How much time is needed between marathons? This question came up in the book Run Less Run Faster. Here is their answer. Some individuals recover more rapidly than others. The differences in recovery are influenced by the intensity of the effort and the weather conditions, running in warm conditions when a lot of fluids were lost slows recovery. We are aware of individuals who have run marathons every week of the year. One runner who contacted us had run marathons for more than 50 months consecutively. In all sports, there are individuals who have special abilities. These individuals may have special recovery capabilities. However, their constant racing may prevent their attaining an optimal performance. For most individuals, we believe that running more than two marathons per years risks their being overtrained, injured, and prevented from the proper preparations needed for a solid performance. We realize that sometimes, runners enter a marathon with the attitude that it is a long training run; thus it does not entail the same stress as an all-out effort, and the recovery needed will be shorter. However, a marathon is still 26.2 miles of running. Even if you do not run up to your maximum capability, you still need a recovery from the biomechanics stress. Marathon training is stressful, even with our method that emphasizes recovery, so be cautions about jumping right back into the next marathon training cycle. After the post-marathon recovery month, we recommend two to three months of serious training before beginning the next 18 week marathon training preparation. The time off provides a break from the mental stress associated with the marathon preparation. It is also a good time to run a shorter race and capitalize on the strong base built for the marathon.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 04:00:30 +0000
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