I've read a few different places that post-marathon recovery takes several weeks, but that doesn't seem to make sense to me. Sure, if you're at an elite level and you've put in 60-70 mile or more weeks in training and you finished with a top 10% time for your age group, I can see being pretty depleted, but for the average recreational runner, does recovery really take 3-4 weeks or more? I just finished my first full marathon using Hal Higdon's Intermediate training plan (most weeks between 30-40 miles), and my time (3:56) was respectable but not close to elite level. Three days later, I feel pretty good. I'm going to do my first post-race run tonight for ~5 miles or so, but I can't imagine I'm so drained that I can't do my usual pace for that distance. Thoughts from those of you who've been doing this a while?
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