Finishing a marathon is a huge achievement and a huge stress on your body in many aspects.
After months of training, structure, and focus, race day comes and goes and so the natural question is…
”what the hell do I do now”?
What the marathon does to your body?
A marathon places a huge amount of stress on the body, irrespective of your pace.
- Muscle damage
- Aerobic depletion
- Lactate clearing into your muscles
- Fatigued nervous system
- Inflamed joints and tendons
- Temporary dip in your immune system
- Your natural temperature regulator resetting
Physically you may feel reasonably good within 3-7 days, climbing and descending stairs, sitting down and getting up, will all become easier as that lactate clears and the muscle fatigue wears off.
Everything else on that list will take at least 2 weeks for the naturally fitter runner and could take up to 4 weeks for anyone else to properly recover from. The average is around 3 weeks.
Wanting to run is never the same as being ready to run.
The biggest mistake runners make is coming back way too quickly, and it often starts with, “Yeah I feel fine, I’ll just go for an easy run” Please don’t be tempted.
Within days, or a couple of weeks, what actually happens if you run to soo are more niggles appear from places that have not repaired properly. Your aerobic system remains under pressure and fatigue in running and, crucially, in normal life, gets very real and getting a good nights sleep can also becomes an issue.
When this happens, motivation will quickly disappear and then weeks and months can pass and running has stopped completely. This is sadly, very common.
The best advice I was ever given after a marathon was “the quickest way to get back to running is not rush back”
Sports Massage
As tempting as it is to go get a sports massage post a marathon, use this as a guide.
- 1-5 days – don’t go near it.
- 6-10 days – light touch massage only
- 11-14 days – premium time to get that massage
Your body is repairing, it won’t thank you for deep and painful intervention.
Initial muscle damage has repaired post 10 days, your body will be receptive to it and it’s a great time to address any residual niggles and imbalances.
Your body needs to benefit from a sports massage and help it recover, doing it at its most damaged won’t do that.
Running or Not?
The first 7–10 days
This is where you allow your body to absorb what it’s just done, and your focus should be…
- Rest and sleep
- Walking and some light stretching and movement
- Eating well and rehydrating
Running during this time is not recommended.
It’s worth remembering that you will NOT lose any fitness during this period. Depending on age and base fitness, you can have 14-21 days off completely from running and still not lose any fitness you gained during training.
You’re allowing your body that critical time to rebuild.
Weeks 2–3
This is where running can start to return — but gently.
- Short, easy runs – 20/30 mins rather than a distance
- 2–3 times per week
- No targets, no structure
- No focus on pace
- Keeping that HR low / Z2
Everything should just feel very comfortable, and if it feels almost too easy then you’re doing right!
Weeks 3–6
Now you can begin to find a structure again, and if you have another race to focus on, think about a plan for that.
- Gradually increase frequency
- Extend your distance
- Keep most running at an easy effort
- This phase is about creating the consistency you found during the marathon training block, not finding intensity.
You’re not trying to prove you still have the fitness, you are allowing your body to safely rebuild so you can maintain your fitness and then work to improve it.
The Mental Side
After a marathon, it’s completely normal to feel a bit flat. The marathon blues is a real thing
You’ve spent months working towards one day and once it’s done, there can be a loss of focus or direction, and a loss of structure.
This is very normal.
There can also be a loss of communication. People stop asking how training is going, what time are you after, how you’re feeling. You go back to being a recreational runner without that goal that spikes peoples interest to ask.
Give yourself time and space to get used to all that, it’s another factor in runners losing motivation.
Signs you might need more time?
Pay close attention to how your body is responding and listen to it! Hold back if you notice…
- Lingering soreness
- Heavy legs
- Poor sleep
- Higher than normal heart rate
- Low motivation
- Feel hot one minute and cold the next
These are all signs your body is till in recovery mode.
Do NOT look at this as wasted time. This is a significant part of your running. You trained hard for a specific day, but running is for life. Running will keep you fit, active and provide excellent heart health well into your older years.
But you MUST let it recover from the occasional extremes you decide to place upon it. Marathon training and racing is one of those extremes.
Do this recovery phase as well as you did your training block and you set yourself up for your next phase of your running and massively lower your risk of injury or fatigue.
If you’re not sure how to structure your return, or you want to make sure you get this part right:
Please get in touch.
I am always happy to have a simple conversation that can help you understand where you are now and how to move forward without creating setbacks and a possible loss of motivation.
A final thought….
If you want to class yourself as a successful marathon runner, never forget it’s made up of stages.
1.Marathon Base Training
2.Marathon Training Block
3.The Race
4.The Recovery
So many runners don’t do 1 and 4 and they both lead to the same inevitable outcome, fatigue and injury.
Recover well.
Marathons for Life.