I ran and completed my first half marathon on Saturday. As of right now, I am still incredibly sore. I cannot walk down stairs without great discomfort.
I tried to run yesterday to loosen things up, but that wasn’t going to happen. My quads were not participating.
What is the best way to get my legs back?
Might be too late now, but for next time–ICE BATH. I’ve found it greatly improves recovery after long runs/races. Good luck.
What about a hot tub? Would that be a bad thing?
Hot tub - very bad…increases blood flow and inflamation. Keep recovery to things cold.
No, a hot tub is not necessarily bad–but there is a certain period of time when you would benefit most from it. Exactly when that is, I’m not sure 
I thought I remembered reading somewhere that you should ice(bath) within 24hrs, heat within 48hrs. You could also try plunging…which is, cold to hot to cold to hot etc etc…supposed to be effective at flushing out waste in the muscles. Anyone else with more knowledge than I want to chime in…? I’m just passing on things I’ve read here and there, hardly a recovery expert. Good luck.
Okay. I’ll keep the heat off.
Would stretching help things? I did a good bit of it over the last couple days but I have not noticed a big change in how things feel. In fact, I think that I am more sore today than yesterday.
Try some light kick sets in the pool and some easy spinning on the bike. Keep with the stretching and maybe try some vitamin I for a bit.
Andy
Heck, I was popping vitamin I DURING the race! I believe that it helped.
I was planning a light spin tonight. I also have the wife booked for a massage.
get a massage
.
Massage, recovery bike ride,a dn Ice baths. i’m the only athlete I know thats ever fallen asleep in one.
Case in point ?
Last year I raced at the Age group Europeans in Switzerland and stood in Lake Geneva afterwards for 15 minutes. The next day ? I had NO soreness at all. Trust me it works…
Would standing in Lake Michigan for a bit help? I know right now that water is in the 50s.
I would second the ice/ cold theory. It is very effective and not used nearly enough. Hot tubs are not as good IMO. While there has never been any conclusive research on ice/cold treatment it is shown to work in various cases.
It basically causes the blood vessels to constrict, in effect pushing the blood present out- including waste products. Once you leave the cold the vessels have richly oxygenated blood return which aids in the repairing and rebuilding process. I did this after IMC in the Lake two yrs ago and was back running 6miles on the Wed after the race, and last year after HalfIMFL I did two hours of ice packs on my quads and calfs with light stretching and felt awesome the next day, raced the following weekend.
You can still do the ice pack treatment now- 15mins on then some light stretching- repeat. It won’t do you any harm,
Weeman
I did my first half marathon a week before you, and I think I hit peak soreness on wednesday or so (after a sat. race). So… it’s probably going to get worse.
I didn’t do my first run until thursday, at which point I was still sore, but the run felt good, and my performance seemed back to normal. I still don’t think I’m fully recovered however. My legs have been sore all this week, although I’m back to regular workouts.
Massage. Ice. Run if you can. Walk if you can’t. Also, I find that swimming helps a great deal in post-race recovery.
I ran and completed my first half marathon on Saturday. As of right now, I am still incredibly sore. I cannot walk down stairs without great discomfort.
I tried to run yesterday to loosen things up, but that wasn’t going to happen. My quads were not participating.
What is the best way to get my legs back?
Not that they can do anything for you now but many many many users report that their first running race after a period of time training on PC’s is marked by two notable differences. 1. a PR and 2. no soreness.
I think it has to do with balance.
You are simply amazing Frank.
What is your problem? It was simply information that might help him eliminate this in the future should he choose to take advantage of the information. It is something almost everyone reports (at least those who chose to report something about running) and do you expect me to keep quiet about it since it is extremely relevant to the question? I have information others do not have. I thought the whole purpose of these threads (at least some of them, not the hottie threads) was to help people solve problems. Most here choose to ignore me anyhow.