The marathon was tough on my body. This was not a surprise though I found it harder to get out and do things than I had planned. After a big event like this, I generally like to at least get out and swim, but I wasn’t feeling it.
Swimming is an easy but full body workout where you move your arms and legs to get the blood flowing. The day after the marathon was New Years Day, so I figured going to EoS would have been a mistake, but I wish I at least went to the apartment pool and did a few laps. At this point, the balls of my feet hurt and my calves were swollen, but I didn’t have much other pain. I did take time to rest, but I also made sure I wasn’t stuck in one place. Moving around moves muscles, which circulates blood and helps promote recovery.
The 2nd day after the marathon, I had to work, but I was working from home due to the holiday “shutdown” so I didn’t have to worry about stairs. I had hoped to go to the gym to do some light resistance training (not legs), but again I struggled to get myself out there. This is the day the hunger really hit me. I was prepared with some extra food for immediately after the race, but this hunger was new to me. I ended up eating several peanut butter sandwiches along with what felt like anything else I could get my hands on.
The 3rd day after the marathon, in the evening, a full 72 hours later, I got out and did my light resistance training (not legs). I was tempted to try the treadmill for a bit, but my feet were still sore and I didn’t want to push it.
The 4th day after the marathon, I took it easy again, I did another light resistance training (some legs). I had hoped to do some cycling at this point to get the blood really flowing through my legs, but my feet were still a little sore.
The 5th day after the marathon, I feel some soreness in the balls of my feet, but otherwise am feeling good. I completed my swim as planned this morning; I’m looking to knock out planned training this week as I travel next week which makes training hard/limited enough.
Next week, I do have a gym with a treadmill, dumbbells and a bench at my disposal, but with temperatures around freezing, I’m not counting on doing a lot of running, I also won’t have access to a lap pool or stair machine to complete my other typical weekly workouts. I can use my apartment’s gym on Monday morning and Friday evening to offset some of this.
Lessons Learned
1. Make no firm plans the day after a large event. You should be able to get around but you won’t want to do too much if you don’t have to.
2. Make plans for easy recovery activities. While you don’t want to make firm plans where you have to show up, I think it’s beneficial to have some plans for movement. Nothing major, but walking around the house or down the block is good to keep your body relatively loose.
3. Swim if you can, don’t worry about doing anything structured, but if you can get in a pool and work your body, you will likely recover faster. If you’re like me with inflamed calves, it actually feels really good once you get past the chill.
4. Avoid the hot tub if you’re too inflamed. I did this after my last long run (22.66 miles) and it was very tough on my feet and legs because they were already hot and sore. Consider this after less substantial work and/or after some days of recovery.
5. Be prepared with easy healthier choices to eat. You likely will want some food that’s not healthy and that’s fine. Next time I do events that are this long, I would like to have some meat and potatoes prepared so I can have something more substantial that isn’t just quick easy junk food. I can understand my body needing the food to rebuild and restock, but I thought it would hit me earlier and I wasn’t ready for the later hunger.