Muscle Recovery & Running

While proper training is critical in improving your speed and endurance, giving yourself adequate recovery is equally important. Without proper rest, you risk overtraining, which can cause diminished performance, fatigue, training burn-out, irritability and risk of injury. The amount of recovery you need depends on many different factors.

Factors Affecting Recovery

Your running recovery needs depend on your overall fitness level and on your genetics. Learning exactly how much time you need may come from simply observing your body and trial and error. The intensity of your workout also influences the amount of recovery you need. A mild run performed at an easy pace may need very little time, while a hard workout may require between two to 10 days for full recovery, reports an article in Running and Fit News from 2001. The length of your run, your sleep habits, diet and age also influence muscle recovery.

Benefits of Recovery

Allowing your muscles to recover improves your overall performance. When you run, especially for a long distance, you deplete your muscles of their glycogen stores---the primary source of energy. Without allowing those muscles to restore their energy, you are not going to be able to operate at full capacity. Muscles also experience stress during hard runs. They need time to repair and resynthesize to come back stronger in future runs.

Nutrition

Post-run or post-race nutrition can influence muscle recovery. Chris Carmichael emphasizes in his book "Food for Fitness" that paying attention to your food intake following a training session or race is critical in maximizing recovery. In the first 15 to 60 minutes following a run, your body is most efficient at replenishing its glycogen stores. Carmichael recommends eating .75 g of carbohydrates within 15 to 30 minutes of your run and every two hours for the next four to six hours. Post-exercise meals might include a simple bowl of cereal with milk, which a 2009 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggested is as good as commercial sports drinks for post-exercise muscle recovery.

Marathon Recovery

Training for and running a marathon requires special attention to recovery. According to the noted running coach Hal Higdon's website you should expect the body to need a minimum of two to three weeks to recover from 26.2 miles. Coming back too soon puts you at risk of injury and impaired performance. You do not need to completely stop running for the recovery period, simply scale back on your training and listen to cues from your body to ease up on intense workouts and high mileage.

Considerations

The type of course you run also influences the rate of your muscle recovery. According to the online magazine "Time to Run," running fast or downhill creates greater stress on muscle fibers and connective tissue than running on a flat course. If you experience soreness a day or two after your run, give yourself an extra day to recover. Cross training with a non-impact mode of exercise, such as swimming or cycling, can help you maintain cardiovascular fitness while allowing your body relief from the constant impact experienced during running.