What To Do After Your Marathon

Congratulations!!! You did it! You prepared, you trained for months. You missed birthday parties and social outings. You woke up early and went to bed late. You did all the right things to make it through race day. You thought about this day and dreamed about what it would be like to cross that finish line. And, now, you did the dang thing! HOORAY! But…now what?

Post-race blues are real! The emotional and physical drop off following the day is more than just the typical post-vacation, return to reality slump. Over the course of the marathon training block, you have been training your body to become accustomed to a certain volume, intensity and frequency of training. But after the big day, both your brain and body will need to adapt to a new set of priorities and training schedule. 

Here are a few helpful tips to minimize the post-race blues:

• Celebrate!!! 

  • Regardless of how the day went, whether you hit your goals, or even whether you crossed the finish line, you deserve to celebrate. You spent months training to do a really, really hard thing. And even if the outcome on the day was not how you imagined it, you survived the training block (which is no small feat). You are more than your time or performance. Remember to be proud of yourself! 
    

• Give yourself time off from running and focus on recovery. 

  • You may be tempted to ramp back up to pre-race mileage and intensity. But it is important to ease back into training. Studies show that physiological deficits continue far beyond when your “legs start feeling good.”

The Science Behind Marathon Recovery

The marathon training block is long. During the block (peaking with the race day effort), your muscles, hormones, tendons and almost every physiological system is pushed to their max capacity. It doesn’t matter if it is your first marathon or your 20th and it doesn’t matter if you PR’ed or party paced. It takes time for your body to recover. 

• Skeletal Muscle

  • Immediately post-marathon, you may feel like you've been hit by a bus, questioning every set of stairs you face. Muscle soreness and fatigue are the most obvious signs of muscle breakdown. But even when the soreness goes away, evidence shows it can take up to 14 days post-race to resolve inflammation and muscle fiber damage.¹ As long as these are present, significant impairment to muscle power production and durability will be present. Coming back too soon can delay full recovery and result in impaired performance on each effort, adding additional break down onto these already struggling muscles. 
    

• Cellular Damage

  • Cellular damage includes oxidative destruction to both skeletal and myocardial (heart) tissue and is normal, to a certain extent, during hard running efforts. Literature shows that blood chemical indicators of continued oxidative stress on muscles are present in bloodstream for 7 days post-marathon and, for cardiac tissue, for 3-4 days post-marathon.^3,4 These studies  conclude that the body needs at least 7-10 days to fully recover cellular damage that occurs during the race.^3,4 
    

• Immune System

  • Post-marathon, the immune system is severely compromised. Research shows that the immune system is compromised up to 3 days after the marathon and is a major factor in overtraining, with some studies even suggesting avoiding cross training for the first 2-3 days.^2-4 It is therefore essential that you rest as much as possible and focus on eating nutrient dense foods. 

The research clearly indicates that running a marathon results in significant muscle, cellular and immune system damage for at least 3-14 days post-race. Therefore, it is essential that all marathon runners have at least a 2-3 week marathon recovery protocol that focuses on rest and recovery. 

Get back to all of the work tasks and social commitments you put on the back burner. Your body and brain will thank you for taking the time to fully rest and recover. Running has been a huge part of your life for the last few months, and I know it is hard to imagine your regular routine without it. But getting back out there too quickly after a big race can make the overall recovery more difficult and may actually do more harm than good for your next training block. Remember, we care about longevity in the sport! Take this recovery period just as seriously as you took your training and you're in for another great training block.

Cited Studies 

1. Hikida RS, Staron RS, Hagerman FC, Sherman WM, Costill DL. Muscle fiber necrosis associated with human marathon runners. J Neurol Sci. 1983;59(2):185-203. doi:10.1016/0022-510x(83)90037-0

2. Lakier Smith L. Overtraining, excessive exercise, and altered immunity: is this a T helper-1 versus T helper-2 lymphocyte response?. Sports Med. 2003;33(5):347-364. doi:10.2165/00007256-200333050-00002

3. Smith JE, Garbutt G, Lopes P, Tunstall Pedoe D. Effects of prolonged strenuous exercise (marathon running) on biochemical and haematological markers used in the investigation of patients in the emergency department. Br J Sports Med. 2004;38(3):292-294. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2002.002873

4. Tsai K, Hsu TG, Hsu KM, et al. Oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral leukocytes induced by massive aerobic exercise. Free Radic Biol Med. 2001;31(11):1465-1472. doi:10.1016/s0891-5849(01)00729-8