Tired squirrel recovery

I've spent this past week recovering from the YT50; and I daresay that I could probably use another week but I have to figure out how to be actively training and recovering at the same time because the line-up for the next two months is not insignificant: the Marine Corps Marathon is in four weeks and two weeks after that, I have the Croatan 24-hour Ultra Race.

This is how I felt after my six-mile run on Thursday: 

And this is how I felt after my 11.5-mile bike ride yesterday: 

I also ended up with some odd twitching in the muscle/tendon/ligament area on the outside of my right leg immediately above my knee. I stretched, rolled and stretched again and it kept palpitating. Weird. If anyone knows what that is, I'd love some insight. 

That being said, I will be back on my regular training schedule tomorrow, but probably only do one double-digit run next week and then work my way back up to two the following week. I thought about jumping back on the track for speedwork, but am going to save it for the Dec & Jan races, which are 21 and 25K respectively, so will allow me the time to train slow and long while still building in speed. 

It is all about staying healthy and injury-free for the rest of the year, leading up to next April and the Marathon des Sables in Morocco - the last race in the series and the hardest - 150 miles across the Sahara Desert (near the Atlas Mtns) carrying all my food, survival gear and clothing for seven days, with a compass, a map and sometimes flags in the sand guiding you to the water allocation point. (That's the only thing you don't bring - 9 liters of water are allocated daily to each runner for drinking, food prep, hygiene. How you use it is up to you.) 

So, I will continue to try and hit race goal times, but know that each race is a test of my strength and stamina for the big culminating adventure....excellent, Ted!