Congrats on finishing your marathon! While the specifics of what works best for your marathon recovery may vary slightly, here are 5 tips for recovering after a marathon that work for all runners.

1. Ice Bath

An ice bath provides a great way to jumpstart the marathon recovery process for your muscles. It will assist in flushing out metabolic waste and stagnant fluid. In addition, it helps reduce aches in muscles/joints. Try to submerge your entire lower half into the bath. Because of the intensity of the ice bath, we recommend you do it for 5-10 minutes. Here’s a tip: wear a winter hat, or wrap a towel around your head to make it more bearable. 

2. Movement

Yep, we said it!  You might be reading this thinking, “You’re recommending me to move?! I just ran a marathon!” Obviously, we don’t recommend running another marathon! However, going for a walk or a light jog can be helpful in increasing blood flow through the muscles of your legs and can be an integral part of an active recovery. 

3. Hydration

This one might be self explanatory but still very important. Replenishing fluids and remaining hydrated is a must after running a marathon. It is extremely important in reducing cramping, and again flushing out your legs. Add your favorite electrolyte mix to your water to help replenish all the sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium that was lost during your race. 

4. Food

Similar to the topic above: eat, eat, and eat! On average, a runner burns around 2,600 calories during the marathon. That’s a ton of calories that should be made up! It’s important to refuel your body and muscles with all the nutrients that were used up during the race. 

5. Soft Tissue Treatment

Show those achy muscles some TLC in the next few days. Foam rolling, stick rolling, dynamic stretching, or even yoga are important for active recovery. These modalities help to promote new blood flow to sore and achy muscles and help improve recovery time. All of the chiropractors at Elite Sport & Spine can provide you with effective soft tissue treatments, like Graston Technique and myofascial cupping, for a quicker recovery to get you back to running soon.