Recommencing Training following a Marathon
Hi guys,
I was looking for some advice about returning to my tri training following a marathon. I completed the Gold Coast marathon last Sunday, 4th July and took the complete week off in attempt to recover. I'm feeling relatively okay now but don't want to tempt fate by running again just yet. I went for a swim today and enjoyed it, as I haven't swam for about three (3) months as I following the OS plan and opted not to do my 'optional' swim sessions :-). I'm training for Ironman Western Australia in December and looking forward to getting back into my tri training now the marathon is done and dusted.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks a lot,
Scott.
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when I was solely a marathoner, I followed Hal Higdon's plans... and he has several options for post-marathon recovery. www.halhigdon.com all of them are free, which is super cool. good luck. happy recovery and training!
Scott, my experience has been this depends on how you trained for and ran the marathon.
In the last two years I have all out raced a marathon, run one quick but not all out, and run one slowly, and all required different recovery.
The all out race fried my legs for a good two to three weeks. I thought I was ok a few days later as all the soreness had gone away, but I had zero snap in my legs for a good two weeks and then could hit my target paces if I really pushed it on the third week. In this case I pretty much did not run for over 2 weeks but I did swim and ride.
The very slow one actually did the most damage, my knees and hips hurt for at least a week, and I could barely walk, therefore I did pretty much nothing for a few days and then just swam. However once I got over the joint pain the muscles were ready to go again pretty quickly.
My most recent one I went out comfortably and then only ran hard for the last 8 miles. I had the normal soreness the day after, but I was back to normal training (and running) with in a few days. The only modification I made was that I only ran easy the week after the race and didn't do any hard intervals until the next week.
So, I would think about which one of those scenarios you fall into and how well trained you were for the marathon.
With your A race in Dec, the smart decision would be to error on the safe side and take at least another week off from running.
After a marathon on a Sunday I run again on Wednesday. Usually short and slow. Build from there seeing how it goes. l never really feel good until I start running again. That first run does not feel good. Doing too much too soon, even when you "feel great" can dig a hole that you do not realize that you are in until a month or so later.
Some people feel that taking a long break is the best way to recover. Some people think the bast way to recover is to run short and easy the day after an IM. Different strokes...