The Morning After

Last night I started to fade very quickly around 8:00. I knew that today would not be easy. Oh, how I underestimated myself! It’s all great to write a race report RIGHT AFTER THE RACE, but the next day when the DOMS (ie. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) starts to set in and I realize that maybe I didn’t have as much left in my legs after all, the whole experience has become a lot less rosy. I awoke without much problem, but as soon as I moved, I had shooting pains up from my upper back and neck into my head. “Boom boom boom,” was my heart beating into my temples. I felt like I was going to fall over. Then I went to the bathroom and discovered my sore calves and shin (oh, just the left one is sore). I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t due to the pain that was radiating throughout my body. Yes, maybe I’m over-exaggerating because I’m still in the hell of my own making and tomorrow it won’t be so bad. I can’t help but wonder why, oh why, do I choose to do this to myself? Maybe it’s for the love of sports, the love of the competition, or the love of the pain. Whatever it is, I know I will remember it in a few days. Right now, I can only kick myself and wonder how I am POSSIBLY going to run twice that distanced (plus some) in under two weeks from now. I can’t even think about it right now. If I do, I will likely unregister myself.

What I have been doing today is drinking a LOT of water. I believe that a lot of this is due to lack of hydration and salts from yesterday. I have been taking a lot of Vitamin C and eating salty foods. I have been icing the parts that hurt, especially my calf. It seems to have helped that, but my neck is still killer sore and occasionally radiates into my head. Even ibruprofen has had only a minimal effect on the pain.

This is nothing compared to the pain after Ironman, but it has reminded me of that pain. This scares the crap out of me. It reminds me that I must train harder. If I train harder, the pain will be less after Ironman. The small amounts of pain that I will have to go through in my workouts will help to reduce the pain after Ironman. Oh yes, I needed this kick in the ass. I needed it badly.

Also, I uploaded my Garmin. I have attached the image below. Apparently I ran most of the race in HR zone 4. No wonder I hurt!