Post-Race Recovery

I had a great race at the GW Parkway Classic last weekend, and I’ve had a great post-race recovery week.

I kick-started my recovery by taking an ice bath when I got home. As much as I wish Epsom salt baths worked as well for me, they just don’t. I took a warm Epsom salt bath after the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler and was hobbled by delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) the next day. I took an ice bath after the GW Parkway Classic and noticed that my quads didn’t even complain about walking down the stairs.

On Monday, I opted for a “triple threat” workout to help my legs recover:

  1. 20 minutes on the elliptical (forward/reverse intervals)
  2. 25 minutes with Rodney Yee (Forward Bends program)
  3. 10 minutes core work with Cathe (from my X-Train DVD)

I made Tuesday a strength day, and did my ITB Rehab routine, my super sets routine, and 6 minutes of planks (4 sets of 30-second planks front/left/right).

20130425-214806.jpgI need my interval timer app to lead me through those planks!

On Wednesday, I was in Chicago for a business trip, and went for a run along one of my favorite routes from the Navy Pier out to the planetarium.

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The planetarium is at the point in the distance.
I’m not used to being able to see my destination 2 miles away!

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It was a bit rainy, and windy, but I didn’t mind.
I love the Chicago skyline!

I ended up covering about 5.6 miles in 52 minutes, with most of my splits at a 9:25 pace–clearly my legs were ready to be running again.

On Thursday I was back home and did my strength routine again, doing Cathe’s core routine instead of planks.

Today I plan to do an easy run before work, and tomorrow I may do some speed work at the track–nothing fancy, just some 400M repeats for fun. The next race on my calendar is the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in June, so I am going to spend the next few weeks focusing on speed instead of distance.

How do you recover from a race?

How long does it usually take to get back to your usual workout routine?

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8 Responses to Post-Race Recovery

  1. Jen says:

    I tend to recover from a marathon with a day or 2 of walking/biking then easy running the rest of the week and back to "normal" 🙂

  2. Marcia says:

    Ah my beloved Chicago skyline! I have run that route many times. Sorry the weather wasn't better. We are struggling with lack of spring. I recover from a race with yoga….although my balance sucks post race. No ice baths for me since Marine Corps Marathon and that is quite alright! : )

  3. Jill Conyers says:

    I love Chicago! It's my second (San Francisco is first) all time favorite city! My recovery is rest, stretch and foam rolling. That's about it. I bought epsom salt to try and I've thought about ice baths but can't bring myself to do it. That may change this weekend after my first 50K 🙂

  4. Lisa bishop says:

    How long are your ice baths for.?

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  6. Every time I try to incorporate speed into my workouts I seem to be really sore. So I haven’t been doing much of that lately. Sorry to hear the espom salt baths don’t work for you. I love them. They are so relaxing. I do not like ice baths.

  7. April at RunTheGreatWideSomewhere says:

    Great post, post race recovery is so important! I love Rodney Yee. He is so relaxing to listen to! And Chicago is one of my favorite cities! Thanks for linking up with us today.

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