I ran a marathon three weeks ago, with a decent time (3h57). I’ve been able to get back on my bike pretty quickly and feel strong on 50-60 mile rides. But I still feel lethargic when I run. In fact, I have to force myself to go out for a run. I find it hard to train faster than a 9 min mile for a 30-40 min run, when I would easily run a 7:30 min mile before.
What have you guys experienced? How long does it take to recover your running speed? Any recovery tips?
Thanks for your input.
if you did it all out, it takes about a month to really recover
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I agree…I recall something about 1 day for each mile of the event (if you raced it).
Part of the lethargy could be mental. After a long build, taper, and race, sometimes it’s hard to get excited about runs again.
I also ran a marathon 3 weeks ago. 3:32. Eased back into running a few days after the race and have been back up to around 50 miles/week the past 2 weeks. Did a little 2 mile race today at about 6:50 pace. Felt good to run somewhat fast again.
Recovery tips - consistent running (4-6x per week), slower pace, less mileage. A few weeks of that should let your legs recover before you try to run hard again.
The post marathon let-down is very common for most that run it hard. Especially if you really needed to work hard with legs that are shot in the last few miles. I’ve found that you need to continue to get out as often as possible as soon as possible. I have only missed “running” the next day on a couple occasions. The longer I wait, the harder it is to get going for me. Of course, getting enough rest (sleep) definitely helps. The first few runs are just warm-up until you don’t feel like you are loosening up anymore and then quit. No use trying to do anything hard for at least a week. That is a sure way to get injured. However, if I were still feeling lethargic 2-3 weeks later, a few 20-30s stride intervals would be in the plan for me. I wouldn’t expect them to feel good. But, they might help get the turnover back for regular training runs. Good luck with your recovery.
run another one. last month i ran a 50k on sunday and a marathon the following sunday. just get out and run. your legs will come back but need to force yourself out the door.
agree=get out and run. At first it may not feel great, but it will feel way better than if you took 4 weeks off.
it took my about a month recovery of zero running from my first marathon
enjoy the time off 
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Thank you all for the input.
i’m in a similar position right now. ran my first marathon on may 1st off not-really-enough mileage (maxed at about 33mpw for a couple of weeks before tapering, but was cycling ~5hrs/week as well), and the day itself i was beaten down by cold rain and wind. the last 8.5 miles were all rolling hills into a headwind with rain for about half that, and i was pretty trashed afterward.
i took a couple of days off (walking and a very easy spin on the trainer) and have kept it to easy runs since, but my cycling legs came back pretty quickly (did a 50 mile ride 6 days after the race with no issues, though i did keep the overall effort lower). i also started swimming again 2 days after the race, and this is where my question comes in; has anyone found that marathon recovery has an impact on swim fitness?
i’m finding it really difficult to swim without ending up gasping after 100m, and have been very lazy in the pool lately (doing less than 1,500m/session) as a result. i swam right up to the day before the marathon, so it’s not time off that’s causing fitness loss. i managed to crank out 5 x 400 last night, but it was super tough just to do each interval and i was pretty wiped afterward (did a ~20min ez run beforehand and 10mins of bodyweight exercises in the morning before work, but nothing else yesterday).
i know i could use more sleep, but i’m getting as much as i usually do. nutrition is good (lots of veggies/fruit, processed snacks before/during/after workouts only, drink nothing but water all day and stay well hydrated, haven’t had any known irritants for over a month), i don’t have any injuries, i’m just having problems with getting fatigued easily. does a marathon really wreck you that badly?
cheers!
-mistress k
I ran a marathon three weeks ago, with a decent time (3h57). I’ve been able to get back on my bike pretty quickly and feel strong on 50-60 mile rides. But I still feel lethargic when I run. In fact, I have to force myself to go out for a run. I find it hard to train faster than a 9 min mile for a 30-40 min run, when I would easily run a 7:30 min mile before.
What have you guys experienced? How long does it take to recover your running speed? Any recovery tips?
Thanks for your input.
I ran a 26mi long run this past sunday morning (fairly quick, 2:51). Drank a lot and ate a lot at work following, and I was good to go for the afternoon 90 minute bike. The following day I was running again and did a long/hard ironman brick. The fitter you are, the faster you recover. Just eat and drink and keep the legs moving a bit.