Take a Break……
Seriously do (almost) nothing…
Last Saturday was the Baltimore Running Festival….known to most of us as the Baltimore Marathon and a LOT of people participated in some form.
If you’re already a runner or in pretty good shape and just did a leg of the team relay you’re OK to get back to training, but if you did the half or whole marathon you should do yourself a favor and take some downtime.
I know runners don’t like to hear that because they live in some irrational, fear- based alternate universe (don’t we all) where after 6 months of intensive training, taking the next 4 weeks off from running, notice I said “running” NOT all activity, will result in them becoming fat, slow, out of shape doppelgangers of their former self.
Doppelganger jokes aside, running a marathon is not training your fitness level it’s TESTING your fitness level.
These, captain obvious, are different things. Testing and Training……
So they need to be treated differently.
Testing is about seeing what the body can accomplish.
Training is about building for the best result during the test.
In training, sessions build on each other leading up to a test (the marathon).
Unless you are training for an ultra marathon, running 26 miles is NOT training and there is nothing to build up to after that, so some down time is in order.
Fact is, from a “Is this good for my body” standpoint, running 26.2 miles is really stupid.
It’s pretty much the definition of “overuse injury“.
“There are two types of runners, either in training or injured.”
That said, running is no more stupid than say, putting 600lbs on your back squatting down and trying to stand back up, tossing a telephone pole end over end, or standing in front of a piece of vulcanized rubber shot at you from upwards of 100 miles an hour……so don’t take it personal…
Objectively speaking these are all stupid things to do with our bodies……. but fun as hell…..
So if we want to do stupid things, repeatedly, for a long time, we should probably let our bodies recover and rebuild in preparation for more stupidity.
So here’s what I would recommend as a “layoff”, GPP, preparatory, active rest …or whatever the hell you want to call it phase for someone who just ran the Baltimore Marathon and is planning on running more in the future…that is without getting jacked up.
Week 1: A whole lot of not much
You just ran for 4-6 hours and you want to do stuff….OK that’s fine, play some video games and eat some ice cream.
I recommend Turkey Hill, it has great flavor and is very creamy.
Unless you’re a genetic freak of nature your body needs a break and your mind can use the rest.
3-4 times this week you can foamroll, stretch and do some mobility/ activation drills…that’s it. About 20-30 minutes a session should be enough. More if you want more time to roll and stretch.
The focus should be on tight/ restricted areas and under-active/ weak muscles. In runners these tend to be tight pecs (chest), hips and ankles, weak upper/ mid back and glutes.
We’re talking an hour to an hour and a half of activity for the week.
Don’t worry about getting fat, runners are notorious for this, after that many footsteps your body is depleted and broken your stress response is in overdrive, give the body some time and let it reestablish allostasis.
Focus on proteins and fats to help rebuild your muscles and connective tissue…it’s cool you can have that ice cream too.
Week 2: A whole lot more of not much, but some more than last week…..
You get to do some more if you want, but not much. Same plan as last week however I would take one of two options
- Start weight training with some light (body weight or lighter) upper body and core work AFTER the warm-up stuff.
- Do the mobility/ activation training in a circuit of 10-15 exercises and go 3-5 times through.
If I went with option 1 everything should be super easy. We’re talking an RPE of 5-6 out of 10.
Pushups, Inverted Rows, Planks, done circuit fashion 2-3 times though. If you want to do some body building type of stuff too here that would be ok. Things like biceps curls, side and lateral raises, rear delt raises, chest flys.
A circuit of 5-10 exercises for 8-10 reps each done 2-3 times should suffice.
I would continue to lay off the lower body for now with the weights it’ll get enough from the mobility/ activation work.
Weights 2-3 Times this week would be OK. Warmup stuff 3-5 times.
Week 3: It Kinda Looks Like Training, but Only if you Look Really Close.
Keep the rolling, stretching, mobility and activation work high. 10-15 exercises in a circuit 3-4 times through.
Weights training is pretty much the same as last week except we’re adding in the lower body focusing on ROM (range of motion) and single leg exercises….again keep it easy and light RPE 5-7 out of 10. Don’t change anything with the upper body weights.
Continue to do these in a circuit of 8-15 exercises arranged in a non-competing fashion:
- Upper/ Lower/ Core
- Upper Push/ Lower/ Upper Pull/ Core
Any combination works at this point as long as you feel fresh for the next exercise. Go through 2-3 times (depending on the number of exercises you chose and time it takes to complete) aiming to be done in 30-40 minutes, not including the warmup stuff.
By the end of the workout you should be breaking a little bit of a sweat but NOT feeling drained at all. You SHOULD feel like you could and should be doing more…but don’t.
If you have a sled you should start dragging it now, not heavy, work it into the circuits.
Sled Dragging is one of the best rehab/ pre-hab/ prepatory movements for runners.
Weights 2-3 times this week, warmups 3-5 days.
* Next time we’ll go through the second half of this transition phase weeks 4-6.
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