Comments on: finished my marathon… now what?

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:38:16 +0000

One of the best things about gaining running experience is knowing the difference between pain that is temporary and can be pushed through, and the different kind of pain that should be like bells going off that something is not right and you should stop. It is the most difficult thing in the world to make the decision not to run the race when you’ve put in so much hard work, but it could very well have allowed to you keep running all winter. Congrats on that, Lizzie. The next step is to look at how you are running and try to figure out why you were getting problems with your knee and ankle in the first place. Unless you change something about how you run, chances are the same problem will come back sooner or later.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Thanks for this post. I was supposed to run my first half at Phila this year, but had to drop out 2 weeks before, because of an ankle injury and that became a knee issue that would have been aggravated even more if I had tried to just push through it. Thanks for reminding me that it’s OK to take it easy – rest and repair. I’ve had two weeks off running and see a definite difference in my knee – feeling much better!

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:51:23 +0000

Great post Elyse! There’s lots of important points in there. I can definitely relate to the feelings of depression after periods of not running. It is very difficult sometimes when it becomes such a large part of your life and then you need to take a break for a bit, in order to keep you body together. The best thing to do is keep cross training with low impact sports like swimming and especially yoga. Those activities are also great to keep up when you are back in full swing training again.
Above all, you need to be able to relax. Most injuries happen when we are stressed out, either physically, mentally, or both. Learning how to relax and ride the ups and downs of your training without harsh personal criticisms will allow you to run better and stay injury free!
Happy Running!

By: Alana

Alana — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:12:48 +0000

I agree with Marisa – as a non-runner I had no idea that you have to consider what happens AFTER the marathon, too. I learned a lot from this post! Thank you Elyse.

By: Marisa

Marisa — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:21:35 +0000

I never thought that people would get the post-marathon blues… but it makes total sense! So glad you wrote about this… the honolulu marathon is coming up here in hawaii, so this was the perfect blog to share with our community! Thanks Elyse!