Recovering after a race: how many days, and when to restart the plan

The rule: one day per 3 to 4 km

After a 10K: three days without running or with very light jogging, then normal resumption. After a half: an easy week, with no quality session. After a marathon: two easy weeks, the first with little or no running, then a month before regaining the previous volume.

These durations are indicative; the coach adjusts them on your weekly answer and on the resting heart rate read from Garmin, which stays elevated as long as recovery is not complete.

What the coach does after the race

First it reads the race activity and congratulates you before analysing: first kilometre, evenness, second half. Then it closes the plan and proposes an easy week, sent to the watch: walking, cycling, 20-to-30-minute easy runs with no target.

It only proposes a new goal after that week, when training load and how you feel are back to normal.

Restarting without getting injured

The first quality session returns at the earliest one week after a half, three weeks after a marathon, and it is short: a 2 × 8-minute threshold, not long intervals. The next plan starts on a base recalculated from your last 30 actual days, race included.

• — 10K: 3 days. Half: 1 week. Marathon: 2 easy weeks, then 1 month of rebuild.
• — First quality: short, threshold, never long intervals.
• — New goal only after the easy week.

Injury risk peaks in the three weeks after a marathon, when the legs seem fine but the tissues are not repaired. That is where the coach is most careful.

Frequently asked questions