How to Recover from a Long Run

You can probably guess from the title of this post what I did on Saturday.  I completed a ‘long run’.  But how long you may ask?  TEN MILES!  I haven’t done a long run in a few weeks, since my eight miler, so I was ready to go for another long run. 

I did my ten miles in 1:35:11.  Because the treadmills at my gym don’t go over an hour, I had to take two photos.

How to Recover from a Long Run

I admit, when I first started running a year ago I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I wasn’t sure what a ‘split’ was or how many miles were in a marathon.  I looked to other healthy living and running blogs for information and I was pleasantly surprised how much information was out there. 

One thing I didn’t have to worry about last year was recovery.  I was doing light stretching after my 2 and 3 milers, but I never gave much thought to proper recovery.  That was until I started running more and feeling an increased amount of injuries. 

So you may be asking yourself, “How should I recover after a long run?”

1. Use ice – not heat.  I don’t think I could ever get myself to do an ice bath.  I hear they work wonders, but there’s no way I can see myself doing that.  However, ice is important for recovery as an anti-inflammatory to reduce swelling and pain.  *Apply ice for only 10 to 15 minutes at a time and don’t use directly on the skin.*  I like to put my ice cubes in a zip-lock bag or sometimes in a towel. 
2. Massage your muscles.  Self-massage will not only easy your aches and pains, but also improve your ability to stretch and remain injury free.  My favorite method of self-massage is using my foam roller or The Stick.  I do warn you… at first it will HURT.  But trust me, if you’re doing it right, it will make your muscles feel 100% better the next day.  Another form of massage I like to do is even easier – wear compression socks!  I guess it’s not technically a massage, but it does the job overnight.
3. Rest.  I know that I hate taking rest days when I feel like I finally got myself into a schedule, but its very important for proper recovery.  After my long runs, I like to either completely rest the following day or do restorative yoga/light stretching.  I rarely run the following day, and if I do for whatever reason it’s always an easy run.
4. Keep your legs lifted.  By lifting your legs on a few pillows or blocks, you allow the blood to rush from your feet and down your legs.  My favorite way to do this is to rest on the couch and put my legs on the back of the couch, or lie in bed and prop up three or four pillows for under my feet.  There are various ways you can do this, so do whatever works best for you.

Talk to Me

• How do you like to recover from your long runs?
• Have you taken ice baths in the past?  What are your thoughts?
• How miles did you run this week?