Nobody warns you how weird the few weeks after a marathon get

If you ran a spring marathon, right now is the part of the cycle nobody really talks about. Not the race or the taper period, but the time it takes to recover after the fact.

A few things that are actually going on, in case you've been wondering:

Your immune system is wrecked for about two weeks. Which is why someone always catches a cold the week after a goal race.

Your muscles are still trashed for 7 to 14 days even when you feel fine walking around. Bloodwork tells a different story than your legs do. The "I feel great" run on day 6 is sneakier than it looks.

Resting heart rate sits 5 to 10 beats high for a week or two and HRV stays in the gutter even longer. This isn't your watch being broken, it's because you just ran a marathon.

Glycogen comes back in a day or two but tendons and connective tissue need 3 to 6 weeks. Which is why the run that feels amazing on day 10 is the one that lights up your achilles on day 14.

The post-race blues are a real thing. Dopamine crashes, cortisol crashes, the structure of a plan disappears, and you're left staring at your shoes wondering why nothing feels fun.

Most coaches will walk you through some version of this:

• Week 1: walk, move, maybe nothing
• Week 2: easy runs only, half your usual volume, conversational means conversational
• Week 3: ease up toward 70 percent, one light workout if your body's into it
• Week 4: back to normal, workouts back on the menu

Week 2 is where everyone gets cooked. You feel alright, the weather finally turned, your training partners are deep in their next block, and you either run the easy ones too hard or jump into a workout because you're going crazy. That's where the injuries happen. Not at the race.