A reader that I bounce back a lot of emails with, Vanessa asked me if I would do a post on recovery from my halves. It also made me realize-I never got around to posting last week’s mileage and training report, which would have made that ten times easier eh?
Before I ramble away about my recovery, I want to say, I’ve run all sorts of mileages. I’ve run 20 mile weeks, 40, 60, 80…my personal sweet spot is around 70 mile weeks. I ran my best half marathon on a 69 mile week.
But that is just me.
Between my two half marathons (a week apart) I took the time to really recover. And looking back, I did recover nearly completely. I ran a harder course and I’m certain I could have been in the high 1:27 range if I had run Plattsburgh again that weekend.
So a brief synapses of my runs between the two races:
Plattsburgh was on a Sunday.
I took Monday off.
Ran an easy 10k Tuesday (I didn’t time it…but that is nothing new).
I also didn’t time the 10 miler I did Wednesday but that run really stretched out my legs a lot. I felt 10000 times better afterwords.
Thursday I did 1 hour on the arc in the morning and a 10k tempo run (which I ran in 40:30).
I took Friday off and ran an easy 8 miler Saturday. I remember feeling extremely awesome on Saturday but not wanting to jynx it.
Then Sunday was the next half.
So that was my running wise recovery.
Other elements I do to recover are taking an ice bath within 24 hours of a road race. I personally hate ice baths and in Upstate, NY (where it’s never warm) they are ten times worse…but I do know I feel better after taking them.
I also foam roll (excessively). I literally do not know anyone else that foam rolls as much as me. Every day that I feel sore in the slightest, I foam roll. While I’m watching trashy tv…I foam roll…
As far as food goes I amp up my protein to above 150 grams for 3-4 days. It has worked for me after every race and I feel like those extra calories really just make me recover quicker.
These are just simple things that I have found work for me. I never put pressure on myself for running after a race and just take it how it comes. Sometimes a 5k will knock my socks off for no particular reason and take me longer to recover then a half.
Question for you: How do you recover from a race? (hard workout…)