Rest After A Race

The question I have been asking myself this week is how long do you rest after a race?  13.1 miles is a considerable distance, the longest I have ever run and my legs feel pretty sore and beat up after this distance.  I googled this question and the answers ranged from 1 day off for every mile to 1 day easy for every mile to a few days off to no days off.  13 days off seems too long while no days off seems too short.

Normally I would take off a week or so and not give it a second thought but my dilemma after this particular race is that I actually have another 1/2 Marathon on October 2nd and if I want to score a new PR I can’t really afford to take a whole week off from running.  The RnR half was essentially supposed to be just another training run for my next 1/2 marathon but of course it wasn’t because it was still a race and I can’t help but push myself a little harder than normal.

If this were just a regular training run I think I could have continued on my regular schedule but of course regardless of it’s purpose a 13.1 mile race puts more stress on my body.  For me personally I felt if I jumped right back into running without at least a few days rest I was asking for trouble by setting myself up for an injury.   So I decided to listen to my body and ended up resting for three days before resuming my training with an easy  2 miler  yesterday.

A slow 2 miles is just what the doctor ordered.  This run really loosened up my legs and even though I am still sore from the 1/2 marathon it felt great to get back outside an run.  If I feel good I will probably run a 3 miler tomorrow and a longer run on Saturday.  There are only 23 days left until my next had-marathon so if I want to achieve a PR I better step it up and train hard!!!

How much time do you take off after a race??