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| Edited By: Samir Purohit,Namrata Purohit |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 08, 2015, 06:20 AM IST
Firstly, congratulations on finishing your Marathon. Hope you achieved your personal best... This is progress. But we are sure that your body must be sore after the run and hence the first thing you should do is rest. It will be a week or so before your body recovers and your muscle soreness almost disappears. However, in the week 'after' you must have massages and rest well... which means no running but yes... very light activity like walking and swimming is good.
After a week or so, you can get back to training and maintaining your fitness levels, but it is important to start slow and not attempt a long run as this could add upto injuries. This is a maintainance phase and hence the idea is to go for shorter runs but at a good pace which will help in maintaining one's aerobic capacity. In this way one can maintain one's aerobic capacity for upto three months.
Research it seems indicates that one should reduce the volume of your training by a third ie. the number of times you run a week (frequency) and/or the distance but maintain the intensity. This way you will be able to keep up your fitness levels until you are ready to push up your training for the next marathon. eg. Incase you were running five or six days a week... you should run a minimum of two or three days a week. Alternatively, you can reduce the weekly distance by approx 35 per cent to 40 per cent of your highest weekly run. Of course, it is also important to cross train eg. Swim / Lift some weights in the gym to get back the strength levels (but after about two weeks or so of the run).
Hope our tips have helped you all and hope see you next year. Train Smart and follow the KISS principle -- Keep it Simple and Safe". I end this with a quote by the legendary marathon runner Emil Zatopek (winner of four Olympic Gold's) : "We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a Marathon".
—Inputs provided by Pilates and fitness experts Samir Purohit and Namrata Purohit
