Marathon Recovery Program

x2.  i would factor in what your base is like, recovery in general for longer endurance events and maybe what kind of mileage and longs you have done.  marys can beat you down pretty good but like Donski, my first the plan was pretty loosely followed and lacked a lot of info on how to pace, hydrate, recover.  IMO your recovery will be expedited by how well trained you are (but thats kind of a well duh) but also know what and when you will eat after the race, stay active without doing anything major.  Personally, thats when i am swimming or elliptical the first few days.  Usually takes me 1.5 weeks or so before i take a stab at running and another few days or so til i am not feeling it running wise but that is moreso if i have raced it vs running it.  As your first if you trained well and run a conservative race, your recovery might not be too terrible.  Lots of variables though.

I would count on 2 weeks of minimal running and probably start back up week 3.  For a first mary you will probably not want to be doing anything more than walking in the first week, unless you have been running for many years at shorter distances.  The second week you may do some short 1-3 jogs z1 and week 3 start off slow and build from there by how you feel.  If you have a massive base, you will recover quicker.  I am just sharing my own recovery. 

However, you can be biking and swimming that first week to not lose fitness, just easy on the legs and low intensity on the bike. 

This year I did a mary 1/17 and a 10 mile race 3/6.  I wouldn't have wanted to do a run race sooner than that.  I put in 12 hours of workouts last week and should be solid this week into IM build. 

Looking at your logs, you are coming into this mary with a minimal run miles approach, so you will need to take the recovery slow.  I am assuming that your 2010 logs are accurate.  Also you are going to need to pace that mary very slow on only 100 miles per month at the top of your build. 

Edited by Baowolf 2010-03-15 11:16 AM

Last fall after running my first marathon I sort of followed Higdon's two marathons in eight weeks plan to get back into the training. I say sort of followed as I followed the recovery bit for the first couple of weeks fairly closely but then transitioned back closer to the run 3x a week (Higdon plan) with lots of cross training that I normally follow.

This worked well for me, and I will probably do this again if I decide to run multiple marathons or a marathon plus HIM or IM this fall.

Recovery plan for me is:  Ice Bath, Foam Roller, Foam Roller, Foam Roller, easy spin on the bike, move around as much as possible that night and next day, then Foam Roller and did I mention the Foam Roller? 

I followed the higdon 4 week recovery plan combined with the Oprah eating plan. 

I had no problems with the Higdon recovery plan as it was a welcome rest.  My problem is that no one tells you how to slow down eating after the marathon.  I quickly gained 5-7lbs over the course of two months following my marathon.  Took a month on Southbeach diet to get rid of the 10 billion extra carbs i had consumed over the recovery period!