Megan Thompson

Well there are officially 13 days left before my marathon run! I am so anxious for it to get here. The past 5 months of training have been long but are paying off now. I've wanted to run a marathon since 2010 and for one reason or another it's taken me 4 years to finally get there....but I am here and I'm ready. After I ran the two half marathons I did I never really thought about what I was supposed to do afterward. So I started doing a little research into what you should do for your body after a marathon and came up with the following tips that I found most helpful :)

1. Rest for 1-3 days...no running.

2. Soak in a hot tub for 10-15 mins and stretch

3. Carbs and protein help to repair muscle damage.

4. Light massages are helpful.

5. Days 4 -7 you can run one day approx 2-4 miles and 2 days of light cardio just to loosen the legs up.

6. Espsom salt baths are helpful.

7. Days 7 -14 3 or 4 days running approx 4-6 miles. 3 days of cross training.

So for all of you first time runners out there I hope this is helpful. :)