How long I need to recover after races depends on a variety of factors.

• How prepared I was going in to the race.
• How well I fueled during the race.
• How well I fueled after the race.
• The length of the race.
• Conditions on race day.

After the Annapolis 10 Miler I was back out and running two days later. Nothing crazy, just a few easy miles to help ease my legs back in to it.

I'm much more sore after the Philly RnR half because I pushed harder on a longer course. Even though it's three days post-race, my legs still weren't quite ready to go this morning.

Maybe they'll be ready when I get home from work today, but if not, I think they'll definitely be ready by tomorrow.

When it comes to race recovery, I just have to listen to what my legs are telling me. Sometimes I can get right back out there, but other times, my legs will need some down time.

Even though I have a marathon coming up in a two months, I'm not freaking out about needing extra down time. I'd rather my legs be completely recovered than start training again on dead legs. That's just asking for an injury or burnout.

So I'm easing back into things. I'll do one or two short runs this week and then tackle a nice slow 15 miler this weekend. I'll continue to slowly build my long run mileage, but allow for plenty of recovery time.

And Icy Hot will be my friend for any lingering soreness that won't quite go away on it's own.

How long does it take you to recover after races and long runs? What do you do to speed your recovery time?