Recovery after a Race

JosephTree

Barefooters
Sep 7, 2010
2,526
1,871
113
67
Near Valley Forge, PA
I was just reading in another published web place the following about recovering after a marathon:

"Ideally you won’t run for about two weeks; any form of cross training is OK, but early running could hurt more than help you. Starting in week three you can begin incorporating light running. By week four you’ll be back on track and ready to go."

Is this the same sequence recommended for BF/M runners? I haven't run any races since starting back up, but I've noticed that my recovery time after even longish training runs is about no time at all, especially when I'm running really BF, and my form holds true.

I don't expect to be going to any dances after my inaugural Halloween 10 mile trail run, but neither do I expect to be hobbling for a week or two.

Comments?
 
You got it.There is hardly

You got it.

There is hardly any recovery time when BF running. Not even after a marathon.
 
A friend of mine ran Chicago

A friend of mine ran Chicago barefoot a couple of weeks ago - I got a blow-by-blow two days later when he was doing a half marathon as a wind down!

He didn't need no stinkin' recovery time!
 
Recovery only pertains to

Recovery only pertains to shod runners. I know this because I have never run a marathon barefoot :)

However my first barefoot run was the day after I ran a marathon, if that counts? I personally disagree, maybe doing speedwork the next day might be couterproductive but taking an easy run in my opinion helps alleviate the soreness.
 
What soreness?

What soreness?
 
Abide wrote:Oh nice Dama,

Abide said:
Oh nice Dama, rub it in. I'm sore after my 5 mile runs...still.



Geeesh Abide, has nobody tell to relax while running?....he, he, he.

Evil I know.
 
 I only did one marathon so

I only did one marathon so far, in Vibrams. I was running two days after, I definitely wasn't fully recovered but I was still running. I will say I was fully recovered after two weeks. But not running for two weeks after a marathon seems a bit extreme.

Two days is the max you should go without running after a marathon. You need to shake the legs out and get rid of any lactic acid build up. My next marathon is in May, which will be barefoot so I will see how that goes. I am sure much better recovery time than being in Vibrams.
 
 My favorite runs are the

My favorite runs are the ones the day or two after a long run.

Its the "get the kinks out" run. I ran a marathon on Sunday and ran 6 miles on Tuesday after and then 5.25 Wednesday.

The running seems to get the lactic acid out of my legs and help with soreness. I run lighter now barefoot so that has a huge affect on the level of my soreness to begin with though.
 
I thought that it is now

I thought that it is now believed that lactic acid build up results in fatigue during exercise, but not delayed onset muscle soreness.

Is'nt it just minor muscle tears and rebuilding that is responsible for soreness after a run and NOT lactic acid build up?

Also, I thought it was only produced when working beyond the anaerobic threshold, as in sprinting.

Sure, bursts of sprinting in a distance event could result in fatigue do to the build up, but I thought it is just the mechanical destruction that is the cause of the next day soreness.

Jimmy? Anyone?

SillyC, you must still remember the Krebs cycle and those other diagrams!
 
I actually took AP Bio last

I actually took AP Bio last year, and I think that lactic acid fermentation happens a little bit all the time, and basically any time your feeling tired or pushing it your hitting the anaerobic threshold. Fermentation produces ATP (ooh, look at me, all scientific) faster because its a shorter process, but fermentation of one glucose molecule takes 2 ATP and yeilds 4 (net gain of 2) while cellular respiration yeilds 28 or more ATP. You don't necessarily have to be sprinting, if your muscles themselves are starting to feel tired your body is probably doing fermentation to try and catch back up. I think it would be safe to say that if you're breathing hard then your starting to do a lot of fermentation (though you don't need to breathe for fermentation, your body is still trying to do respiration, it just can't take in oxygen fast enough to keep up with your energy needs.)

In simple terms, lactic acid fermentation is like one thing of food (a peice of bread, fruit, etc.), while respiration is a full meal. If were dying of hunger, you would probably not take the time to make the full meal, you'd just scarf down a peice of bread or something. Certain muscles may start "dying of hunger" at any point, especially if your not using efficient bio-mechanics. You probably wouldn't have every-muscle involved "dying of hunger" at the same time until the end of a long run, but periodically individual muscles, or even just groups of cells would get too "hungry" and switch to fermentation, until they're "full" enough to take the time to make a whole meal. You can actually do fermentation and repiration in the same cell at the same time, but lets not get into that.

I have no idea if it is related to delayed onset muscle soreness or not, but I generally just get stiff after long runs. I'm only sore if I really push it beyond what I should be doing.
 
Danjo,What do you want to be

Danjo,

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What are your college plans?
 
Board, Danjo's member profile

Board, Danjo's member profile can be found on the home page and answers this question. Of course, Danjo can add to that, but I really enjoyed putting his bio together.

I can totally respect people who run back-to-back marathons and ultras and stuff like that. They incorporate their marathons as part of their traning runs for something bigger. Their bodies are so trained that they can do this. If I ever get my body/feet problems worked out...
 
Thanks TJ,I had read his bio

Thanks TJ,

I had read his bio and remembered everything except the New Mexico Tech/mechanical engineering part.

Typical high school kid.........NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know kids in high school, college, and even recent grads that might have the academic thing going along with maybe music, drama, or sports, but not all of the above!

And able to put down in real words intellegent thought as well!

His parents must be proud!
 
So, the consensus is more or

So, the consensus is more or less "Thptttt!" to major layoffs after a race w/o nasty foot coffins, eh?

I will certainly let you all know how my recovery and my race go. I'll be wearing Bikilas to save my feet from the worst of the rocky trails, but will keep true form to the very best of my ability.
 
Immediately after a race you

Immediately after a race you more then likely will feel sore but unless you injured yourself during the run, you'll probably be good to go the next morning. Muscles may feel sore depending on course elevation and such, but you should feel good enough to put in a couple of miles.

Myself as well as my shod running partner both felt good enough to go for a run the day after our marathon and both of us were back to our normal running schedule 2 days after.
 
 I'm going to try and run the

I'm going to try and run the next day after my upcoming marathon, even if it's 1 mile to stretch out everything. Then later in the week I plan on getting some 4-5 mile runs in to stay trained for a metric marathon (16.2 miles) in 2 weeks. Last year I was all hyped to run another marathon within 2 months, but that was when I killed my whole body finally from shod running and the reason why I am with you all today!

I'll report back. Step lightly
 
My form isn't close to

My form isn't close to perfect yet, and I'm finding I do benefit from a couple of days of rest after my long runs (which are still sub-10-mile). But I don't want to take 2 WEEKS off from running for ANY reason except outright injury!

I'll put that advice in the trashcan along with the "don't do anything physical for 6 weeks after childbirth" advice. I helped install my son's carseat 7 hours after natural childbirth so that we could go home and I could sleep in my own bed and walk around my own house, which I greatly preferred to the 2 days I spent bored in the hospital after my first birth.

I really do think the two are similar. Birth? Marathon? Do what feels right to your body. We all handle strenuous activity differently, and we all have different recovery requirements.
 
My running buddy did a 50

My running buddy did a 50 mile ultra in the mountains in water socks. When he finished the soles of the water socks had large holes. Three days later we went for a 5k barefoot run and I had to tell him to "slow down you just did an ultra dud"