Post-marathon recovery

RnR St. Louis on Sunday marked #35... 35 races of marathon distance or longer.  The actual breakdown is 33 marathons, one 50k and one 40-miler.  All since my first marathon at Walt Disney World in January 2007.

Through all of these, I've battled recovery.  Although I've improved over the years, I still hadn't quite gotten the full handle on it.

After my first marathon, I made the mistake of going back to the hotel room after the race and pretty much just lounging the rest of the day until the after party at Downtown Disney that night.  It didn't take long before I was feeling extremely ill as the lactic acid finally worked its way out of my muscles and throughout the rest of my body.

Lesson learned - don't stop moving after the race!

So from that point, I always made sure to keep moving for a least a while after the race to ensure that all that acid was disposed of properly.


Over time, I tried other things, little by little.  I tried adding Hammer Recoverite to my post-distance events starting with the 50k.  This actually seemed to work pretty well.  I was sore the next day, but between the moving around after the race and the nice protein:carb nutrition, I wasn't in too bad of shape, despite a 6 hour drive home later that day.

I think I've FINALLY figured out my recovery strategy.  My quads were only a touch tender on Monday, but going down stairs, something that is typically not do-able for me after a marathon, wasn't bad at all.  By Tuesday, I was walking completely normal.  My hips, which always plague me after a marathon, haven't bothered me in the slightest.  And all this despite the fact that this was the hardest I've ever run a marathon.

My recovery from this race included:

• A Gatorade G3 Recovery Shake, chocolate, at the finish line pretty much as soon as I gathered my check bag (thanks to my friend Eric for suggesting this)
• A 15-minute soak in an ice bath when I got home, about 3 hours after I finished, followed by a hot shower
• The rest of the evening (about 8 hours) in my CW-X 3/4-length Stabilyx compression tights

I actually felt good enough that I really wanted to go out for a jog last night, but decided that it was best to delay that until today, which is when I had planned my first post-marathon run to be.