Recovery has now become boring

I'm recovering, and I'm bored.  Normally during the past 18 months, I've enjoyed my little spells of recovery.  A bit more sleep, a bit more food, and maybe even a bit less pain all combine to make for a relaxing few days. But, when I finished Abingdon, I knew I needed a proper recovery - the kind you read about in running magazines.  A week of no running at all, a week of shortish runs, and then build back up to fitness.  I finished tired, jaded, and ready for a break.  The good news is that work is busy enough to make sure I don't really have much time for running.  The bad news is that long hours don't leave much time for the extra rest needed to accelerate my recovery.

The first week, with no running, wasn't too difficult.  I was limping for 2-3 days while my left ITB and associated small muscles refused to unknot.  Even a good beating from Sara only got me to a gentler imbalance.  By Thursday, we tried out a new Japanese restaurant in town (excellent!) that only takes cash at the moment (oops!).  So, I had to run a few hundred yards to and from the cash machine.  It felt amazing to be running even just a little bit again.  Friday I woke up a bit sore from my little dash, but I didn't care, because I knew I'd be running again soon.

The second recovery week has been the tough one.  I'm tired pretty early into a run (3-5 miles is tiring - how dull!).  The legs are doing OK, although I do wish my left knee would make less noise when I'm on the stairs.  The breathing muscles - core and intercostals - are still pretty shattered.  As a result, when I got a bit bored after a slow mile and a half on Friday night and decided to spice it up with some 800m repeats, I had to give in after 3 1/2 reps because I couldn't get enough air into my lungs:  dull.

Today, the sun is shining and I've got the time to enjoy a bit of Autumn colour.  I'm looking forward to my first trip onto the trails for a month - I just hope my body feels the same!