Rest, relax, recover and revel in your accomplishment! You have trained hard for the past four months, so it's time to let your body repair. This is often hard for many runners, as a marathon brings not only peak physical fitness, but a phenomenon called "runner's high," which makes you feel so good after a run that you can’t wait to run again.

Along with all of these wonderful feelings, post-marathon can also bring about feelings of depression. A lululemon run club guest recently came to me a couple of weeks after her first marathon and told me that she was feeling depressed. She asked if it was crazy to feel that way. The answer? Not at all. Post-marathon depression is very real and is often accompanied by a sense of loss. You spend four months training, you structure much of your life around your training, you look forward to race day, and then in a matter of hours, it is done.

Rest is vital. Your body needs a few weeks to repair itself and recover before you begin your next training cycle.

a game plan

For me, I set out a post-marathon game plan. This season, my race is the Philadelphia Marathon. After the marathon, I am taking five weeks off from hard training to allow my body to repair and recover. Besides lululemon run club, I will not be running, but will be replacing my hard runs with yoga classes, core work, and strength training to let my body recover and to lay a foundation for my next training cycle. In terms of beating post-marathon blues, I always host and cook Thanksgiving dinner (this year for 14) to give me something immediate to look forward to and focus on once my fall racing season is over.

after you cross the finish line

Once you cross the finish line, start rehydrating immediately. Before your post-run celebration beer or wine, make sure you have had plenty of water -- after all, that is what your body needs. Replenish yourself with some carbs and protein, stretch, and put on a layer of clothes over what you raced in for your walk back to the hotel to keep you warm.

the morning after

The morning after the race, jog 10-20 minutes to get your legs moving a little bit.

the next month

Following that, the next month should be about easing off of running to let your muscles repair. If you're going to run, take it very, very easy, don’t race, and don’t do speed workouts. I recommend cross training. While I pick-up yoga (and cooking), try a racquet sport or something different that keeps you moving, but not training at full capacity. This will not only be good for your body, but you will start your next season feeling fresh and eager to be running again, and will help you keep your post-race emotions in check.

how you spend your post-marathon time

How you spend your month post-marathon is important. As runners, we are sometimes greedy about our fitness, and we want to stay in peak form all year round. This is impossible to do, and trying will often lead to injuries and feeling of burnout.

Are you just starting to run? Read Elyse's other blog post about The Run Date!

Logan Circle's running club works their core after a long run.

There is more to improving your run performance than simply running. Strength training, rest, nutrition, and injury prevention also play a major role.

At the lululemon Logan Circle run club, we focus on core strength to improve our running. After every Monday night run club, we grab yoga mats, place them outside of the store on the sidewalk, and I guide our runners through a 15 minute intense core workout.

While the core include the abs, back, hips, and glutes, we focus on ab and back strength. When people ask about our group, I like to say that the 15 minute core workout is the part of run club that our runners love to hate! I secretly know when they complain about it, they are really telling me how much they love it, as we have quite the large group stay to complete it, and even some who come just for the ab workout. It is quite the scene on our busy street during people’s commutes home to see a group of sweaty runners holding on for an intense 15 minutes as I remind them to “embrace it” (the intensity of the workout) and remind them that they can “rest at home.”

Core work is an integral part of a runner’s routine. A regular core routine will not only help you improve your running times, but will also help you prevent injuries, as well as help you keep your form in the late miles of a race. My favourite core exercises are a series of planks, which help you improve both strength and stability. As a run coach, I recommend that my athletes incorporate some type of core routine two to three times a week into their training schedules. The athletes that do this find it easier to keep their form and quickly learn that it isn’t just about great abs, but about improving performance and giving themselves that extra edge. Need help finding a core routine that works for you? See if your local lululemon has a running club or there are many resources online, such as runnersworld.com, which has video links to various options for core training.