15.2 Mile race three weeks after 1st 26.2??

[Matt Schreiber]

Well the subject line of this pretty much sums up my concern (or should I say my wife's   )  I just ran my first marathon Sunday an am still walking a bit funny.  I guess that's a sugar coated way of saying I'm in quite a bit of pain.  My main question is whether or not 3 weeks is enough time to recover and properly let my legs heal for a much shorter and less taxing race.  With that being said, I've never coasted from one race to another.  I'm sure common sense and listening to my body will be good indicators of what to do, but any advice would be much appreciated.  Thanks!!!!

[Paul Petersen]

I usually give four weeks for 100% recovery from a marathon. That said, after three weeks, you should be about 90%. You probably won't have any trouble with a 15-miler, as long as you don't set your expectations too high, and keep yourself in check. You may feel some fatigue and soreness the last 5 miles or so. Maybe treat this one as a fun run.

[Matt Schreiber]

Thanks for the feedback Paul! I think I will go ahead and take it easy on this one.  I'm still a bit surprised about how long it actually takes to begin to recover from a marathon.  Quite a learning experience.  I'm sure itching to get out running again, but an attempt to jog to my truck after work today must've been entertaining.. That being said, I forgot to ask what I should actually do these next few weeks in terms of running.  My thoughts were to eventually ease back in with some 2 mile runs this  weekend, peeking my short runs at around 6-7, and putting my long runs at no more than 8 or 9 miles focusing most of my time on recovery.  Again - any feedback is appreciated!

[Paul Petersen]

My rules of thumb for marathon recovery:
1) No running whatsoever until all soreness goes away. This might take two days or it might take a week or more.
2) When you resume running, do a "reverse taper". Essentially do your last three weeks of marathon training in reverse, in terms of daily mileage.
3) No real workouts for about 4 weeks. (ie - long tempo runs, hard intervals, etc.). Strides are okay.

I tend to err on the side of caution, but running is more of a war than a battle, so you need to think long-term. If the marathon was not an all-out effort, or on a dirt surface, you can probably accelerate this process, but the key in any case is to listen to your body and to be patient.

[Rob Murphy]

What Paul advises is good common sense but not necessarily the FRB way. Here the idea is to return to the top of the mileage board as quickly as possible.

Running a marathon the next week will win you lots of praise from your fellow bloggers.It is acceptable to take the day after a marathon off only if that day is a Sunday.

[dave rockness]

Rob is correct and I tend to fall into the FRB mindset, however, Paul is the fastest marathoner on this blog!

[Rob Murphy]

Yeah, Paul is fast but is he hard core enough to pound out a 20 miler two days after one of his fancy pants sub 2:20 marathons?

[Jake Krong]

Hey Matt - you've gotten some great advice above from Paul. I agree that it takes about 4 weeks to fully bounce back... even once your muscles feel recovered, there is this concept called "neural fatigue" - essentially, after a really long and taxing effort, your brain just wont let you operate at 100% again for a while.

I'm no expert when it comes to marathons, but I've raced in that "3 week post-marathon" window on two occasions, not necessarily looking for an "A" race, but just because they were fun races that I wanted to do, and I felt recovered from the marathons where I knew I wasn't doing any damage to my body. In those post-marathon races, I've felt like I was only at 85-90% both times - which was fine with me b/c that's all I expected.

[Matt Schreiber]

Gotta agree with you Jake on the "great advice from Paul" thing.  It sure seems logical, and I plan to follow these 3 rules.  Thanks Paul!  Sorry Rob, maybe someday I'll be a "hardcore marathoner".  Running two miles two days after my marathon would have probably ended pretty ugly, let alone a twenty miler.    Finally feeling like tomorrow morning's going to be the beginning of my reverse taper.  Never thought I'd be having withdrawls from running but hearing songs on the radio that are on my playlist are getting me pretty antsy to get out!

Luckily I'm not hoping to "race" in the "Jack 15" so the roughly 90% I should be at should be great.  I'm already seeing the benefits of being a member of the blog.  Sure makes it easier having some experts to turn to in all of these new dilemmas running's throwing at me.

I appreciate the advice.  Thanks guys!

[Rob Murphy]

No neet to apologize Matt. That was sarcasm on my part. I read a great quote from Joan Benoit once..."rest is the basis of all activity".

[Matt Schreiber]

Whew.. I could sense some sarcasm there but was beginning to wonder how crazy you were Rob.   BTW- Great quote.

[Matt Schreiber]

Just thought I should give an update on how the Jack 15 went.  I appreciate all the advice going into the race.  I did take it pretty easy on the run, finishing in 1:59.  I feel that I was right at 85% for the race.  Starting off I felt great and was going to fast because of it.  In hitting mile 14, my legs were definitely fatigued.  Had to push pretty hard to hold a pace to the finish.  Lots of fun, and thank you all for the great advice!  Very much appreciated!