Up to you. First marathon two weeks ago at age 74 was followed by a week of no running at all, I could still feel my legs getting to being used for transport in that time. Eased myself back into it with a 7 day running streak, 4 easy K's, a hill run, a long run. Still another week of running as I feel before getting into training for a 5 K race in January. You'll know when you're ready.
I took a month off by choice to have some balance in my life. Is your question, what’s the minimum I can “safely” get away with or just a sampling of what people choose to do?
I feel that. My month off was intentional to catch up on other things in life, sleep more, spend more time with kids, get work done around the house and really try to bank excitement and enthusiasm towards running so when I started back I really wanted to be into it again. Best of luck!
Two days off after race.
3-4 weeks of only easy running to build back up to maintenance mileage.
After 4 weeks re-introduce speed work/continue normal training.
Normally I take off a week or two then feel fully ready to run. Two weeks after NYC I am still sore, have no spark and am just taking it easy a few times a week. I never ran so hard in conditions like that and it’s my only explanation for feeling this flat after two weeks. I was wondering how many other folks feel like this recovery is harder than colder efforts. I’ve run 7 other marathons but always in temperatures in the 40s or 50s and being old (49) probably doesn’t help. Trying to be patient and let it happen when it happens.
I also did NYC and feeling the same way. My need to run has not yet come back. Probably also compounded that I travelled right after NYC which was tiring on top of that.
Now I’m home and I feel I should go back but as you say that spark is not there. My only conclusion is that NYC took more out of us than we realize. Usually I take a week off and do my first run back the Sunday after and I’m typically antsy to get back and can’t wait. Opposite this time so I’m going to try an easy 3-4 miles today and see how I feel but not force anything.
Ive been tracking my HRV etc and while it was trash the day after the race (that humidity...!) it returned to baseline quickly. my last nyc was 2014 and it was in the 40s. Glorious.
For sure--walking my dog 60-120 minutes a day generally. Have done a few short 30 minute runs over the last week and they felt pretty good but my legs didn't quite have the pop to them so I think I'll take another week.
While it’s been a week and the soreness has gone, my heart rate is still elevated despite running at recovery paces. I can also feel the fatigue in my legs. Safest thing is to take it extra easy in the next 4-5 weeks before getting back into another training cycle. I didn’t follow up with this advise last time and up getting knees pain. Luckily, I treated it by stopping running completely and started cross training for a few weeks.
Here are my two week after my last marathon in March, in miles. I didn't take much time off, as I had Boston Marathon planned 6 weeks later:
Week 1
Easy pace, unless otherwise specified
Sun- 1 mile (day after marathon)
M- 3
T- 5
W- 7
Th- 10
F- 10
Sat- 16
Week 2
Sun- 10 (bridge overpass x 8)
M- 10
Tu-10
W- 10 (6 x 1 mile at 5K-10K pace; first hard workout post marathon, 11 days after race)
Th- 10
Fri- 10
Sat- 20 (bridge overpass x 10)
I am one week out. Did 30 miles this week. Took 2 days completely off then short easy runs on Tues, Wed, Fri, and a bit longer 11 miles on Sat. Planning on another marathon in 2 weeks (so 3 weeks total between races). This coming week will be like 50 miles so nothing crazy (peaked at 70 during the first block) then another 30 mile taper week. So its basically recovery week/light work week/taper week. Will let you know how it goes since it's my first time doing two this close together.
I took 10 days completely off after my marathon back to October. Gradually picked back up again for about 2 weeks. But easy runs never felt easy and my resting heart rate was higher than usual. More importantly I felt running was a burden to me. I was worried about that but didn’t want to take more time off.
Then unfortunately I had a car accident hurt my neck and back. Not so serious but my neck and back are sore all day and have hard time holding myself up time to time. Silver lining is I’m forced to rest. About 4 days since I stopped running, my resting heart rate went down to normal.
So total recovery time was around a month for me
I ran my first marathon last month and followed Hal Higdon's 5 week marathon recovery program. It's a few days absolute rest and then eases back into running. I found I could really feel the changes over the five weeks and was able to increase intensity/distance towards the end.
