Recovering from a 10K race is an art form. After all, you just pushed yourself to your aerobic threshold for over an hour. Basically you need to treat yourself like an invalid for the first 24 hours if you really pushed yourself during the race. Concentrate on sleep and nutrition above all else. I slept for 10 and a half hours last night. Tonight I'll probably do the same thing. I feel surprisingly good today. I am going crazy wanting to run again, but I also know the importance of easing back into it. I know that recovery is critical. "Hard days hard, easy days easy" is my mantra. When it's time to run hard, I love to run hard. And when it's time to chill out, then it's time to go easy. This is why race recovery is such a beautiful thing. You must let go of the urge to run and accept the regeneration that's happening in your body, especially in your muscular and central nervous systems. I mostly feel tired, thirsty, and hungry after a race, in that order. Maybe that's why the first two statements out of my mouth today at the Mexican restaurant were "Estoy muy cansado" and "Tengo mucho sed."
My meal (chori pollo) will help to replenish my protein, carbs, and fat.
In the meantime, I'm taking a 3 day break from exercising. We runners put our bodies through a ton of work and overall pounding, regardless of the surface we might be running on.
Have a wonderful day!