We'll start with the long run. Typically, after a long run, I make sure I eat something within a half hour, drink some coffee so I can stay awake long enough to take a shower, and then take a nap or watch TV... I'm pretty useless for the rest of the day. Inevitably, my legs stiffen up, making latter trips to the refrigerator a bit more painful, and the following day sucks. However, the article in Running Times suggests going for a run later in the day after you've already knocked out 15+ miles to prevent this from happening. This helps to flush out lactic acid and other metabolic by-products that have been sitting in your muscles since finishing your previous workout (compression stockings help, but they can't do everything), making your legs feel fresher the next day. The only rules... try and limit the run to 20-30min (don't use this to pad your weekly mileage) and keep the pace slow. Ok... makes sense... I've tried this 24hrs after a long and usually felt better that night for our normal 5-6 miler... so I might actually try this.
Now to the race-day double. Ok, I've done an "extended cooldown" to get some extra miles in, but never have I knocked out a speed workout after a race. In fact, I can't even contemplate doing so. I read the article, and apparently the "guinea pig athletes" thought the same thing, so maybe... oh wait, I'm not Kara Goucher. However, I won't say it's impossible until I try it (which may be never), so here are the guidelines: (1) only attempt this after running a 5K or shorter race, (2) allow adequate time to recover after the race + workout, and (3) the workout should be a "switch" from what you've been doing in your training (like repeat 400's if you've been doing a lot of tempo / longer intervals). Oh, and if you're injury-prone, coming back from an injury, or feeling the onset of one... be happy with your race and leave the speed work for another day!
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