How to recover faster after a half marathon, do you run the day after?

Try going for a nice 20-30 min walk at an eeeeeeeeeeeasy pace. Preferable outside and preferable in the woods. Take the wife/girlfriend/son/daughter/dog and enjoy the fall weather. Bike is also a good option. 30 minutes spinning in the granny gear. No need to start hammering the training again. You'll just dig yourself a deeper hole and will end up losing fitness rather than absorbing the race and building fitness.

short slow run, like a jog really. You could hike or crosstrain instead if you want, but you should at least get the muscles working.

A nice easy day at the pool worked for me.

An aside to my previous comment: As you get in better shape you will begin to recover more quickly between workouts, races and even more quickly between intervals within a workout. This is what gaining fitness is all about. This is why the pros are able to run 100-150 mpw at what seems like fairly fast paces. The fitter you are the less hard workouts and races take out of you and the more volume and intensity you are able to add into your training. This takes years and years to develop. Patience and consistency are the keys.

I tend to run the day after races. Short and slow. It depends on your age and mpw too.

Swim wrote:

A nice easy day at the pool worked for me.

I went with this, and spent a long time in the hot tub - my legs feel a lot better. Going to do an easy 4-5 miles tomorrow.

A small amount of downhill jogging speeds up recovery faster than jogging on the flat.

Here's what I do when I'm a little beat after a race, especially a half marathon during a marathon build-up:Do an easy run the day after the race (pace does not matter, sometimes i run 8:30-9:00 pace, PR-1:11:48) then rest 2 days after, then resume your schedule. Sometimes a workout on Wednesday, usually I get back into it on Thursday with some quicker stuff versus a tempo for psychological reasons, but it depends.Sunday- Race AMMonday - easy run (evening to maximize recovery)Tuesday - OFF or 4-5 super easyWednesday - medium-long run or fartlek workout with strides (run at night if possible, so basically you get 48 hours rest)Thursday - Workout of 4-6 x mile or 4-6 mile tempodisclaimer - I always feel better the day after than 2 days after

rest or run wrote:

Did a half marathon yesterday, my legs hurt today quit a lot, more than they usualy do after a race. I normally do a recovery run the day after a race as I enjoy the feeling of the easy run after a hard run, and I think it makes my legs feel better. But I don't know if this is a good idea if your legs are in a lot of pain? Will an easy run help me recover faster than a total rest day? Or maybe even doing an easy bike ride better than a run?

(My primary concern is a speedy recovery so I can start training again).

My take:

1) Everyone recovers at a different rate

2) Each person needs to learn what works in terms of recovery.

3) Course and weather can have huge ramifications

4) Why the hurry? How soon are you racing again? If you try to return to hard training too soon you run the risk of running on damaged tissue and that can lead to injury or just not repairing. That means you are not going to progress.

Don't run. The risk of injury is very high right after a long race.

Go for an easy bike ride. Stay close to home, keep it short and slow. Just get the legs moving.