In the past two weeks, I have not been running a lot I’m not going to lie. I have been resting my body quite a bit and did a short run yesterday to stretch out my legs since I have a race this weekend. I went for a 6km run yesterday and will be going again today for a similar distance. This weekend’s run is a half marathon (21.1 km) trail run organized through MEC Victoria (here is a link to the event: https://events.mec.ca/node/242046).

This is a Halloween themed run and so naturally, I will be running in a banana costume and will be dressed as “Hannah Banana” (stay tuned for photos).

Strategy wise, I am taking this run very easy. I will be running with a colleague of mine and she also ran the marathon 2 weeks ago and has been primarily resting since then.

I have been doing a little bit of reading around the recovery of running and how to develop after the feat of a marathon and increase encouragement moving forward when you feel such a lack of energy. I read an article about the rules of recovery when it comes to marathons. I learned that staying moving is super important to encourage muscle recovery, and also that it is important to cross-train after marathon running so that your body can have a break from the motions of running and can stretch muscles to contrast the strain. (This is the resource I was looking at https://www.active.com/running/articles/5-golden-rules-of-marathon-recovery?page=2). In terms of motivation, I read this article: https://www.womensrunning.com/2016/04/get-inspired/stay-motivated-after-your-big-race_58152. I learned that setting goals for future events (check), and to tell people about your goals for future events. Additionally, it encourages the recording of information online and sharing with your friends. This is something that I also find super helpful to keep myself motivated when I am still many weeks out from a race.

I don’t have a serious goal for this race, I think I will be finishing around the 2 hour mark.