I have been trying to think through what might have happened in your case. But I assume you used the Windows 8 Reset option and not the OEM Factory Reset option Pat refers to.
When you installed Windows 8, it was probably never given an image to use for a Reset and therefore reverted to the original Windows 8 install image, thus your original programs were not included. Even if it would have been set to use the original Windows 7 image, you would probably have gotten a version error when trying to recover the Windows 7 image.
It might be a good idea to put a copy of the original Factory Reset image somewhere safe, unless you already have the recovery media for it. If you download Windows 8 again, you may also want to put those files in a safe place, or create a DVD/USB drive to reinstall if necessary, and I would suggest a flash drive.
Currently, my system (non-OEM) is set up to use a current image of my OS partition. When I reset, it replaces that partition exactly as it was when I created the image. My primary backup, in case of Drive failure, is a System Image I create on a regular basis. But the Recovery partition is not included with it, so it won't be restored.