I've just run a marathon and am wondering how best to monopolise on the fitness I've built up.
How long should I wait before racing hard again?
What distance should I target?
I'm going to be careful with my recovery and do a reverse taper building back up to about 75mpw
I've always been told/discovered that it's best to take a full week off from running then come back with easy running for 3-4 weeks while slowly increasing mileage. Then add in some tempos, a week or two later add back the speed work. However, it all depends on how hard you were training for the marathon and how quickly you recover.
I've noticed that after training and running the marathon my turnover and short race speed as decreased. It takes awhile to get back into 5K mode.
It takes awhile to get back into it if you just hammered a marathon. I remember doing a 4ish mile "tempo" with a friend to help him just 3 weeks after a marathon. I ran with a cadence of ~90 in the marathon and was struggling to run with a cadence of ~86 on the track for the tempo a few weeks later. I suck for at least a month.
Depends on previous training, race course and race effort. E.g. if the course had a lot of downhills, it takes longer to to recover.
I've found that if I ran negative splits and finished strong, I recover faster than when I ran heavy positive splits and finished just "hanging on". I've also found active recovery is best for me. I generally don't run for about 5 days after a marathon, but I do some easy swimming, cycling and elliptical in the days right after a marathon. If I just sit around, it's like my body shifts in shutdown mode.
Four weeks ago, I ran the Erie marathon - I did a two week reverse taper. On the second weekend, I ran 15 at faster than my Erie race pace. I could feel the deep damage late in the run, but I felt GREAT. I couldn't believe it. Then I did a two week taper and ran another marathon. I ran 4 minutes faster on a much harder course.
I'm feeling ok 5 days after, some soreness in my quadriceps and tightness in my sciatic nerve but otherwise fine. I did a double day today (12 miles) and will do 8 tomorrow and 12 on sunday all easy runs for now.
How many weeks would I need to wait before being in optimal shape again?
I'm thinking 10k or half marathon, would it be more difficult to get my speed back for a 10k?
Colin Sahlman runs 1:45 and Nico Young runs 1:47 in the 800m tonight at the Desert Heat Classic
Molly Seidel Fails To Debut As An Ultra Runner After Running A Road Marathon The Week Before
Megan Keith (14:43) DESTROYS Parker Valby's 5000 PB in Shanghai
Hallowed sub-16 barrier finally falls - 3 teams led by Villanova's 15:51.91 do it at Penn Relays!!!
Need female opinions: I’m dating a woman that is very sexual with me in public. Any tips/insight?