First Post-Marathon Run

On Sunday, I ran for the first time since completing Napa Valley Marathon a week before. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this run. Before running, my legs felt fine. However, I had suffered through a head and chest cold all week. As far as the cold went, I felt okay, but still had a pretty nasty cough.

Once I started running, I was surprised at how good my legs felt, initially. After I ran a quarter mile or so and was into an easy rhythm, my legs felt great. Breathing the cold air didn't feel to good, however, and I briefly considered calling it a day until my cough went away. Instead I just kept running. After I had run a mile or so, the rain started. Somewhere between miles one and two, my legs started to feel fatigued. I just kept on running at an easy effort, without worrying about pace. The second half of the run was noticeably slower than the first half, which was due to a combination of tired legs and running into the wind on the way home. I ended up running five cold, rainy, windy miles.

I've pretty much decided to keep running this five mile loop at an easy pace until I feel like I'm running at 100% from both a running (leg tiredness) and health (no more cold or cough) standpoint. When I feel good, I'll begin building the mileage back up. I'm hoping to begin building mileage starting next week, but I'm going to try to be patient. With my next race (or at least goal race) not until October, now is a good time to rest if I need it.