Recovery was the theme of this week's training. I felt ok on Monday but my calves were still pretty tight from the race so instead of the initial thought of getting up early at 5.30 and running around Central Park, I got some much needed sleep and got up at 7am and left for the airport soon after. It was bucketing with rain outside so I'm glad I didn't head out for a jog as I would have had to carry all my wet gear in my hand luggage. I passed out as soon as I got on the plane, which felt so good as I normally can't sleep on planes.

I arrived in Phoenix with the plan of going for a run at Julie's parents house but again it was pouring with rain, getting close to rush hour and snowing on the mountain so I decided to drive straight up before it got any worse and the road got closed. I was lucky as the road had just reopened a couple of hours earlier so I managed to make good time. I waited for Julie to get back from work and we headed to he gym to do a run together on the treadmills. To make sure I recovered enough, I set the belt to 7.30 miles and plodded along for 30 minutes.

Tuesday was a couple of easy runs (90 mins and 60 mins) and these were again, run very slowly. All the runs this week were going to be slow in between the workouts so it was a case of get the Ipod on, select some chill out music, and put one foot in front of the other. My calves had loosened up quite a bit by the evening so it was reassuring that I wouldn't have to worry about them again until I got my massage a few days later. That evening we were trying to organise the training as Brett and I had the same workout and Greg was leaving town on Wednesday. I wanted to do the session on Thursday to get some extra recovery but couldn't get an answer from Brett. Greg texted me later saying that he had gone to Phoenix and I would be on my own on Thursday so why don't I just do the workout on Wednesday and he could be there with me. This was going to be a tough turn around and change the purpose of the workout. I would be running 8*1 mile and normally I would run these pretty fast on the track but this time is was going to turn into more of a strength workout as I would be doing it on Lake Mary Rd on tired legs against the wind and on my own.

I woke up with my legs feeling pretty good and ready for the grind that I was about to go through. The first few reps were fine but the third one was where it became tough. We started heading straight into the wind and my legs tightened up. With a new mindset, it wasn't matter of whether I would finish or not, it was whether my legs would hold together. I wasn't running fast, I was just trying to get the work in. Greg warned me that the wind would get stronger as we rounded the corner and I stupidly said "Bring it!". BAM,  it was like running into a brick wall! Once I finished my legs were really suffering and I found it tough to stand up straight and jog properly. Straight to the ice bath for me!

Another couple of days of very slow running and my legs felt back to normal. I had gotten a massage on Thursday evening and by Friday morning there was no tightness anymore so that was a great sign that the strength is in my legs and I'm recovering very well now.

Saturday's long run was great as I was on my own and could just concentrate on my pace rather than make adjustments for others. I went out to Lake Mary again with Julie in the car giving me drinks every three miles. It was another blustery day and it felt like there was no way to run with the wind. I ran out to the 15 mile point which is at the end of a big drop. Normally the 14^th mile is very fast because its very steep down but with how strong the wind was, I ended up running the same pace and then slowing down a lot over the next mile as I just tried to keep moving. Luckily I was turning around then and could have the wind behind me back up the hill but that was the extent of being pushed by the wind. I was somehow running straight into it again so it was going to be a tough run to finish at 2.5 hours. Julie thought I had caught some sun while I was out on the run when it actually turned out to be wind burn! Luckily the run didn't feel long which is a good sign as I don't want to go into the marathon thinking about how long a race it is. It was the same for the half marathon last week, it felt like it was over very quickly. The rest of the day was spent lounging around and staying off my feet. We went out to dinner with some friends and then as we were leaving we got a text that some other friends were meeting up in one of the bars for some drinks so we stopped by to catch up with them. This particular bar is well known for the desserts they serve so having given them up for lent, it was going to be tough seeing my friends chowing down on torte's and cakes. I ended up ordering a hot chocolate with Bailey's as I knew that would knock me out pretty quick and I would sleep well. I drank that almost every night of my honeymoon and had some great sleep so I knew it would work for me. We ended up leaving pretty early to hit the sack and of course, as soon as I saw the pillow, I passed out.

Sunday is here now and its time for another recovery day. The sun is shining bright, the wind is bending the trees over double and I'm tired. The perfect recipe for running slow!