Marathon Recovery

Also ran NYC yesterday. Did an easy 2 mile jog. Helped to loosen things up. I could even walk upstairs like a normal person when I got home. I will probably do 3 or 4 easy miles tomorrow. Usually I feel significantly better by the second day, but I'll still run easy for 2 or 3 weeks.

It varies from person to person and race to race. You will see a lot of "rules" but it's ambiguous what "training" means. I'm thinking the "one day off training per mile of race" refers more to serious mileage, speedwork, and races.....Most people probably wouldn't feel up to that physically (and/or motivated to do it! ) for 3-4 weeks after a hard marathon. But as for time off running, when you feel like it physically and want to mentally, you can do an easy run. For me it's varied from 2-3 days to maybe a week of just not feeling up to running, often maybe another week or two of feeling really tired if the run gets beyond an 45-50 minutes or I try to pick up the pace. As others have said, it helps to do some active recovery. I find that easy swimming and cycling are great at helping with recovery, even the day after the race. I remember one race in particular (Honolulu) where I actually managed to both swim (in the ocean) and bike (back home after the race) post-race, and I recovered very quickly. Of course that may have had more to do with not being in good shape at the time and thus running at a very conservative, "just finish" pace, but it may have helped.

Just listen to your body for physical activities, but for recovery from the soreness I use a combination of all of the following: Epson salts bath, massage, lots of water, walking or swimming, very easy short runs toward the end of the week.

BTW awesome results on your marathon. NYC was my first Mary 28 years ago and it is not an easy marathon, especially with the cold and wind you all had. Take it easy.

+1

After my marathon two weeks ago (3:26 so a fairly "serious effort" race), I rode an easy high-cadence 16 miler. Although my lefts/feet were shot, I didn't feel the pain w/the high cadence. In fact, it's amazing how great it feels on the muscles & mentally.

Congrats!

It also depends a lot on how much running mileage you normally do-- that is, how much "more than normal" was the marathon.

I've had much more difficult recoveries when I've done marathons on lower mileage than on higher mileage.

In general, the one day per mile guideline is a good one-- that means no HARD or long running for at least three weeks. One day per hour run is way too short.
I usually take a week completely off and then ease back into running. Swimming and cycling as I feel, but I don't expect anything great for a few weeks at least.

A cold bath?

A week off (mostly for the mental aspect), usually with some fun activity. Then, for a few weeks, short easy runs/bikes/swims as motivation and my body wants. Then, back at it!