Post Marathon
After the marathon, I had an hour car ride back to Lincoln. I drank two bottles of water and a Gatorade on the way home. I also located the second half of the Snickers bar matted inside my shirt pocket. Yuck.
Jeremy was VERY excited for me to do the ice bath and kept talking about how we should stop and buy SEVERAL bags of ice to fill up our big tub. I told him what we had in the freezer’s ice-maker would be just fine. When we got home, Juliet was happy to see me and excited that the big tub was getting filled up. To her, that means she gets to play in the tub with Mom! Jeremy dumped the ice in and I got in. WOW! It was cold. My teeth chattered. I knew I had to lay back as my shoulders were in the most pain. I could hold my torso under for about 2 minutes and that was it. Juliet cried the whole time as she wanted in the tub with me. I gave her a few ice cubes to play with and she was happy again. I went from the tub to a hot shower. I took a dose of Al-eve.
I limped and waddled around the house getting things put away and Juliet ready for bed. Jeremy’s mom came later on. It felt so good to sit down and relax for a while and chat with her.
The next morning, Jeremy and I got up at 4:30 to leave for the airport. I felt sore but not too bad. I had covered my two large blisters with sports pads. I got on the plane for Chicago and was feeling okay. When we arrived in Chicago, I was really stiff. I took 1/2 of a Percocet, ate pizza for breakfast, drank a big Mocha from Starbucks and felt better. Very relaxed. That Percocet was working very well. I had made the long trek through Ohare and boarded our next plane.
As we took off, I didn’t feel so hot. I got out the air sickness bag. I barfed 3 times. By the time we landed in Atlanta, I was better but stiffer. I shuffled to the next gate. My blisters were getting bigger, my stomach felt crappy again and I barfed again before getting on the plane for the Bahamas. By the time we landed in the Bahamas, I was fine, stuff but fine.
I woke up the next morning with sore feet and stiff but not too much else. By day two, I was pretty normal. By day three, I was totally fine. I slept 12 hours at night and took a nap every afternoon. I spent the day floating in the pool and lazy river at the resort. We watched 4 movies in the hotel room. I did nothing more active than snorkeling. Bahamas after the marathon…best idea ever!
November 18th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I have started training for the marathon. I’ve been running 2-5 miles 4 times weekley. I think I am going to kick it up next week. You are an inspiration. Thanks for sharing your experience.
How has your body changed during the traning?(If you don’t mind me asking).. Have you gained a lot of muscle? Lost a lot of body fat (if you had any… I don’t know)?
I’m a big guy (6′4″ and 250 pounds) and lift weights religiously. I want to lose the fat I have, but am scared I will lose all the muscle I’ve worked so hard to get. I’d love to lose about 20 pounds during the process, but don’t really know what to expect. I’ve been running the 2-5 miles 4 times a week for about a month now and have only lost about 5 pounds, though I haven’t dieted any. Do you have an insight into how the body changes during the process?
November 18th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Matt-I lost maybe 5 pounds the whole time. Interestingly, my experience is not unique. Nova had a recent special where 16, normal, couch potato people trained for a marathon and only one, who did extreme dieting plus weight lifting during the 40 (FORTY!) weeks of training, lost any weight.
My husband,a flabby guy, starting lifting about the same time I started running. His body really changed. Weight training builds muscle which burns more calories, even when you are at rest. Running burns calories while you run. My legs got a little trimmer and my calves pumped up but everything else was and is about the same.
Running makes your body more efficient at pumping blood and delivering oxygen to muscles. So the heart, the vessels, the muscles themselves become better and more efficient at their jobs.
Our great friend (and ONE BUFF dude) says that the only way to loose fat and change your body shape is to lift and follow and low fat, high protein diet. He recommends the Body for Life plan.
I will tell you that I felt strong, looked better and felt awesome while I was training. I also had a clear goal, just run the marathon, so that kept me motivated. Because of the defined runs, schedule of runs and plan, I had a tangible and detailed plan to stick with. When I have exercised just for “improving my body” I never stuck with it, lost motivation and gave up. So in that way, marathon training drove me to be in better shape.
One runner in the book I used (The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer) said she lost 20 pounds during training but I have not talked to other runners who lost any signifigant weight while training. I will say that if I do another marathon, I will want to loose about 20 before I run it as I think being on the heavy side slowed me down.
J.
November 18th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for your reply!
I hope to keep at it and maybe run a half marathon in February and a full one by the middle of next year. Thanks for sharing your experience; running the marathon is a daunting task, but you have made it easier to tackle.
Cheers!