Marathon Training Beyond the Miles: RECOVERY

Man, this week has been crazy! The ministry that I work in at our church went on a retreat in the mountains of California Wednesday and Thursday. As soon as we arrived at the cabin I stepped out onto SNOW! It would be an understatement to say that I was excited!

photo 2 (25)

We spent two days relaxing, bonding with each other, and a lot of time in silent, personal study and reflection of the bible. It was really a refreshing time. I mean check out this beautiful view!

photo 4 (24)

I was even able to squeeze in little time with a cup of coffee and my current favorite book! So much interesting information in those pages!

photo 5 (22)After last weekend’s 17 mile long with, finished with a tempo I was pooped! It took me longer than usual to recover, which isn’t surprising since that was a really good effort that I put in. But after having to push my Tuesday workout this week to Wednesday I decided that it was probably time to get a better idea of how to recover faster from my long/hard runs!

I found a few great articles about recovery from Runner’s World. Article #1

Article #2

Article #3

I was excited to learn that there is a lot of things that I do right when it comes to recovery, but also surprised to find that there are a lot of things that I really need to work on!

10 Important Things to incorporate into your Recovery

  1. Cool down. It is really important to cool your body down slowly. Finish your run with a little slow walking and stretching before moving on to the rest of your day.
  2. Feed your body right! Feel free to treat yourself after a long run with a big brunch or an extra scoop of ice cream but make sure that your body is getting the nutrients it needs to recover. Extra important: don’t forget to get in a well balanced snack within 30 minutes of finishing your run!
  3. Get a massage or foam roll, this encourages blood to flow and helps sore legs heal faster!
  4. Get moving! (at least just a little) Even on my off days I like to take the dogs for a short walk, get in the pool and splash around, or  just get off the couch for a little bit.
  5. Stretch out your muscles and improve your flexibility by stretching or doing some yoga!
  6. Take an ice bath!
  7. Relax and stretch in the hot tub!
  8. Make sure you are HYDRATING! Drink lots of water throughout the day!
  9. Get your legs up – lay on the floor or your bed and place your feet/legs up against the wall. This helps to flush our your legs.
  10. Get a good night of sleep! And even take a quick nap during the day after a long run or hard workout.

This morning’s run was an easy 15 miles and today’s focus is really on making sure I do as many of these 10 things so that I am ready for my workouts and coming up next week!

What was your Saturday run?

Anyone have a race coming up soon?

What recovery methods are you really good at? Which do you have to work on?