcast will “air” this coming Friday, 5/10. I would highly recommend subscribing to their podcast on your favorite podcast source. Plus, if you want another fun way to get yo know yourself, I would suggest taking their free passion profile quiz at http://clarityonfire.com/quiz/. I have learned that I am a Firestarter – I even retook the quiz several times because I didn’t think this result was accurate and I kept getting the same result so I guess that is what I am!
Please make sure to give the podcast a listen next Friday to hear my interview on their next Interview with a Normal Person segment.
Thanks for reading… check back next week for more.
Last week’s stats (4/22-4/28):
Maintain avg. weight of 189-199 pounds: 203.2 lbs average
Run 10+ miles per week: 13.5 miles
Total walk/run miles: 39.5
Weight training 2-3 times per week: 0 workouts
One race per month: January, March and April races complete. May TBD.
Continue to track & manage calories: 4,450 calories under budget
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