In today's Austin American-Statesman, running columnist Brom Hoban presents some information on recovering from this past weekend's Austin marathon. In it, he discusses delayed onset muscles soreness.

In the same breath, he states that "delayed onset muscle soreness ... this chain of events usually peaks about 48 hours after the marathon" ... then a few paragraphs later (ok, a few breaths later) remarks that "usually, by the Wednesday or Thursday after a weekend marathon, you'll feel good enough to run a few miles at an easy pace".

Mid-day Wednesday would put me at no more than 72 hours post-marathon. Apparently something miraculous must occur between 48 and 72 hours!!

Your brain may feel like it is ready to go, but your body is still recovering at the cellular level. Is there some deep need to be back to running the week after the marathon?

I strongly urge all of my athletes to take at least a week of no running, especially if this was their goal race. It serves two purposes - physically, you can step away from running and do all the things that will foster your recovery (i.e. strength training first, run training next). But perhaps more importantly, you get a much-needed mental break - which also fosters the recovery process.