When do resume hard workouts after a marathon?

For most people about a month or two.

4 weeks. The legs recover in about 1 week. Something else doesn't, either the heart or the nervous system, probably the nervous system is protecting the heart from over exertion.

6 weeks to be fully back in the groove.

I take a page out of the NOP playbook and run a post-race workout. This is typically something such as 10x800 at 10k pace.

No running at all for at least 2 to 3 weeks. Only easy running for another 2 to 3 weeks

I took a full week off after my last marathon and it took me months to get back. Only took one day off this year and have been doing easy runs since then. Feels much better, although i wouldn't try any speed work for a couple more weeks. I was also in much better shape this year though.

I wish I could give you a better answer than this, but this is the actual answer: no one can tell you when the time is right because the right time to come back is different for each person and each person may have different timing requirements after each marathon. As with so many things running-related, the answer is to listen to your body.

I ran Chicago as well, and took all of last week off and then went an easy 3 on Monday and off yesterday. I will probably run only 3-4 days this week. I have done two other fall marathons - NYC 2014 and Chicago 2015. In each case, I then came back and ran my local half marathon in early December, and in each case I was barely able to run my first half split from my marathon at that race.

I would also give some consideration to what workouts you are going to try to do as your early workouts back. A vo2max workout is an awfully tough way to come back to the track. Yesterday I was discussing the "first workout back" issue with a friend who also ran Chicago. He was thinking he would start back with a 20 minute tempo run on the track. I suggested 3 x 200, 3 x 400, 3 x 200 instead, with the reps being untimed and treated as long strides. Another friend suggested a few miles of "stride the straightaways and jog the turns." Both workouts are intended to serve the same purpose: help re-establish good mechanics and breathing rhythms without stressing your energy systems too much. Essentially, a rust buster and a building block for more efficient future workouts. Also something that you can walk away from feeling good since you are not timing yourself. Just food for thought.

Thanks for this. I was going to go after a 10 miler today but I think I will cut it to 5 miles. Just easy 5 milers for the next two weeks with maybe some pyramid workouts like you described. Good advice. I'm eager to race again but my body is clearly telling me otherwise.

Well said my LRC friend. It's a very subjective response, with a lot of variables. I took a week off from everything, and by the following Sunday, got a easy paced 5 miler. I took the next day off and ran on Tuesday AM, it felt amazing. My longest run in the last month was 8 miles, other than that, it's been 3-5 milers, all pretty relaxed and just enjoying the fall season. I did run a 5k two weeks post marathon on nothing other than a few strides and a fresh body and PR'd. The conditions were perfect too, which encouraged me to sign up, if it was a heat wave that morning, I'd skipped the race. I've really enjoyed the shorter runs though and just letting my body come back on it's own. I've found strength work to be great this time of year too before the training picks up after the holidays.

It's very individual... I take off for 2-3 days, and then start running again, if feeling fine. Only easy and super easy jogs, 4-6 miles for the rest of the week, just to keep moving and help with legs recovery... Anywhere between 40-50% of my usual mileage... Then, the week after I start, 7-10 days from the marathon, I start introducing harder tempo stuff, again, if I feel fine... Working myself up to about 60-70% of my weekly mileage. But the 3rd week, I'm back to normal training, even racing shorter races;)

Just listen to your body but I really think to take off completely from running for weeks past your marathon effort is counter-productive, unless you really need a mental break...

KawauchiFTW wrote:

It's very individual... I take off for 2-3 days, and then start running again, if feeling fine. Only easy and super easy jogs, 4-6 miles for the rest of the week, just to keep moving and help with legs recovery... Anywhere between 40-50% of my usual mileage... Then, the week after I start, 7-10 days from the marathon, I start introducing harder tempo stuff, again, if I feel fine... Working myself up to about 60-70% of my weekly mileage. But the 3rd week, I'm back to normal training, even racing shorter races;)

Just listen to your body but I really think to take off completely from running for weeks past your marathon effort is counter-productive, unless you really need a mental break...

Totally agreed...

Seems so silly to take a week off of running just after running 26 miles. Isn't some monumental effort or anything..

I did a mountainous 100 miler and I was back to running ~3 days later. Everyone is different obviously, but if your legs feel good and you mentally want to run - why not?

I noticed you said you "did" a 100 miler. Not that you "ran" a 100 miler. Could be the same as "running" 26 miles and "racing" 26 miles? In each of these cases the higher effort will require more recovery than the one before it.

Interval Disaster wrote:

I ran the Chicago Marathon back on October 7 and took an entire week off. I resumed running this past Monday and did an easy 4 miler that felt kind of bad.

I also ran a workout yesterday 4x1000m at 5K pace and it went extremely bad...I couldn't even finish it and I could only manage tempo pace.

Am I not ready to start working out again? Is this normal.

I like the reverse taper. Take however many days you need off from running (I've been taking 5), then start back with easy efforts for 45 min to 1 h. In week 2, I'll do 5 days of running (1 extra rest day taken midweek). Day 13-14 after, a steady paced 10 or 12. Third week out, start to build mileage and pace, with something like a tempo or longer paced run 18-21 days after. After that, starting with 22 days after, if everything feels fine, resume normal training.

Of course, adjust as needed if anything feels out of synch or if overly tired.