day after marathon

Honestly, that seems a little excessive. If they finish more slowly than they start, people seem to get more soreness in following days; but I would have to wonder about your training and very possibly your training shoes/racing shoes (if they're different).

That said, I tended to feel worse the *second* day after the marathon, rather than the day after.

I hope you feel better very soon.

Congratulations!

The worst will be over in 2-3 days. Try to get a massage if you can make it there. Eat lots and sleep. No running for a week!

what sort of recovery have you done? ice baths, light waking, advil, lots of hydration, etc, post-race meal or gel/food?

I was nearly afraid to do a second one after my first. I thought that was how you were supposed to feel, after all you just ran a marathon! Later I learned, the better trained you are the faster the marathon and the less the recovery.

wantarun wrote:

I was nearly afraid to do a second one after my first. I thought that was how you were supposed to feel, after all you just ran a marathon! Later I learned, the better trained you are the faster the marathon and the less the recovery.

I tend to agree b/c after my best marathon, preceded by the best quality training, my recovery was pretty quick. I even wanted to run the day after, although, just to be safe, I did not. Did run two days after, felt fine.

However, the downside of that was that, feeling so good, I may have jumped my mileage back up too soon. About 2-3 weeks after that marathon, I developed a huge case of the flu that took me a good part of December to recover from. Sometimes the soreness can be protective, making you want to rest more. It's always possible, though, that I might have gotten the flu no matter what. Just that I might have done better with taking more rest that first week.

Congrats on your first marathon, and a good recovery to you! I agree w/ the advice about getting a massage. I have found them invaluable after longer races.

Eating as soon after is supposed to be a good thing.

Light walking if you can, but for a day or two you might just want total rest, I never do ic baths, but hot baths with epson salt is nice. Definitely eat and drink lot and take vitamins. Your immune system is down so you could get sick more easily in the 2-3 weeks after.

In a few days, go out and buy some running shoes and have a burger and fries and have some fun. Give yourself time to recover. Sometimes you feel like you are recovered but you are not. Most of the injuries that I've had have been in the month after a marathon, so take it easy for that long.

I ran my first half marathon (first big race out of college, and first race in over a year) a few weeks ago. Funny thing is, I was not sore at all, except my left Bicep was really tight, and the inside of my thighs were chafed. I think it had to do with me having a left calf strain while running, and my right calf cramping up so much in the last few miles that I couldn't run very fast. I ran my last mile in 6:42 despite averaging 6:00, so it's not like I didn't die at the end (though the slowness is probably from the calf cramp and the fact that it was a giant hill).

the challenger wrote:

Definitely eat and drink lot and take vitamins. Your immune system is down so you could get sick more easily in the 2-3 weeks after.

Yeah, my past 2 marathons, I've taken extra iron w/ orange juice (twice a week instead of the once a week as I usually do after a long run) and this seriously works miracles with recovery! Your metabolism is probably out of whack from being repleted and then depleted, so eat, eat, and eat some more! Sleep. I find that it also helps to take at least 10 days off from running.

Lantermanc wrote:

I ran my first half marathon (first big race out of college, and first race in over a year) a few weeks ago. Funny thing is, I was not sore at all, except my left Bicep was really tight, and the inside of my thighs were chafed. I think it had to do with me having a left calf strain while running, and my right calf cramping up so much in the last few miles that I couldn't run very fast. I ran my last mile in 6:42 despite averaging 6:00, so it's not like I didn't die at the end (though the slowness is probably from the calf cramp and the fact that it was a giant hill).

Thanks for a totally irrelevant posting.

Ice baths.

Your right bicep was tight, and the insides of your thighs were chafed? Are you sure you weren't engaged in some other activity?