As you know, part of the Where do I Run team competed in the Paris Marathon last April. It was the 1^st marathon for all of us and we were excited in having finished it (we will provide highlights of the race in another post). Following experts recommendations, we all took a week off after the race, with no real exercising; however, some of us got a common cold or sore throat symptoms, which is not uncommon since your immune system is affected due to the physical (and mental) effort your body is put on in completing a marathon.

In my case, I decided to pick up my running routine 10 days after the race. I hit the road with my new shoes and after finishing 7K, my right leg was really sore. I thought the pain will go away, but it didn’t. I opted to cut the running altogether and focus on cycling and going to the gym to lift some weights for the upper body until I could run again. Then, I got a cold, with nasal and sinus congestion, plus a sore throat. I had signed up for a 15K (the race was 6 weeks after the marathon), which forced me to start building up my miles again. Thus, each time I went out for a run, I got frustrated, since due to the congestion I hardly could keep up with my normal pace, this on top of still some pain in my leg. So I decided to completely stop any physical exercise till I fully recover. After 10 days with the cold (this is almost 5 weeks after the marathon), I went for a 5K; more than the distance itself, it was tough to wake up early and be motivated to go out. The leg didn’t hurt, but I will probably “take a rain check” on the 15K, since I don’t feel my body is ready yet.

My takeaways from this experience are the following:

• A marathon stresses a lot your muscles and your body (the effects on the muscular-skeletal system are tremendous, with muscles experiencing micro-traumas); getting sick, taking longer to recover and feeling soreness and pain in your legs is normal after the race.
• Don’t push yourself to get back into a running routine; take as much time as you need it to fully recover (some websites mention taking about a day off per every kilometer you ran, that’s 42 days).
• Try cross-training during your non-running period; spinning and swimming are great ways to stay in shape, without over-stressing your muscles.
• Don’t sign up for a race until you are back into your running routine, feeling strong and motivated (like in my case, you might end unnecessarily stressing yourself up).
• If you feel you have lost your motivation to train again, try new running trails, add new songs to your IPod/MP3 player, and/or just run for the fun of it without any particular goal/race in mind.
• Finishing a marathon is a great achievement, so indulge yourself; eat what you want, spend more time with friends and family, and enjoy non-athletic activities; eventually, in no time your body will tell you when you are ready to hit the road again.