In my running prime in Melbourne, I frequently ran with a group for a hard 30km or more in the Dandenong Ranges on a Sunday morning and followed it up with a social 10km warm-down run with some of the same running friends on the grass oval at Wattle Park in the evening. I won’t say it was easy to do, but it was quite manageable in terms of recovery. As the years have passed, there has been a very noticeable decline in my recovery rate after a long run and even a 10km run the next day has become a chore. My body is still very stiff 24 hours after the long run and these 10km runs would be very slow and very hard work.
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| It took me a long time to get over the 2008 Deep Space Trail Marathon |
I feel sure that, for the cardio-vascular system, it would be better to run than walk on recovery days. However, I am now of the opinion that walking is the right option for me in my sixties. It gently works the same muscles, is weight-bearing and burns nearly as many kilojoules as would a run of the same distance. I am thinking about adding an evening jog to my morning walk as I ramp up my training for the Melbourne Marathon on the basis that the morning walk will work out the post-long run stiffness, but will back off if it seems not to be working.
After a bad night’s sleep resulting from yesterday’s leech bites, I was late to get myself out the door for my recovery 5km walk and a little fearful that the right Achilles and groin pain might still be significant. As it turned out, I could feel both injuries, but not badly enough to change my training plans for the week, and I felt better for having the exercise.
