How long should a person rest after a marathon?

Answer 1

After personally finishing 35 marathons I can still say this is not a simple answer. It certainly depends on how hard you pushed it. I have completed marathons totally exhausted and followed the "rest one day for every mile rule." (26 days) I have friends that "participate" in marathons but run very slowely and run one marathon each month. Frank Shorter, silver medalist in the Olympic marathon said, "Run your next marathon when your blue toenails have grown out!" It takes about 6 months to regrow a toenail!

Answer 2

Most experts suggest that you give yourself about 6 months between Marathon races. It depends, of course, upon your degree of training and, moreso, the level of effort you put into the runs. If you are well trained, you can run on consecutive days if you run at a training pace (typically 1-2 minutes per mile slower than your race pace). If you are well trained and run at race pace, it takes almost a month to recover enough for another race-level marathon effort; however, doing so that quickly would almost certainly shorten your running career. Most good runners who want to participate in marathons less than six months apart designate one as their "A" race (full effort) and the other as their "B" race (lesser effort) to minimize injuries and extend their careers.

Answer 3

If a person runs each mile in ten minutes, it will take 4 hours and 22 minutes.