Wedding Recovery

Hello All!

It's Sunday afternoon, and I am trying to get organized and relax after such a fun weekend. Congratulations to my friends Stefanie and Bryce. They are one cute couple!

On Friday morning I managed to squeeze in a workout which consisted of treadmill running and weights. Saturday was the wedding and I had no time for a workout then. Today around lunchtime I went to watch a soccer game and because Louisville's weather has made a 180 and it is now extremely hot and sunny, I must have lost 5 lbs. of water weight during the match. A swim seemed like an appropriate and refreshing activity for the day. I swam 50 lengths and I continue to notice how my breathing has improved and how I can take more strokes between breaths. Speaking of improvement, I got to thinking about that during my swim. I run with other people to get better, I bike with other people to get better, but I've been doing all the swimming on my own. Although I do feel stronger and I have no doubt that I've improved my swimming, me thinks it would be a good idea to swim with someone else every once in a while! Not only would they keep me motivated and I could keep them motivated, they would probably help me to swim faster too. Today I did several sprints and I am vowing to add more of those to my routine.

So, back to the wedding weekend. Because I was a bridesmaid, our schedule was packed and it is very easy to get fatigued. In order to stay on top of my game, these are a few things I did:

1. Drink water! I carried around a cup or a water bottle with me mostly everywhere and made a real effort to keep myself hydrated. When one is running around between locations and events it is easy to forget about hydration!

2. When it comes to alcohol, try to stick to the same kind. Last night at the reception, I only drank wine. If I had had wine, then beer, then a bourbon drink, I know I would be feeling pretty badly today! Towards the end of the reception I made myself go to the bar and get water because I knew I would thank myself for that decision later.

3. Carry snacks. Because of all the training I do, I eat a lot. There were several times during the weekend where I was so grateful for the snacks I had on me. Running around is tiresome, but I carried bananas and protein bars with me and they kept me going.

4. Thank your lucky stars if you get sit down dinners. For the bridesmaids' luncheon and wedding reception, we had sit down dinners which prevented a potential buffet overload.

5. Rest your feet. Once I got back to the hotel room, I put my legs on the wall and let the blood drain from my feet, then I hopped in the shower and washed them. You never know what kinds of things hop from the street or floor onto your shoes and onto your feet, so go biblical for a minute and wash them before you get into bed!

That's about it. I'm heading to Mobile for another wedding next weekend (I'm not in it) and this one should be a blast!