Recovery is without doubt one of the vital factors in training, in that runners need to give their bodies a chance to grow and repair themselves after their workouts|meaning athletes need to give their bodies a chance to recover and repair after a competition}. What you do the first few hours and days after a marathon is as important as what you do immediately before it. This period is critical to your recovery plus your future running and it is in the course of the recovery process that runners obtain the advantages of the workouts themselves. So now that the race is over, what do we do next?
One fact to remember is that recovery starts instantly after a run. After a workout/race the body is able to start the healing process. Marathon runners and Tri-athletes should particularly take advantage of this window and start eating and drinking at the end of the workout so they don't fall victim to bad side effects.
These side effects can vary and are the main reasons you should always replace your electrolytes after an extreme workout. The first is muscle soreness and fatigue. The delayed muscle soreness is a feeling of stiffness that begins 8 or more hours after exercise and could last up to 4 days as a result of insufficient stretching or warming up before a workout/race.
Another important thing to do is perform a cool down after completing your race. Try walking it off for about 10 minutes. Try and avoid stopping suddenly or lying down, this will most likely lead to fainting, leg cramps or nausea. Continue to drink fluids to replace your electrolytes or if you have an electrolyte capsule take one after the race to avoid muscle cramping and replace any electrolytes you might have lost during the race.
The evening after an intense competition should see you eating plenty of carbohydrates with some extra protein as well. Avoid alcohol to celebrate your victory. It is also said that a cold bath is better for the muscles rather than a warm one, although a warm one is fine if followed by some gentle stretching.
Time between your races is very important. After an extreme marathon race runners especially should make sure they are allowing enough time, usually 2-3 weeks of rest is needed (with general workouts during) plus on top of that at least 6 weeks of training plus 2-3 weeks taper period - which is where the marathon runner will back off training in the last 3 weeks of the training cycle to help recover before the big race. Spacing these workouts out by two weeks roughly allows for a full recovery, and for the athlete to benefit from the previous workout in the next longer session. These times are individually based dependant upon how hard you went in your race. It is important to get the proper recovery between races because shortening the recovery time can lead the performances in the workouts themselves to suffer, which takes away the primary advantage of those efforts. In the long run not enough recovery time will certainly hinder your performance in competitions.
At the end of the day it is recovery that will help us perform at our best. Getting the edge in any competition depends on how much rest you give your body. The one thing to remember is it's your body and only you know how much time you need. Rest, it turns out, is one thing that makes us go stronger and harder.
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