MY LEGS ARE WORKING AGAIN!

Can you say sore legs?? After Sunday's race, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) set in big time. They were only slightly stiff on Sunday, but by Monday morning, rigor mortis was setting in.

And lucky me, I work in an office that has 5 floors, with flights of steps to get around, or elevators of course. I usually take the steps, at least up one or two floors, on a regular basis. So Monday, there I was, starting to head up the steps, without thinking. But the legs weren't having any of that! And then worse yet, I forgot when I needed to go back down, and I found myself, with a couple of files in hand, standing at the top of a flight of stairs unable to move! I honestly could not make my legs go down those steps! I finally made my way down, sideways, with my back against the wall so I didn't lose my balance and fall. After that, it was elevators all day, even up and down one floor. For some people in the office, that's normal, to always take the elevators. But I got a lot of strange looks apparently "being so lazy." And just walking around, I felt like a wooden soldier my legs were so stiff! I had forgotten my lunch that day too and had to walk downtown to get something to eat, so I went to the closest (and one of the priciest) places just so I didn't have to walk farther.

By the time I got out of work that night, it was actually worse. But with 1/2 IM training, there are no days off, even after a long run like that. I was already having to mix up my training for the week because of the race, so knew I had to get on my bike trainer for a workout. I thought that might help the legs too, loosen things up. But again, I was wrong! Only 30 minutes of fairly easy spinning in a low gear and now I could barely bend my legs at all! And with the trainer in the basement, I had to make a serious effort to get back up the steps without having to crawl!

Tuesday morning, they were worse yet! I had decided the night before to swim on Tuesday morning and got as much ready as I could the night before. Good thing too because it was such an effort getting around, I doubt I would have made it out of the house if I hadn't already been organized! I did get in my first mile swim since last fall, with a time of 40:49, so it went better than I had figured. Because I swim in a short pool, and because the only way to measure your distance is by laps, a mile meant 60 laps. To keep from getting off count, bored, or frustrated, I counted 1/60, 2/59, etc. just to keep track. That seemed to work pretty well, so I hope I can do that again. I have learned too that after a hard event like the half marathon or the 25k, it is now easier to lengthen the swim workouts without as much problem. After all, 40 minutes is a lot shorter than 2 hours 44 min.!

And getting around the office Tuesday wasn't much easier. And I found myself needing to go up one floor several times in a row, so by the time I left work, my left hamstring was throbbing (I think it worked down from my hip that had been stiff). I was a mess! And a trip to Wal-Mart is a whole other story!

Today, things are much better, the legs are working, I'm pretty much back to normal, so now its time to sign up for another half marathon. Next up: Toronto Half, September 28, 2008. Woo hoo!