Buzz
- 6 Post-Marathon Recovery Techniques Worth Trying
- You Can Test This 4-Week Post-Marathon Recovery Schedule
After completing a 42km marathon, recovery is paramount, and these 6 steps will greatly enhance your recuperation.
Whether you've conquered a 42km race in a small event or are simply training, your achievement is commendable. Now, it's crucial to focus on recovery.
Recovering after enduring a run isn't simply about sleeping for hours (though it's not entirely wrong). Various factors affect the body's recovery ability, such as running intensity, health condition, competition season...
While everyone is different, there are common post-marathon recovery methods that can expedite the process, ensuring you won't dread climbing stairs for the next week.
6 Essential Post-Marathon Recovery Techniques
1. Keep Walking
Crossing the finish line, receiving the medal, taking photos, and continuing onward. While most of us instinctively want to collapse and thank the heavens for getting us through, that's not the best way to recover after a long run.
Remember, after completing the 42km distance, your body is still in endurance mode. By continuing to walk, you'll gradually bring your heart rate back to normal and flush lactic acid out of your system.
After crossing the finish line, it's advisable to keep walking for an additional 10-15 minutes to allow your body to regulate.
2. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
Eating light within 30-60 minutes after running is crucial for marathon recovery. You can opt for a large meal when feeling hungry later.
Within 60 minutes post-run, aim for 200-300 calories from easily digestible carbs and protein to maintain blood sugar, replenish glycogen, and kickstart muscle recovery.
A chicken sandwich with carrots and peanut butter or cookies or chocolate milk would be great at this time. If your race is in hot weather, consider using rehydration fluids. If it's cold, perhaps a comforting soup.
Continue balancing light meals with a 3:1 or 4:1 Carb:protein ratio throughout the day, regularly hydrating to avoid dehydration.
Lastly, keep your spirits high and enjoy the process; a positive mindset will enhance post-run recovery.
3. Relaxing in Cold Water Baths
If possible, immerse yourself in a cold bath or ice water for 5-10 minutes and consider using compression garments. Cold water relaxation aids in reducing inflammation, effectively shortening recovery time.
4. Elevate Those Legs
You can practice advanced Yoga poses like Legs-Up-The-Wall (or Viparita Karani). It helps reverse circulation, rejuvenate your legs, stretch lower body muscles, and of course, aids in marathon recovery.
5. Stretching and Massage
After 6 hours post-race, you can engage in foam rolling for stretching or wait 24 hours for a massage (you can use massage guns for this). This allows your muscles time to replenish lost energy and fluids and recover from the race.
6. Give Your Body Some Rest
One common mistake among runners is returning to running too soon, especially after completing a grueling 42km race.
Avoid jumping into another marathon too early when your body hasn't fully recovered.
Your body needs time to recover, and you shouldn't inflict further damage during this period.
Use these days to celebrate, schedule a massage, engage in light walking, stretch your muscles, rest for a month, and incorporate yoga and Cross-training for recovery.
You can try this 4-week post-endurance run recovery schedule.
Week 1: Engage in Cross-Training, rest.
During the first week, stick to light-intensity workouts to enhance circulation, warm up muscles, and support recovery through activities like walking, yoga, swimming. If you feel better by the end of the week, consider a short, manageable run for about 30 minutes.
Week 2: Perform simple short runs.
If things still aren't right, continue training like Week 1. If you feel okay, start running again with normal frequency but keep it easy and shorter distances (around 30-60 minutes).
Week 3: Run a bit faster and longer.
Extend the run slightly longer, if everything's still okay, reduce the distance and intensity this week.
Week 4: Return to your normal training routine.
Your body has recovered, and you can return to marathon running if you feel okay. If you have multiple marathons to participate in during the season, invest time in optimizing your recovery.
Posted by: Kiểm Phương Đạt
Keywords: Marathon Recovery: 6 Essential Steps
