Race Recovery Update

I’m two weeks post half marathon and I feel good. About 6 days after the race, all the pain in my quadriceps was gone. I’m close to my prerace weekly mileage of 25 miles – last week I ran 21. This week my plan is to run 6 miles Tuesday, 5 miles Wednesday and 6 miles Thursday with another 6 miles on Saturday. Tuesday’s and Thursday’s runs will include tempo work. I still haven’t figured out what my next race will be but I plan to be ready.

Race Recovery

So I completed my third half marathon on Sunday and set a new personal record. Yay! I’m excited and hyped to get back on my feet. I usually try to run a few miles two days later to get my legs moving again but wait a week to get up to my prerace weekly mileage. So this week I take the same approach. I headed out this morning to run 4 miles but was barely able to run a quarter of a mile. My legs were so tight it hurt to run. I struggled through the run finally opting to walk most of it. This is the first time I’ve felt this way and I’m trying to figure out why.

There are a few things I noticed about my body after this race compared to previous races. Usually my hip flexors are sore/tight with a little of the same in my quadriceps. This time the soreness is mainly in my quads. My previous races have had more hills – Santa Cruz and San Francisco, while Columbus was pretty flat except for a few gradual inclines. I wonder if that’s the key. Either way, I’m still sore and plan to continue stretching. Not sure if I’m a glutton for punishment but I plan to run another 4 miles on Wednesday and run 4-5 miles on Saturday. I’ll let you know how my advantageous recovery plan goes.

How do you recover after a race? What’s your post race training plan?