The Other Side of the Marathon - Race Recovery

Good Advice

It's been a couple of weeks since Milton Keynes Marathon and recovery seems to be going reasonably well.  I have got a few tips from other marathon and ultra runners over the last couple of years and so I have some recovery strategies lined up for immediately post race, the rest of race day and then the following week.

I have these gems from experienced runners that I know:

Dennis Devey (80 years old and in his heyday ran 30minutes in 10k road races) says: "After a marathon, the worst thing you can do is just sit down.  You've got to keep moving. Get a bacon sandwich and a beer inside you if you like, but keep the legs moving."

Greg Ward (Sandhurst and Windlesham runner and well on his way to 100 marathons): "Flat coke and peanuts, then get a good feed and some more drink, get the compression leggings on and sleep in them."

Paula Fudge (Commonwealth gold medallist, 5000m world record holder and Frimley Lodge parkrunner): "After a marathon I recommend my athletes spend two weeks doing other exercise like swimming or cycling and then have 2 easy weeks doing gentle runs before getting back to training."

In race fuelling - you can run a long way
on malt loaf and jaffa cakes.

Kelvin Gower (Marathon and ultra runner and Cove Jogger's equivalent of Bear Grylls - and a style fan*): "Crisps, banana and milkshake as soon as possible after the run, then feed well and sleep in your compression leggings." 

(*The kind you climb over, not a dedicated follower of fashion)

Both Kelvin and Greg are looking at recovery from the point of view of running marathons or ultras on consecutive days, sometimes 3 or 4 in a row, Paula from, say doing a single spring marathon and then progressing into training for the summer track season and probably Dennis would be the same - occasional marathon, but mostly 5 and 10k and cross-country.

Men in Tights :-/

You may notice that neither Dennis or Paula mention compression clothing, but Kelvin and Greg do.  This could be down to build - Dennis and Paula are both stick thin "born" distance athletes, while Kelvin and Greg have the more meaty calves and thighs of regular folk - something you can actually compress without having to resort to using arm warmers or crepe bandages.

But do they work? Multiple studies in sports science have found decreases in muscle soreness and perceived fatigue from wearing compression clothing during and post race. Some possible increases in blood flow and lymph removal during the recovery period have also been found – though other studies found that wearing the socks after workouts had no greater recovery effect than taking an ice bath.  Given the choice between an ice bath and slipping on a pair leggings, I know what I prefer and compression socks do seem to work for me, at least in post race recovery.  I used to get cramp in the night after a hard or long run, and I don't when sleeping with compression socks on. It means I get to have a decent night's sleep without waking up in the middle of the night crying in pain.  I always use them now, both in a race and especially for recovery.

What does your body need just after a long race?

Well, you have used up lots of glycogen, your body's prime energy source (even a half marathon will have used up most of what your body can store); you have caused loads of micro tears to your leg muscles and you are dehydrated and have depleted your body's stores of mineral salts (sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in particular).  So you need to replace protein, carbs, water and salts.  Where do you get them from?

Post run recovery at the Basingstoke Canal Cafe
Full English breakfast, tea and cake - it's why we run!

Spices, nuts, cereals, coffee, tea, cocoa and vegetables are rich sources of magnesium.  Foods rich in potassium include dried apricots, dried milk, chocolate, various nuts (especially almonds and pistachios), potatoes and bananas.  For calcium look to milk and other dairy products, but also nuts.  For sodium, of course anything salty will do.  For a quick easily digestible protein fix, milk is good and chocolate, milk and bananas are good sources of carbs.

As you will notice chocolate ticks quite a few boxes (yay!), as does milk, so popping into Starbucks with a banana in your shorts and ordering a full fat mocha latte and a packet of pistachios would do nicely, especially if you wanted to look like a complete knob!  I tend to make do with a bottle of water, another of chocolate milkshake, a banana and a packet of peanuts followed not long after by a walk to the nearest pub or fast food joint for a burger or gammon, egg and chips.  

In the days after a marathon, just eating normal healthy meals is fine and there's no need to be adding supplements to your diet. It is easy, however, to overdo it and completely pig out and this could lead to you putting on weight while you should not be doing much running in your recovery period.

Post Marathon Exercise

Probably the last thing you want to do after a marathon is run.  Even if that is what you intend to do, because you have another marathon to run the next day, you're legs will tend to take some convincing over the first few miles that you are not completely insane.  However, keeping moving is essential if you don't want to spend the whole of the next week seized up and in agony every time you get up.  I was lucky that after my recent Milton Keynes marathon, I was waiting for friends to finish.  I actually had nearly 2 hours from when I finished to when the last of our group came in. Plenty of time to get cleaned up, changed into fresh clothes, eat and drink and cheer on the runners, all the while staying on my feet, walking around and doing some gentle stretching.  I kept this going for the rest of the day as well.

Over the next few days I didn't do any running, but went for walks away from my desk at work as often as I could, a longer walk in the evening and then cycled to work as well.  All low impact stuff.  I did my first gentle jog 4 days after the marathon and had a massage - I figured by this time a massage wouldn't be too painful and I was almost right.  The next day I was back to parkrun with the kids (below race pace) with a few light training runs during the next week, just about following Paula's advice to have a very gentle 2 weeks in the post-marathon period.  It seems to have worked, as following the last few marathons and half marathons I have done, I have not managed to pick up any injuries and have got back to running well within a couple of weeks and using the marathon training to post PB times in 5k and 10k in the month after.

Conditioning and Recovery

How you actually recover will depend on a number of other factors, not just what you eat after the race.

How your base training was going into the race, how hard you ran, what the course was like and how long you have been running long distances all play a part.

After my first marathon, I was wrecked.  Sore feet, ankles and hips, stiff muscles and this didn't ease off for most of the week. I ran a half marathon the next weekend and basically suffered with the same niggles as I had done in the marathon and I was lucky not to have done some serious damage.

An hour after MK Marathon with Greg Ward: changed, fed and
watered and staying on my feet to help recovery

Now, after my 5th marathon, I finished being able to walk slowly but normally, could walk normally by the end of the day and could jog a little the next day.  A lot of this comes down to toughening up the skeleton and tendons having done many more long runs.  This also tallies with a course on marathon training that I went on last year, where the speaker said that it could easily take 2 to 3 years before your body was really ready and strong enough to run a marathon.  Making changes to your muscular-skeletal system takes time.  However, it is still the case that being generally fitter, actually ready for your marathon and paying more attention to preparation, race fuelling and recovery helps too.

Go Long - You know you can do it....

I'm still learning about running marathons and every new one is an education in how my body and mind copes with long distance running. At least now I know I can do it, and I can also recover well enough and get running again without causing myself long term injuries. 

My next marathon will be the Farnham Pilgrim trail marathon in September, followed a month later by Abingdon marathon which will hopefully be another PB run.  For the summer, while it's too hot to be going very long, I'm going to be concentrating on improving speed for fast 5k and 10k races.