Marathon Recovery, Part I

Your best strategies to minimize injury and down-time

2. Train with a heart monitor: Training too hard after the marathon will ultimately slow your recovery and increase your risk of injury. It takes more discipline to hold yourself back and allow a full recovery than it does to mindlessly dive back into training. One way to ensure that you do not run too hard is to set an upper limit, using a heart rate monitor. During the first 2-3 weeks, keep your heart rate below 75 percent of your maximal heart rate or 70 percent of your heart rate reserve.For example, say your resting heart rate is 50 beats per minute and your maximal heart rate is 185 beats per minute. Using the maximal heart rate method, you would keep your heart rate below 139 beats per minute (185 X .75). Heart rate reserve is your maximal heart rate minus your resting pulse. In this example, your heart rate reserve is 135 (185 - 50). Using the heart rate reserve method, you would keep your heart rate below 145 (resting heart rate of 50 + (135 X .70)) during your recovery.

3. Avoid injury by minimizing pounding: Because your muscles and tendons are fatigued and stiff, it is critical not to stress them too soon. Running on soft surfaces will reduce the cumulative impact experienced by your legs and back. You should also avoid hills, not only because running uphill requires more effort than is optimal, but also because downhill running induces muscle damage.The time of recovery from a marathon depends on a variety of factors: diet, quantity and quality of sleep, general health, age (we tend to recover more slowly with age), etc. There is a large variation among runners in the amount of time required to rebound from a marathon, so you should not copy your training partner’s recovery program. Nor should you devise a rigid schedule based on how you recovered from your last marathon. During recovery, base your training strictly on how you feel.

4. Get a deep massage: Most serious marathoners use sports massage to speed recovery and prevent injuries. The few studies that have been conducted on the benefits of massage have shown mixed results, but I would not discourage you from a massage (or several) after a marathon. An experienced massage therapist will find sore muscles you didn’t know you had. To be effective, sports massage should be “pleasantly uncomfortable.”