You've muscled and white-knuckled long runs through inclement weather, injuries, treadmill long-runs, watched motivational and informational YouTube videos and your social media feed is full of running influencers. You've run your marathon! Yay! Now what?
Well there is a few questions you have to ask yourself before you choose your road to recovery and eventually return to training. The first and most important question is: How did your marathon go? In order to sort this question out, you'll need to answer a whole batch of underlying questions:
Did you get a personal best?
Did you run a little slower than your personal best?
Did the race feel easy or super difficult?
Did you under perform and still finish the marathon?
Did you overperform and push your physical and mental limit?
Or, did you under perform and give up?
When did you give up? Mile 10 or mile 22?
Did you get an injury?
Were you fighting an injury during training?
Did you get a new injury from the race?
Was this your first marathon or was this one of many?
These are just some of the questions you'll want to consider before deciding your recovery and return to running plan.
The Plan. Well, take it slow.
If you ran a personal best or underperformed and still finished, or this was your first marathon, then take at least two weeks or three weeks off training. Especially if you had a bad race and still finished. You likely put your body and mind through the max in each of these instances. So get off your feet and go for ride, walk and/or swim. The stress of the entire experience on your body and mind needs to heal.
If you got an injury and/or nursing an injury through training and race day, hit the lab. What we mean by "hit the lab" is, go to a physical therapists or medical specialists and get an expert opinion on the matter. Get smarter on the issue and tactfully plan your recovery. There's no timeline for when you can return to training as this is all contingent on the severity of your injury.
If you dropped out of the race (less than 15 miles) without injury and just had a bad day, ask yourself why you dropped out. Was it because you were sick? Was it because you were overtrained? Was it just truly just a plain old bad day. If it's either sick or overtrained, you should take the full 2-3 weeks off. Your mind needs it. Your immune system needs. Your body needs it. Draw up a recovery plan and return to running action plan that incorporates better holistic training. Better eating, kindness to one's self, better sleep, minimize stressors at work, and any burnout triggers you can think of. Essentially, learn how to "make your bed". What we mean by "make your bed" is, minimize and sort out all the external stressors around running that imposed hardship on your body and mind. When the things in your personal life are tidy, running comes together much easier.
You're back to running.
Run slow. Run easy. Run with company. At this point, you're just running to get on your feet and benefit from the fresh air and blood flow. Check out some new gear. Test out new running shoes. Ask yourself "What went well?" or "What worked?" or "What can I easily improve?" And make a mental note and apply small and incremental changes.
Subscribe, comment and follow us on social below:
The information provided on Ardsley.org is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on Ardsley.org. Reliance on any information provided on Ardsley.org is solely at your own risk. The owners, creators, contributors, and publishers of Ardsley.org are not responsible for any errors or omissions in the content or for any outcomes related to the use of the information provided. Ardsley.org may contain links to other websites or resources for informational purposes only. We do not endorse or accept responsibility for the content or accuracy of these linked websites or resources.
Kommentare