Yes, it’s absolutely normal.
I saw a post about this today on one of the major running subreddits. The OP had just finished his first marathon about two weeks ago, and when he started running again he noticed his heart rate was a little higher at the same paces he used to run. He was worried he was losing the fitness he’d worked so hard to build throughout his training.
This time of year is a popular time for marathons, and there are likely a lot of people out there who have recently or are about to run their first marathon. And you may find yourself asking the same question that he did:
Is it normal to experience a higher [heart] rate [or rate of perceived effort] while running the first couple weeks after a marathon? Do I just need more time to recover?
The simple answer is: Yes, it’s totally normal. And yes, you’ll need a little more time than that to recover.
What Should You Expect After Running Your First Marathon?
Until you’ve done it and you’ve experienced it, nothing can really prepare you for how your body is going to react to finishing your first race.
Throughout training, you probably had days where you felt wrecked and you just wanted to sleep on the couch. Days where you woke up the next morning stiff and sore. Days where your body rebelled at the very thought of going for a run.
This is different.
The next day, you’ll likely be very stiff, and you may have trouble walking. Many people find stairs to be especially troubling. It’s cool, just shuffle through life, slowly, and know that it will get better.
In the next few days, you’ll start to feel a little better. Walking will be easier, and you might be able to go for an easy jog. But in that first week, it’s totally normal for your runs to feel extremely hard. You’ll shuffle along at a slow pace – much slower than you’re used to.
Over the next week or two, if you continue to go out, you’ll slowly notice your body coming back to life. I remember after my first marathon, there was a magic moment about three weeks later. It was like someone flipped a switch, and my legs finally worked again. I felt “normal.”
In this period, you can and should be back out running. It helps with your recovery to get the legs moving – either walking, hiking, running, or some combination of things. But you want to take things easy, keep it slow, and listen to your body. Forget about pace for the first three to four weeks, and just go at whatever pace your body thinks is easy.
After four or five weeks, you should start to feel better. And eventually, you will feel stronger and faster than before. But until then, don’t worry about why you’re so slow. You are not losing fitness. You are recovering.
Does It Ever Get Easier?
Yes, it does.
The more marathons you run – and especially the more miles you put in during training – the better off you’ll be post-race.
I’ve run six marathons now, starting with Atlantic City in October 2021. Before that race, I was only averaging 30-40 miles per week – with a peak in the 50’s. That’s probably more than many people do for their first marathon, and it wasn’t enough to help me survive unscathed.
But since then, I’ve been consistently running and slowly increasing my mileage. After my second race (Philly, November 2022), I felt a little better. And with each race, I’ve seen an improvement.
This year, I ran Chicago, and my legs were starting to feel normal-ish within a few days. I was still slower than usual for the first week, but my progress back to normalcy has been much quicker than in the past.
So take heart. With more experience and more mileage, you will rebound quicker. But in the meantime, just give your body the time it needs to recover.