Recovery after Marathon

[goinggoinggonegirl]

I ran my first marathon (Manchester) last Sunday. Time was 4 hours 6 mins plus a few seconds but I didn't run much faster than I have done in training. I'm used to running (been running for about five years) but clocked up a lot of miles in this training cycle, about 800 since September.

So I felt sore for a couple of days and then thought I was ok so went running this morning. It felt really, really tough. All the muscles that hurt in the Marathon hurt again and I had no energy. It's left me really achy and I'm tired.

So I guess my question is, how long should it takes to fully recover and is the way I feel normal? Feeling a bit pathetic at the moment! What can I do to speed up recovery?

I'm not a marathoner but spend lots of time amongst lots of them. For first timers (as opposed to those who are on their 53rd..), the first week or two can be tough. Isn't for all, but can be. So swimming and cycling or other cross training seems to be popular then.

Some people just push on but they're the ones who tend to have problems later. Better let your body recover.

And congratulations on your time! Well done!!

Iris a bit different for everyone,but I would expect to take around 2 weeks to recover. For my first one I was walking the dog 2 days after, then did my first run after a week and did that very slow and easy. You might find that doing some walking is a good way to get your body moving again, then progress to short easy runs. And a big congratulations, what a great time!

Congratulations! What a great time. I ran it too, but 10 mins slower than you - I had a terrible training cycle, so was chuffed to get a PB.

I couldn't manage stairs easily for a couple of days afterwards - I was fine walking on the flat, but any slight incline left my quads screaming. Our local 10K race was on Sunday, and I'd promised a friend I would 'pace' her to 58mins. Given I did the first 10K of the marathon in that time, I thought it would be fine. I ran the first mile in exactly the right pace and then had a major meltdown - legs were screaming, and it felt like I'd picked up where I'd left off and was running mile 27-33! I almost dropped out of the race, but didn't in the end, clocking a personal worst of 1.02. I couldn't believe how hard it felt. In my case, it was made worse by the fact I spent all day gardening on Sat, and my back and legs were really feeling it. I went to the gym yesterday and did some leg weights, and felt fine. Tomorrow morning I'm heading out for a tentative plod...

I am contemplating running another marathon next weekend - I figured I'd done all the training, and I would just use the weeks between them as another 'taper'. I'm going to try 8-10 miles on Sunday, and then decide. It might be foolish, but we'll see...

Back to your original question - based on my limited (5 marathons) experience, I'd say what you are feeling is 100% normal. Give yourself a bit more 'time off' if you want too - there's no need to get back out there if you (or your legs) don't feel like it. It can be hard to get back into it - I've totally lost my running mojo after marathons before, but more when I've run a time I've not been happy with. I think the nice weather is a bit of an incentive to get out and run, but just go for a plod and don't worry if you're a lot slower than you were in training. I'm not sure if you can 'speed up' recovery. I think I might have slowed mine down by eating and drinking rubbish for a few days! A sports massage would probably help - it gets my legs working again when I'm struggling.

Well done again on a great time - are you going to do another one? Brighton looks like a good one. I'm going to keep applying to VLM every year in the hope of a place, but other than that sticking to halfs.

Well done! I am just back from doing Boston on Monday so stairs are an issue today!

I wouldn't rush back into things. Maybe an easy run if you want to 5/6 days after but taking 2 weeks off will not do you any harm at all/will be good for you/is normal. It all depends how much you miss running!

I have only done 3 marathons but this is what I have done/am doing :)

If you do start gentle runs then my personal recommedation would be nothing more than 40 mins in the 2nd week and then a maximum of 60/70 mins at the end of the 2nd week post marathon.