Running a marathon or half marathon is tough. Even the best-trained runner is stressed by this distance. You must recuperate adequately to return to training and improve your next race performance.
As running gains popularity, more untrained athletes compete. Inspired by friends’ running, someone registers for the following race. Half marathon preferred. “Couch” runners regularly wind up in ambulances due to their love for the sport.
Half-marathons and marathons are tough. Without recognizing your body’s limits and regular, thorough training, you can run significant injury or illness. Amateurs shouldn’t admire pros.
Amateur marathon? It’s three or four hours of constant, high-speed body. After a substantial energy expenditure, a stress on the heart, joints, ligaments, and musculoskeletal system as a whole, you require a competent recovery.
After the finish
- Don’t stop or sit down after crossing the finish line to admire your medal.
- Restore water-salt balance with isotonic, recovery mixtures, and protein snacks.
- Eat some carbs.
- Eat protein. This is especially crucial for runners who have run a personal record distance and strained their muscles.
After finishing, don’t:
- Don’t drink. European beginnings often pour beer at the finish. After losing so much water throughout the marathon, drinking might make you dehydrated. Beer is calming, but it won’t help you recover after a race.
- Avoid fried and greasy foods. The liver has been working for hours and shouldn’t be loaded more.
- Avoid special treatments and huge feasts. After the marathon, take a walk if your health permits.
Solutions for post-marathon recovery
- The next 2-3 days after the marathon, heal your muscles with protein, B vitamins, and favorite snacks, but without excesses.
- Sleep 8 hours. Sleep is best for recovery.
- After a marathon, there’s no need to prepare for the following start. 2-3 days without running won’t ruin your training. You can walk or swim if you’re strong and motivated. The heart gets a light load while other muscles work.
- According to the coach, visiting a bathhouse after a marathon or half marathon strains your cardiovascular system, which is already overworked.
- The finest recovery, which can only be done a few days after the finish line, is ice baths or cryosaunas. Cryotherapy is a popular method of recovery based on cooling the body with extremely low temperatures (up to -130 °C), used to decrease the detrimental effects of excessive physical effort on the body. Immersing legs in ice water after exercise reduces inflammation, edema, and pain. Low temps slow metabolism. Inflammation, which occurs after a long run when muscles undergo micro-tears, is less active, therefore the runner does not experience crepitation. Runners should use ice baths and cryotherapy with caution. As the marathon runner’s immune system is stressed, the cold can trigger cramping, colds, and other diseases. High blood pressure, heart illness, joint pain, and genitourinary problems prevent cold recovery.
- Massages should be postponed until the end of the day or made mild and soothing.