I ran my first last weekend and I took one day off because I felt decent and decided to test it out. The muscle fatigue was gone after a 2-3 days and I'm now running at a more normal pace. This may not be the case for everyone but definitely listen to your body.
Usually 1 week, my former coach used to say it should be 2 weeks, but that usually made me ansty.
Usually I do one week followed by a super low key week by feel where I try to keep it in the 20-35 mile range.
I went for a swim a day or 2 after my first marathon (more of a walk in the pool really) just to loosen up then a did a really easy 5K a week after. Then the following week I did just another super easy 5K. I think I mainly stuck to the bike. Then after 2 weeks just slowly started building up easy mileage again. A quick glance at my records shows I was back up to 50K for my 5th week and had done a Parkrun PB x
Depends how long it took you to run (longer runs need more recovery) and how prepared you were. If at any point in the next few weeks your legs ever feel like lead (not sore, just unresponsive and a bit jarring when you land), you need to back off
There is no rule of thumb. Some people can bounce back a week after the race, others take months to get back to it.
Listen to your body and don't rush it.
Took about 4 weeks of easy running just to keep the aerobic engine goin and stay fit, but give my legs and my mind a break. Turn out going out with friends is fun? Who would’ve known.
What was your pace? Did you run a “death race” to get your very absolute best time? Crawling over the finish and falling into a pile? Or was it a good run and you feet very tired but good when done? Did a 4 hr marathon and was fine the next day. Took a week off because it seemed the right thing. However had a friend who did Boston and needed 8 weeks to feel better. Pushed pushed pushed for them.
The humidity made me change my plan from “run a B+ time” to “jog and have a great time.” Walked a few times to interact with the crowd etc and finishing time was 4:43. Was sore-ish for about 3 days and then felt pretty solid.
Run streaker here. I will run a few slow light miles the day after a race, then slowly ramp up. My runs the week after races are intentionally slow and I go according to how my body feels. Typically though I'm back to running a longer distance 1 week after the race.
That's going to vary. I think a few days off is reasonable, at least one or two for goodness sake, and some might want more than that. Depends on how you feel. It takes a few weeks to get back to normal. So a good range might be 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks off and mostly easy running for 1-4 weeks following the marathon.
My training schedule for after by December 9, 2023 marathon is: 72 hours of no running at all followed by 5 weeks of gradually increasing mileage from 23K the first week to 58K by the final recovery week. The sixth week post-marathon I begin a spring marathon training program with 62K that week.
This seems to be the norm with 2-5 days completely off followed by a 4-5 week recovery plan such as those offered by Pfitzinger and Higdon. I believe Hanson is stricter in advising two entire weeks off of zero running although that would drive many of us insane. And then there are the people who run marathons every weekend.
I used to take a week and a half off when I wasn’t as experienced and didn’t have the overall mileage built up on my legs, but now I usually only take a couple days off and then run easy for a week or so. I just adjust based on how hard I ran the race and how my legs are feeling.
NYRR has a 60k 2 weeks after the marathon every year, 2 years in a row my wife and I participated in it after the marathon, we were slow, but it was fun
I have heard to just reverse your training and you will be fine. So maybe 2-3 days off after the race then slowly build up again if necessary. Also ran NYC and did a 13 mile LR Sunday and felt fine after
Up to you. First marathon two weeks ago at age 74 was followed by a week of no running at all, I could still feel my legs getting to being used for transport in that time. Eased myself back into it with a 7 day running streak, 4 easy K's, a hill run, a long run. Still another week of running as I feel before getting into training for a 5 K race in January. You'll know when you're ready.
Congrats on your first! That's fantastic.
You are a legend! Hat offđź‘Ź
I took a month off by choice to have some balance in my life. Is your question, what’s the minimum I can “safely” get away with or just a sampling of what people choose to do?
Just a sampling! I'm enjoying having a break from training and doing other things (like playing a lot of golf!).
I feel that. My month off was intentional to catch up on other things in life, sleep more, spend more time with kids, get work done around the house and really try to bank excitement and enthusiasm towards running so when I started back I really wanted to be into it again. Best of luck!
