Jun 14, 2000

After running the Boston marathon April 17th, I took a very careful recovery period of about 30 days before returning to full pre-race mileage (about 30 miles per week). After 30 days I did a couple of tempo runs, which felt fine.

Then, over a seven-day period, my legs have become "dead," my runs are exhausting, and I think I strained my right quad. Why did this happen, given the conservative approach to recovery after the marathon?

REPLY: Boston is a leg-killer. Whatever the "normal" recovery periods are, you need to extend them after running that mostly downhill course. (I know from four experiences.)

If the usual downtime is a month after a marathon, it probably needs to be six weeks to two months after Boston. My guess is that you came back to normal runs too quickly and are feeling it now.

You'll come back. Your body is just telling you to wait longer.

###