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Today marks 4 days out from the 50K and I am still very much enjoying recovery.

In the past, after large races, I gave myself a day or (maybe) two off and then went straight back into training. I felt great, or at least good, and felt my body was ready.

Okay, that’s BS.

I probably didn’t feel ready but I refused to take much time off after working hard for an event. The idea of taking time off from training for multiple days seemed absurd.

—> What if I lost some of what I just worked my butt off to gain?

—> What if I was bored and really wanted to exercise?

—> What if my post race hunger led me to eat an entire bag of candy or a huge cup of self-serve yogurt topped with cookies, caramel, and chocolate chips?

I mean not that any of those have happened (wink wink). But in all seriousness, the thought of doing a long recovery seemed insane.

I’m happy that with age comes wisdom.

God bless the 30s… it appears as if I’ve finally grown a brain when it comes to my body and overall health.

If I had done such a huge event in my 20s, I’m not sure I would have completed training without some sort of injury. Overtraining just came naturally, but now, it’s about smart training. And that also means smart recovery.

I’ve discussed the need for rest days in the past in relation to standard workouts, but what about rest and recovery after a long and intense event such as a marathon or ultra? Being that I just completed my first ultra, I thought this was the perfect time to dive into the subject.

What Happens To The Body During Ultra Marathon Training/Racing?

Training for long endurance sports is tough, it’s tough mentally but it’s extremely hard on the body. Let’s take a look at some of the research shall we?

• To start, it kills induces inflammation and even muscle fiber necrosis (kills muscle cells). One study published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences did muscle biopsies on marathon runners’ calves before and after their races. All subjects showed evidence of inflammation and muscular breakdown a few days before their race and the highest levels of both 1-3 days post run. Basically, this proves that recovery isn’t just for the race, but also for the intense training that athletes did to prepare.
• DNA damage! Yes, intense exercise can cause oxidative stress to the body and affect your entire immune system and body on a deeper cellular (not just muscles) level. On study found that post long endurance events, subjects had increased creatinine kinase and lipid peroxidation metabolites (fancy words for cellular damage and increased oxidation levels) for 7 days.
• Good-bye immune system. Research shows that prolonged exercise (over 90 minutes) suppresses the immune system for up to 72 hours after the event due to increased stress hormones, especially cortisol.
• It’s hard to muscles, joints and everything else! This is coming from my own experience, I don’t think that it takes a study to know that a hard race is hard on the body. Muscle soreness, joint pain and overall fatigue is normal and the best way to tell that your body need to rest. Like I mentioned yesterday, I have never been as sore as I am this week!

How Long Do You Need To Take Off After An Ultra Or Marathon?

This is the question that I really want to address. There are a lot of different answers floating around, everything from a couple of days to the length of time equal to the distance you ran.

Aka: If you ran 26.2 miles, then you should take 26 days off from strenuous exercise.

I’m not that extreme.

From the research above, I am a firm believer in the progressive recover period…

3 phases to be exact!

The first part of the recovery?

Part 1 is focusing on allowing the muscles to recover, the immune system to build back up, and your passion of exercise to build (ever feel burnt out by the end of a race?).

During this time, avoid formal exercise all together. No running or lifting. Consider it a vacation.

Light walking and light stretching is okay.

For me, the thought of even foam rolling sent waves of pain down my body for the first 3 days post 50K. Moving my legs, though a chore, was the best and only option.

As the tenderness began to fade, I was able to include more stretching and mobility work to help break up any knots that built up and gain back flexibility.

For some, the DOMS (muscle soreness) may not be so bad, so adding foam rolling or light massage the day or two after might be possible.

During this week…

• Epsom salt baths
• Hydrating with lots of water to flush out free radicals and toxins.
• A diet of anti-inflammatory foods
• Lots of sleep!
• Light movement such as walking, yoga and stretching
• And no formal exercise is key!

The second week things aren’t normal but at least exercise is added back into the schedule.

You might still feel weak and muscles heavy, so listen to that. If you have to extend your vacation, that’s okay. However, if up to the challenge, begin adding exercise back into the day.

Nothing strenuous, no balls to the wall, but movement and light lifting can help get the blood pumping and the muscles working again.

Shake out runs (short and easy) might feel great, if so, then go for it!

Continue focusing on an anti-inflammatory diet and foam rolling/massage/stretching! <— That should always be a focus!

After 2 weeks of smart rest and light exercise, you might feel up to increasing the intensity of training for focusing on progressing forward again.

Be aware that you might feel weak or out of shape for the first few workouts.

Again, listen to your body. Is it because you need a few more days of rest or simply because you just took 2 weeks off? Assuming you’ve been working out for a while, you should be able to tune into your body to make a smart decision.

Realize that you will likely feel weak/slow at you first workout but that’s okay. It takes just 2-3 workouts to get back to where you were. Your body didn’t forget and didn’t get out of shape. I promise.

So basically… this is that outline I am following. Next week kicks off Spartan Training (race in July) but it won’t be full speed ahead until the following week and I’m okay with that.

Workouts will consist of mostly upper body moves and light, bodyweight lower exercises until then.

We’re Not All The Same

I want to leave with this…

This is the recovery plan that works for me. And while I tried to write it out in a way that can work for everyone, that’s impossible.

For people that haven’t been working out for a long time, it’s likely that you’ll have a longer recovery time, even twice as long.

I know that my body recovers quite quickly and I make sure to focus my workouts, my meals and my rest time to ensure that happens. I know what my body feels like recovered and what it feels like when it needs a break. I encourage everyone to focus on themselves on a daily basis to realize how their body works.

Make sense?

Good!

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