Marathon recovery (Read 553 times)

Says it all. Everyone has different opinions on what I should or should not be doing for marathon recovery. I'm not going to tell you what I've been told because I don't want to influence your answers but what do you guys do to help recover from a marathon. My marathon time is below. I only started my log on here on January 1 so you see my taper, the race and then recovery (waht I've done so far). A little background........I did not run my marathon all out. I would say I gave it 80% effort since it was my first one and I didn't know what to expect. I did strain a muscle on my right lower shin (I think it's the tibialis muscle) and had some swelling for a few days but that is gone now and I have zero pain from that. The only thing that hurts is my right heel. Everytime I step down on it, it feels like I'm stepping on glass...........well really it feels like a bruise but the skin is not discolored at all.

I trained with the Galloway run/walk "to finish" plan, which emphasizes beginning your recovery as soon as you cross the finish. Walk slowly, drink and have something to eat. Walk some more. Within two hours, soak your legs in very cold water (I've seen iced recommended if you can take it). Walking several times that evening. Think of it as good first aid, it's probably every bit as important as what you do during the next week. I was really surprised by the schedule following the race. Galloway likes to give ranges rather than a specific distance, and switches to time rather than distance for the days immediately following the race. He also gives allowances for how you feel in those first post-race days. I was still pretty surprised by how close the mileage was to the buildup, it seems pretty aggressive. My schedule had a ten miler one week after the marathon, so I registered for a race and actually felt pretty good. 11/4/2007 Run Manchester City Marathon - Manchester, NH Race 26.2 Mi 3:46:26 8:39 11/7/2007 Run Town Day Road Race course Run/Walk 4.4 Mi 33:47 7:41 11/9/2007 Run Town Day Road Race course Run/Walk 4.4 Mi 32:27 7:23 11/11/2007 Run Larry Robinson 10 Miler - Andover, MA Race 10 Mi 1:20:01 8:01 11/13/2007 Run Town Day Road Race course Run/Walk 4.4 Mi 31:32 7:10 11/15/2007 Run Pleasant Street with 7 Tanager laps Run/Walk 7 Mi 1:09:00 9:52 11/19/2007 Run Long Run 015 Long 15 Mi 2:19:57 9:20 11/23/2007 Run Cranberry Run - Keene NH Race 3.9 Mi 27:26 7:03 11/25/2007 Run Long Run 016 Long 16 Mi 2:23:45 9:00

It's too late now but the first thing you should have done was replace the carbohydrates that you used in the race. This is best done as soon as possible, preferably within and hour of the race. At that time your body is able to use as much as you can ingest. About 20% of what you ate should have been protein to help repair what you damaged during the marathon. Some examples of foods that have this 4:1 carb to protein ratio are chocolate milk, yogurt and Slim Fast. Other things that help a lot soon after the race are ice and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. You can use ice packs or ice baths for your legs. The next most important thing you need is rest. How much rest you need depends on how hard you ran and how much damage you did. It sounds like you may have some shin splints going, which you refer to as a muscle strain. You should lay off running until that heals. After that just use your best judgment and stick to walking and and easy running until you can run without pain. It might take a couple of weeks or it might take a month, everyone is different. Good job on your first! Tom

Thanks Tom. I was pain free by Wednesday and did my first post marathon run pain free on Thursday (2 miles) and then another one on Friday. The one on Friday was run on trails that went up the first half and down the second half so I did a lot of walking and listening to my body. I know I'm not going to push it for at least another week or so and haven't been concerned with pace, just with keeping my HR lower than normal. I did make sure to refuel as you said right after my marathon. Nutrition has alwasy been an important part of my whole well being which includes running. I think paying careful attention to that also helped me through my marathon as well. I did splurge after our dinner though and had an additional three slices of pepperoni pizza. I appreciate hearing your advice. What you said seems to be the general consensus on how to handle my body post marathon. I've heard all kinds of things but what you said is the same thing that my marathon coach said so I'm going with that. I had several people tell me absolutely no running for 2 weeks after but that's hard to do when I feel relatively good and have been obeying my body. Thanks