Recovery Time after Racing

I'd say it depends on how sore or tight your muscles feel.  A good rule of thumb I've heard is to take one day off from running for every mile that you raced.  I think that's quite a conservative approach, but not bad to follow if you're a beginner; especially if you don't have any races for a while/your season is over. 

Another general rule thrown around is 1 day off for every hour raced.  Then build the first week (like a reverse taper) or just get back into it, depending on your fitness level.  No need to take any thing more then a few days off.  Just don't let the race mentality carry over to your training where your want to go all out.

I took a bit of a break from the tri training after my last race and am now slowly building things back up.  I can tell already that my body is really appreciating the time off and I'm kind of excited to see how things go this time around doing a slower build.  There's something to be said about the training quality when you don't have a sense of urgency to meet certain time goals, but can just get out there and do your thing.  Now I just need to get back in the pool..

Was it your last race of the year? If so take a couple weeks off really.

I'm taking 4 weeks of s/b/r after my IM Sunday. My husband is worried I might become insufferable but I will be doing some other physical activities.

It is good to have a physical and mental break form tri training.

I find that just listening to my body works. When I wake up in the morning and start to feel "normal" again then I start training again. Your body will let you know if you've started back up too early.

I pushed myself really hard during my last ri... 750,23k, 7.5k... it ws my third tri and the longest one I had done.  The following week I kept forgetting what I had done to myself and couldnt figure out how come I felt so sore... took about a week and a half to feel myself again.  Probably would have been alot less if I had not tried to jump back into my training full force.  I guess its part of learning to listen to your body....

I like the "rules of thumb" above as well as the other advice.

I did an Oly this past weekend and my calves locked up on me during the swim.  I hardened up and finished the race, but the calves are really sore this week and it's only today that they are starting to fully recover.   Needless to say, I didn't do any s/b/r this week and probably will only do a few tempo runs next week before a half mary.

I did, however, still continue my weightlifting.  I enjoy upper body workouts too much to skip them.....

This user's post has been ignored.

I think one thing to add that wasn't discussed, it depends on what race it is and your schedule and goals for the season.  If it a C race for prep, you can just keep on training and I probably wouldn't even take a day off...just maybe do an easy ride or swim the next day.  For instance, if you are doing a sprint or oly in prep for a half or full and you aren't redlining the entire way, I'd maybe take the next day as my rest day but that is it.
If it's a A or B then that should probably change.  It depends how far out your races are spread apart and what you are trying to accomplish.

At least that is the theory....I didn't sign up for that many races since it's my first year.  I just do what I feel like...Take a day or two off and go easy for a couple seems to be fine.  It depends on how fast you recover though and you should listen to your body.  I can just tell when I'm tired and should shut it down and when I'm good to go....  I've heard the 1 day off for every hour off too, but I don't do that because it seems like a long time off to me and I wouldn't take 4-6 days off just because I did a half ironman unless I felt really run down or something. 

just my perspective though