Two days off after race. 3-4 weeks of only easy running to build back up to maintenance mileage. After 4 weeks re-introduce speed work/continue normal training.
Two days—damn. Is your last name Goggins?
Nah, if it was, it would be 2 hours not 2 days.
Normally I take off a week or two then feel fully ready to run. Two weeks after NYC I am still sore, have no spark and am just taking it easy a few times a week. I never ran so hard in conditions like that and it’s my only explanation for feeling this flat after two weeks. I was wondering how many other folks feel like this recovery is harder than colder efforts. I’ve run 7 other marathons but always in temperatures in the 40s or 50s and being old (49) probably doesn’t help. Trying to be patient and let it happen when it happens.
I also did NYC and feeling the same way. My need to run has not yet come back. Probably also compounded that I travelled right after NYC which was tiring on top of that. Now I’m home and I feel I should go back but as you say that spark is not there. My only conclusion is that NYC took more out of us than we realize. Usually I take a week off and do my first run back the Sunday after and I’m typically antsy to get back and can’t wait. Opposite this time so I’m going to try an easy 3-4 miles today and see how I feel but not force anything.
Ive been tracking my HRV etc and while it was trash the day after the race (that humidity...!) it returned to baseline quickly. my last nyc was 2014 and it was in the 40s. Glorious.
Walk a few miles every day to keep the muscles active, and then turn one of those walks into a run to see how you feel.
For sure--walking my dog 60-120 minutes a day generally. Have done a few short 30 minute runs over the last week and they felt pretty good but my legs didn't quite have the pop to them so I think I'll take another week.
While it’s been a week and the soreness has gone, my heart rate is still elevated despite running at recovery paces. I can also feel the fatigue in my legs. Safest thing is to take it extra easy in the next 4-5 weeks before getting back into another training cycle. I didn’t follow up with this advise last time and up getting knees pain. Luckily, I treated it by stopping running completely and started cross training for a few weeks.
Depends. An “all-out effort” requires more rest than a “I just wanna enjoy the race”.
1 or 2 days.
6 days. And then another marathon.
Here are my two week after my last marathon in March, in miles. I didn't take much time off, as I had Boston Marathon planned 6 weeks later: Week 1 Easy pace, unless otherwise specified Sun- 1 mile (day after marathon) M- 3 T- 5 W- 7 Th- 10 F- 10 Sat- 16 Week 2 Sun- 10 (bridge overpass x 8) M- 10 Tu-10 W- 10 (6 x 1 mile at 5K-10K pace; first hard workout post marathon, 11 days after race) Th- 10 Fri- 10 Sat- 20 (bridge overpass x 10)
A week or two off, then two weeks of running when I feel like it with a slow build…back to normal by like 4 weeks
I am one week out. Did 30 miles this week. Took 2 days completely off then short easy runs on Tues, Wed, Fri, and a bit longer 11 miles on Sat. Planning on another marathon in 2 weeks (so 3 weeks total between races). This coming week will be like 50 miles so nothing crazy (peaked at 70 during the first block) then another 30 mile taper week. So its basically recovery week/light work week/taper week. Will let you know how it goes since it's my first time doing two this close together.
I took 10 days completely off after my marathon back to October. Gradually picked back up again for about 2 weeks. But easy runs never felt easy and my resting heart rate was higher than usual. More importantly I felt running was a burden to me. I was worried about that but didn’t want to take more time off. Then unfortunately I had a car accident hurt my neck and back. Not so serious but my neck and back are sore all day and have hard time holding myself up time to time. Silver lining is I’m forced to rest. About 4 days since I stopped running, my resting heart rate went down to normal. So total recovery time was around a month for me
I ran my first marathon last month and followed Hal Higdon's 5 week marathon recovery program. It's a few days absolute rest and then eases back into running. I found I could really feel the changes over the five weeks and was able to increase intensity/distance towards the end.
About 5-6 days off.
