“Wishing all my friends a great Marathon completion.” – Delna Pooniwala.
By this time most of you may have completed your run & must be wrapped in some dry warm clothes to maintain your body temperature. I hope you enjoyed the entire experience.
It’s advisable to sip on a sports drink & fortify yourself with vitamins. Try staying on light foods initially like fruits and vegetables that would provide minerals & antioxidants to speed up your recovery. However, your muscles have depleated its reserves of glycogen and require to be replenished so maintain a diet rich in carbohydrates like pasta, whole grains, oats or any other slow to digest foods. It would be better to snack on smaller meals & electrolyte drinks throughout the day to replenish the body, rather than gorge on a huge one. A small stroll may also help in the muscle recovery.
It would be great if you could go for a massage as it may aid to relax your nerves & assist in a good rejuvenation nap.
Although most runners feel fine within 72 hours, it actually takes the body about 3 weeks to recover. During this period it would be advisable not to work out at normal intensity, as the body is fatigued, muscles have broken down, joints are stressed and the body cells have completely down.
Be extremely careful about your body. Especially our calves, Achilles tendon, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors as they are all tight and stretching them cold could result in a muscle tear. This usually happens when runners resume their workout soon after an event, without resting and utilising ample recovery time. Give your body time to deeply and completely recover & do not get impatient and rush into a training session.
The Marathon was a truly great achievement & there would be many more. So sit back & enjoy this moment with your loved ones.
