Will A Correct Training Plan Prevent Post-Marathon Soreness

Audio Transcript

Danny: This is coach Danny from Runners Connect.

Today’s question comes from Susan.

Susan: I just completed a marathon four days ago and I’m still feeling a little sore, especially going downstairs. I read from a couple of different sources that if you are sore after a marathon, then you didn’t train enough to simulate the race.

Basically, the training wasn’t ideal or perfect. I followed your training plan really close and I was really sore post-race. I didn’t even ‘race’ the marathon. What are your thoughts?

Danny: Great question, Susan. I hope I can answer it fully for you.

For starters, I’d like to start from my personal experience and share that. I’ve ran a handful of marathons, five or six I believe.

With each one, I’ve been so sore afterwards that I can’t walk without a limp or some kind of soreness for two to five days, some upwards of that.

Definitely, running is out of the question, at least four to six days. Normally, I take a week of zero running anyways. That’s planned before the marathon and happens as part of a training cycle.

But even if I wanted to run, I don’t think I could, for very long or without pain, for at least three or four days post marathon. I think that’s something that we all experience and most of us do experience.

It’s part of the experience of running a marathon or 26.2 miles which takes me on my next point.

I think no matter how fast or slow, or how hard or how easy you run a marathon, it’s still 26.2 miles on your feet.

Running faster or running harder will necessarily go deeper into the well and be more sore. But also if you take it easy for 26.2 miles, it means you’re on your feet for a longer period time.

You’re out there for three to six hours.

Even if you’re running easy, that’s still a lot of damage and a lot of steps that you’re taking out there on the concrete, on pavement.

It can cause some soreness that’s going to last for a week or two.

Then going into the training side of things, yes training programs should prepare you to run a marathon. It depends on what your training program is set up to do.

Was your main goal to finish a certain time or just complete it? Your training should be focused around that goal. There’s a fine line or a threshold in my opinion, on how much training to put a runner through.

A lot of that depends not only on the distance of the race of 26.2 miles but also where you’re coming from, in your past training.

Your injury history matters too. Are you chronically injured? Those are the other things that we take into account.

First and foremost, we want you to get to the starting line healthy: 100% healthy. If you’re coming from 20 miles a week, we’re not going to give you 60 miles a week.

Yes, that might prepare you for the marathon a little bit better but chances are that you’re not going to reach the starting line without some niggles or a chronic injury and not be 100%.

I’d rather see you show up at the starting line 90% fit but 100% healthy, as opposed to 100% fit but were unsure if you can complete the marathon because you have a sore ankle, or you have a shin splint, or even worse, a stress fracture that [were responsible for 04:55-04:57].

It goes back to the old saying that if you have 100 eggs and throw them at the wall, five of them are going to come back and not be broken. That’s not the approach you want to take.

I don’t want to take an athlete that’s used to running 20 miles a week and give them 60 or 80 miles, and hope that they don’t break basically.

We like to step back as coaches and look at your progression that you’ve had before you coming to us.

The progression in what you want to accomplish in the future and take more of a long term approach with your training and progress it a little bit at a time and keep things steady.

This is to ensure you keep healthy, don’t reach burnout physically or mentally, and keep that joy of stepping out the door each day and running.

Those are the kinds of the process goals that we want to incorporate into the training plan, not just a certain time for a marathon.

Like I said, we like to keep that steady progression over a longer term when it comes to the volume and intensity of your training.

Susan, I hope that answers your question fully and that was the best of my ability. Thank you for asking, that’s a great question.

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Thanks for listening today and have a great run.