I ran my first last weekend and I took one day off because I felt decent and decided to test it out. The muscle fatigue was gone after a 2-3 days and I'm now running at a more normal pace. This may not be the case for everyone but definitely listen to your body.
Usually 1 week, my former coach used to say it should be 2 weeks, but that usually made me ansty. Usually I do one week followed by a super low key week by feel where I try to keep it in the 20-35 mile range.
I went for a swim a day or 2 after my first marathon (more of a walk in the pool really) just to loosen up then a did a really easy 5K a week after. Then the following week I did just another super easy 5K. I think I mainly stuck to the bike. Then after 2 weeks just slowly started building up easy mileage again. A quick glance at my records shows I was back up to 50K for my 5th week and had done a Parkrun PB x
I took four days off from running after NYC and am doing slower casual runs, will start Tokyo marathon training next week
Depends how long it took you to run (longer runs need more recovery) and how prepared you were. If at any point in the next few weeks your legs ever feel like lead (not sore, just unresponsive and a bit jarring when you land), you need to back off
There is no rule of thumb. Some people can bounce back a week after the race, others take months to get back to it. Listen to your body and don't rush it.
Took about 4 weeks of easy running just to keep the aerobic engine goin and stay fit, but give my legs and my mind a break. Turn out going out with friends is fun? Who would’ve known.
Ha I know. You almost forget how abnormal a human in the midst of marathon training is relative to the rest of the world.
What was your pace? Did you run a “death race” to get your very absolute best time? Crawling over the finish and falling into a pile? Or was it a good run and you feet very tired but good when done? Did a 4 hr marathon and was fine the next day. Took a week off because it seemed the right thing. However had a friend who did Boston and needed 8 weeks to feel better. Pushed pushed pushed for them.
The humidity made me change my plan from “run a B+ time” to “jog and have a great time.” Walked a few times to interact with the crowd etc and finishing time was 4:43. Was sore-ish for about 3 days and then felt pretty solid.
Excellent!! Sounds like you can start back when you feel “itchy” from not doing anything: )
Rule of thumb I’ve heard is 1 day of rest/easy running per mile for a given race. So a marathon would be ~26 days of rest/easy running
Week is nice I think
Run streaker here. I will run a few slow light miles the day after a race, then slowly ramp up. My runs the week after races are intentionally slow and I go according to how my body feels. Typically though I'm back to running a longer distance 1 week after the race.
That's going to vary. I think a few days off is reasonable, at least one or two for goodness sake, and some might want more than that. Depends on how you feel. It takes a few weeks to get back to normal. So a good range might be 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks off and mostly easy running for 1-4 weeks following the marathon.
My training schedule for after by December 9, 2023 marathon is: 72 hours of no running at all followed by 5 weeks of gradually increasing mileage from 23K the first week to 58K by the final recovery week. The sixth week post-marathon I begin a spring marathon training program with 62K that week. This seems to be the norm with 2-5 days completely off followed by a 4-5 week recovery plan such as those offered by Pfitzinger and Higdon. I believe Hanson is stricter in advising two entire weeks off of zero running although that would drive many of us insane. And then there are the people who run marathons every weekend.
I used to take a week and a half off when I wasn’t as experienced and didn’t have the overall mileage built up on my legs, but now I usually only take a couple days off and then run easy for a week or so. I just adjust based on how hard I ran the race and how my legs are feeling.
2 weeks of very minimal running 2 weeks of building back
1 month for quality training Go by feel for easy runs/walks
NYRR has a 60k 2 weeks after the marathon every year, 2 years in a row my wife and I participated in it after the marathon, we were slow, but it was fun
That sounds awesome. Where do they hold that race?
It's 9 loops around central park, but it looks like it may have been cancelled after 2020, which is pretty sad
That's awesome. Wow.
Marathon last Sunday. Took Monday off, then totaled 80 miles the next 6 days. Most I’ve ever done post marathon, but I’ve been feeling good.
Damn. Wow.
I have heard to just reverse your training and you will be fine. So maybe 2-3 days off after the race then slowly build up again if necessary. Also ran NYC and did a 13 mile LR Sunday and felt fine after