911. Ultra Marathon Recovery After, During, and Before

Recovery is first different for everyone and we need to find what works best for us. 

The reason for this article is to spark some ideas, try some new things, and see if they work for you and your lifestyle. 

If we put the time into our training and recovery, then we can expect to be in the sport of ultra running for many happy years – if we want that. 

And to sum this article up in just one sentence: 

If you only focus on just 1 – 3 major efforts for the year, you have plenty of time to train and recover. 

Diving a little deeper, we’re going to cover:

• A note on recovery for beginners 
• Recovery plan for:
  • the days after an ultra 
  • immediately after an ultra 
  • During an ultra 
  • Before an ultra
• Heart rate 
• Injuries, Pain, Fatigue 

A Note on Recovery for Beginners

If you are new to running ultras, a best practice is to take the long view with this sport… 

aka don’t do too much too fast. 

We can’t go from 0 miles per week to 100 mile races. We have to pay the price.

What’s the price? 

Running miles. 

Uhh, what does paying the price have to do with anything? 

Because how in shape we are has a direct correlation to how well our recovery will go. 

Someone who trained for a year and ran 100 miles will recover way better (faster) than someone who woke up with no training and ran that same 100 miles. 

The second person may not ever run again…. They’d most likely be way too wrecked to even want to do it again. 

Flip the script on training. 

It doesn’t need to be a slog. Enjoy the challenges of getting into the best shape of your life and performing at your best.   

A piece of advice that stuck with me throughout my journey? 

take as long as you need to recover. 

A good rule of thumb to follow is that once you feel good enough to run and get that itch again, wait another week to start running miles again.

By the way, recovery doesn’t mean sit on your ass all day watching TV

Recovery could mean moving, grabbing some slow miles, or cross training with the bike, yoga, whatever. 

We’re not going hard, and definitely not racing. 

It could also be a time to reflect back on the race, how we finished, and what’s next. A case of the blahs may come for a while , instead of loathing them I try to enjoy them.

As we gain more experience and continue our buildup, our body is getting stronger. The muscles, bones, connective tissues, and even our endocrine system (that affects our glands that produce our hormones) 

Btw, the endocrine system is super taxed during an ultra and takes a long time to recover. 

Even if we feel physically 100%, our endocrine system could only be at 50%. (that’s why we need to wait that extra week after we feel good so we can give our endocrine system time to catch up)

Take recovery seriously. 

Let’s dive deeper into some recovery concepts! 

Recovery Plan for Days After 

We runners place so much emphasis on training that the recovery from an event is virtually ignored. 

Training to withstand an event and recovering from said event are two different skills, arts. 

What’s the key to running ultra’s over the long haul? Recovery. We can’t run if we don’t heal up.

During the recovery period for the days after a race, I’ll typically walk a few miles or hit the bike, and cross train with various yoga flows and eventually some strength exercises. 

Yes it sounds crazy walking the day after an ultra-marathon race, but it’s just a walk. The reason for this is because movement heals 

Movement promotes blood flow, and blood flow speeds recovery, as long as no new damage is done SO KEEP IT LIGHT.  Movement will also help stretch the muscles and prevent scar tissue from forming. 

Here’s an outline of what I do:

• The first week after an event I focus on staying active, flushing out the muscles through movement, getting caught up on sleep, eating quality foods, and making sure I stay hydrated. 
• The second week is when I start to get some movement and miles back – paying attention to my body, my energy levels, and really feeling it out.

feeling it out… 

Let’s talk about that. 

One of the hardest parts about recovery is the fact that we don’t really have our rhythm. We’re not banging out miles like we used too. We may be hurting. It’s a period of change and change is hard. 

Instead of a schedule, I try to follow a few guidelines or principles during this time so that I can stay focused and on track:

• Catch up on sleep. Most important, especially from multi day events. 
• Move often. Cross train. Try different things. For example, instead of running for two hours per day I’ll walk for 15 minutes, hit the bike for 30 minutes, and do yoga for an hour. 
• Stay patient and flexible with training, if I planned to do a workout, I won’t be afraid to call an audible for whatever reason. 
• Not running through injuries. If something hurts I focus on getting that issue squared up. 

Recovery plan for Immediately after 

Part of the endocrine system’s response to stress is to suppress appetite. Runners finishing with no appetite isn’t unusual at all, it’s pretty common. 

So the first priority after an ultra is: 

get hydration and electrolyte levels back to normal. 

(Hint: that’s a lot easier if you’ve stayed on top of water/ electrolytes during the run.) 

Once we get these things squared away, then we can handle food better.

Recovery Plan for During

yeah, recovery starts during an ultra… 

Mainly with how we are eating and drinking, which is something we should be training before our ultra race. 

Muscles need protein for recovery, and if they don’t get enough, they compete with your immune system – that’s why ultra runners often get sick after a race, and it’s a sign that they didn’t do something right or as best as it could be done. 

So during the race, consume some carbs, fats, antioxidants, and proteins. 

You can get this via real food (like the food we eat everyday), certain snack bars, or supplements like tailwind rebuild. 

Another aspect is how you run the race…

Some people drain the tanks and push it as hard as possible – they’ll be pretty jacked up. 

Others hold back and get it done, taking their time

No right or wrong, just different. 

Recovery plan for before 

Can we really start recovery before the race? 

This is a focus on our mileage leading up to the race. 

Do you regularly put up 100 mile “high-volume” weeks? Recovery is probably going to be fast. 

Or are you a “low-volume” 10 miles per week type of person? 

See, these two runners may very well finish in similar times, but the person who puts in 100 mile weeks? They’re going to recover way faster after an ultra than someone who puts up 10 mile weeks… 

I believe that high volume gives better results. 

The more we run, the better we get at running, the better we get at recovering from running. 

Plus, we can start to get experience of what it’s going to be like during our ultra. 

• What gear we are going to use 
• What we are going to eat, hydrate 
• What we’re wearing
• How to slog 
• etc.

Heart rate 

Knowing what our resting heart rate is after the event can actually help us tell if we’re fully recovered or not.

First we must know what our resting heart rate is before we run the event.

Let’s say our resting heart rate first thing in the morning is 45 beats per minute. 

A few days after the race, our resting heart rate may be at 65 beats per minute, our bodies are in a massive repair state… 

It’s been a week after the event and we feel great, we test our heart rate….

And our heart rate dropped down to 50 beats per minute, still up from our previous 45 beats per minute the morning of the race.. 

Despite us feeling 100%, our bodies are still repairing and that’s okay. 

Remember, we’re not taking off during recovery – just not training as hard. 

And once our heart rate gets back down to what it was at before the race? Is a good sign that our bodies are damn near fully healed and we can start training hard again. 

Heart rate monitors are valuable tools, and relatively inexpensive. Polar sells one of the best heart rate monitors on the market for just 70$. 

Injuries, Pain, Fatigue 

Ultra-marathon is a tough sport. 

it’s not for the faint of heart.

You need to be tough, train tough, and race tough.

That doesn’t mean stupid 

There is a difference between injuries, pain, and fatigue. 

We all experience fatigue. That’s where mental toughness comes in handy. 

Injuries shouldn’t be ignored like a broken ankle 

And we can push through most pain. 

There will be some pain too, believe that. 

Thank you ! I appreciate your attention 

There’s a whole world of adventure out there – gather experiences throughout our lives… 

We’re not guaranteed tomorrow – so do it now! 

Thank you for turning in! 

Go get your miles, peace!!!