What comes next after a marathon?

You’ve run your marathon and everything went well (or didn’t), your left with that feeling of personal accomplishment but also an empty feeling of what comes next. Almost every runner feels some emotions when the marathon is over and there is no more marathon training to get after.

The feeling can be rather empty, you’ve climbed your own Mt Everest on marathon day only to find that the next day it’s not there and you need to start again. It’s a strange feeling and many runners struggle to cope with the post marathon blues which can easily lead to motivational issues that last for weeks or months.

Recovery from a marathon is important and you should take a few weeks post marathon to ensure  you recover fully. This should include only easy running for at least a few weeks before starting building mileage again. While you are recovering is a good time to look to the future and start thinking and planning about what comes next.

Three tips on planning what comes next.

Another marathon

Depending on whether you achieved your goals in your marathon may impact what you plan for your next race. If you missed your goals for the marathon, especially if you came very close it is easy to stay motivated and start planning for another marathon to claim redemption. These days there are plenty of marathons to choose from so it’s quite easy to find another marathon to run.

Once you’ve decided on which marathon it is reflect on how your preparation went and what you could have improved last time. The aim is to improve from your last race so take the experience you learnt from the previous marathon and take it to the next marathon preparation.

If you achieved your goals in your last marathon, think about what you want to achieve in the next marathon and how you alter your approach to be even better next time.

Pick some shorter races

Sometimes the hard work of preparing for a marathon can lead us drained and getting straight back onto that horse may not be the best idea. Picking some shorter races can be a good idea to keep training towards without the volume of marathon training to overwhelm you.

If you run some 5km, 10km or half marathon races you’ll be able to recover from them much quicker and may be able to string a few races together to keep racing and stay motivated to train. These distance are also great to travel to without a large race taking your focus for the entire weekend. Running shorter races can be great to keep you focussed on running faster and improving your running.

Go Ultra

Maybe now is the time to go ‘Ultra’. With the recent boom in trail ultra marathons its easy to think it’s time to hit the trails and go longer. In most countries now there is an abundance of 50km, 100km or 100 mile events to choose from and whatever distance you choose will give you a much different challenge to a road marathon.

Ultra marathons can take you well outside your comfort zone so if this is what you need post marathon then this could be the goal for you. Running on trails is fun and being far away from the urban lifestyle and out in nature certainly has its appeal.

Taking on a longer distance will require the same commitment to marathon running and these days are just as accessible. Going ultra may just be what you need to get back on track.

Whatever you choose to do post marathon it’s important to enjoy the moment and celebrate a marathon finish. US statistics say 0.5% of the population will run a marathon in their life, it is a big achievement. Remember this before you go and chase your next goal.