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| Congrats on your Boston finish. Art is correct - the Boston course (dowhill first 4 miles, then another steep drop at 15.5 and then miles 21-24) does quite a number on the quads, likely during the race but if not then certainly in the days (and weeks) after. With each marathon you run (more specifically, with each training cycle) your legs will be better prepared. Training specific to the course is wise. So long continuous downhills for a course like Boston or Steamtown is good, long dead-flat run for a course like Chicago. You will want to be careful to no go overboard and risk injury on downhill training, and do it earlier in the cycle and not in the last 3 weeks before the race. For instance, starting about 12 weeks out do your first downhill specific workout (which will leave you sore for a few days), then repeat this workout every 3 weeks after, and then hopefully by the fourth one you notice no quad soreness in the days following. And as Art suggested, making sure that you get enough of your long runs on road surface rather than mostly on trails. (I generally do every other, or one out of three, long runs on trails. Otherwise on roads.) I have run 5 Bostons and the recovery time after seems to be about double of most other courses. It just seems like the damage goes so deep it takes me 4-6 weeks to feel completely normal. Even with a week or two totally off, I will still feel sore during my first week or two back running. As far as I know there is not much one can do to speed up the process, mostly it is just a matter of time doing its job. I am sure running on trails during your first weeks back will help. That said about Boston, you can feel good knowing that a future marathon on any other course will be easier on your legs. Quads at least (Chicago always seems to give me trouble w/ tightened achilles/calves as the dead-flat course does not allow for much variation in muscle groups) good luck with the recovery. t.shea --- On Thu, 4/24/08, Arthur Remillard <arthurremillard@...> wrote: From: Arthur Remillard <arthurremillard@...> |
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