No chafing, blisters, or anything else particularly painful from Sunday's half.  But my quads are still pretty sore.  Will I feel better tomorrow if I run or don't run tonight?  (the phrase "recovery run" seems like an oxymoron to me!)

That's called active recovery and yes, I do run while still sore, though I am rarely sore after a race except for marathons.

...Walking would be good for you as well.

Yes, my dog has been telling me that, too.

OK, tonight I'll try a slow jog or at least a walk.

That's called active recovery and yes, I do run while still sore, though I am rarely sore after a race except for marathons.

I hope I can say that one day.

I'm actually surprised I'm still sore; this is not typical for me.  I remembered that after a half on a Sunday in January, I did 70 minutes of hot yoga on Monday and then running as normal on Tuesday.  So I'm not happy I'm still sore on Wednesday this time.

I make it point to run the days following a race.  The distance depends on the race, but the effort is light.  After a 5K, I'll go 6-8 miles the next day.  After my last marathon, I did four really easy miles...barely at jogging pace.  I found that works best for me, rather than rest completely.  It's good for both my body and mind.

It depends on where you are in your running life.  My first year, I would have never dreamed of running one stinking step past the finish mat.  Now, I may run up to 6 miles after a 5k depending on what my weeks total mileage looks like.

 

It also gets easier the more you run.  For instance, now in my third year, I can totally see running twice daily because my legs are not sore in the evening as they once were back when I began, and I was running less miles in the morning then!

I have not found this to be the case.  It takes me just as long to recover from all out races as it ever did.  Elites will even talk about taking a week or two completely off after marathons so if world class runners need time to recover, I don't feel so badly that I need time as well.  I just figure that needing time to recover means I really did push my limits.

I ran a half marathon in April, 2012 and had a fairly bad race finishing in 1:29:36.  I was running my normal easy pace two days after that race.  I ran another half marathon in November, 2012, had a great race, and finished in 1:25:58.  Three days later, I was still running 30 seconds per mile slower than my normal easy pace.  I ran a 5K 10 days later and I was obviously still in recovery mode.

I ran a marathon in March, 2012 and had one of my best races ever.  That lousy half in April was six weeks later and I'm convinced that part of the reason I didn't have a great race is because, six weeks later, I still hadn't completely recovered from that marathon.

I don't know think there is any reason I would run immediately after a 10k or half, and I know for a fact I would not run after a marathon!

 

But I have seen some of my areas top runners after race distances of up to 13.1 miles, jog on the course towards those still racing.  One of whom had on what looked to be a frickin snow suit.  Totally bizarre!

Hell, there are elite runners who have doubled in the 5,000 and 10,000 in international level competitions and I can't fathom that.  Then again, international level competitions tend to be more like progression runs with a fast next to last lap and a really, really fast last lap so a tactical race followed by a hard finish wouldn't take as much out of you as one run on the edge from the start.

I at least walk briskly. I ran a marathon the morning of March 1. That evening, I walked approximately three miles to where I was having dinner and three miles back to the apartment I was renting. The following day, I walked about six miles to lunch. The day after that, I walked at least five miles. Just moving helped alleviate the soreness.