Nottingham Half Marathon 2026: Common Injuries and How to Recover Well
If you ran the Nottingham Half Marathon this weekend, well done. Thirteen point one miles is a proper undertaking, and getting to that finish line represents months of training, early alarms and some runs that probably felt more like survival than sport.
What comes next matters.
In the days after a half marathon, the body is processing a significant amount of accumulated stress, and the signals it sends — what hurts, what feels stiff, what is genuinely recovering versus what is flagging a problem — are worth understanding.
Not to alarm you, but because knowing the difference saves you either worrying unnecessarily or ignoring something that needs attention.
Post-race soreness does not automatically mean injury. The important question is whether symptoms are following a normal recovery pattern or persisting after the rest of the body has started to settle.
What is normal and will settle on its own
Some soreness and fatigue are expected after 13.1 miles. These are some of the common post-race problems that will usually settle as your body recovers.
Quad and calf soreness
Nottingham's course has some downhill sections that load the quads eccentrically, and by 48 hours post-race that classic stiffness is usually at its worst. This is delayed onset muscle soreness, normal tissue response, not injury. It typically resolves within three to five days. Gentle walking helps more than sitting still, and avoiding aggressive stretching of acutely sore muscles is sensible.
General foot fatigue and tenderness
Your feet absorbed thousands of foot strikes over 13.1 miles. Some generalised aching, mild swelling in the forefoot and that first-step tenderness when you put your feet to the floor the morning after the race are all expected. Rest, some elevation while you sit down, and time are the answer here.
Blisters
Common after longer races, particularly if conditions were wet or your socks moved. Leave intact blisters alone where you can; they are protecting the tissue underneath.
If a blister is large, in an awkward location, or has already opened, our routine podiatry team can dress and manage it properly.
Black toenails
Caused by the nail repeatedly striking the front of the shoe over 13 miles, this is mechanical trauma rather than infection. The nail may darken, feel bruised for a week or two, and eventually shed. It looks worse than it is.
If a nail is extremely painful due to blood pooling under it, or if it becomes infected in the weeks following, a podiatrist can deal with it quickly.
What to watch more carefully
Once the general post-race soreness starts clearing, more localised or persistent symptoms become easier to identify.
Heel pain that does not ease after day five
Some heel tenderness immediately after a race is normal. Heel pain that is still present once the general muscle soreness has cleared, or that is specifically concentrated on the underside of the heel toward the arch, can indicate that race day has pushed a latent plantar fasciitis into a symptomatic state.
This is one of the most common post-race presentations we see, and it responds much better to early management than to being trained through.
Read the fastest way to fix heel pain properly or find out more on our plantar fasciitis page .
Achilles stiffness that is not clearly improving
Some post-race Achilles tightness is expected. The pattern to watch is stiffness that is still present when you wake up two weeks after the race, or pain that increases rather than decreases as the post-race week progresses.
This can indicate that the race has tipped a subclinical Achilles tendinopathy into something more symptomatic.
See our Achilles tendon pain page and our guide to training with Achilles pain for self-management advice and guidance on when assessment makes more sense than continued waiting.
Pain on the outside of the knee
Iliotibial band syndrome produces pain on the outer aspect of the knee that often appears in the second half of longer races or in the days following.
It is particularly common in runners who increased mileage quickly in the last few weeks of training, or who ran the race in footwear that was reaching the end of its life.
IT band pain does not tend to resolve by simply resting and then resuming training at the same pace. If it is still present two weeks post-race, a biomechanical MSK assessment is the most productive next step rather than another fortnight of hoping it settles.
Shin pain that is getting worse rather than better
Shin splints that were managed around during the training block can flare significantly in the days after a race.
If your shin pain is worsening through the first week of recovery rather than gradually easing, get it assessed.
Our shin splints page has more on when the condition needs professional input versus when sensible rest is sufficient.
What recovery actually looks like
The first week after a half marathon is a genuine rest week, not a reduced training week.
The body is in repair mode and does not benefit from being pushed while that process is running.
Recover first
Gentle walking is fine. Running is not. Most good training plans build in two full weeks of no running after a half marathon for this reason, not because coaches are being overcautious but because the tissue genuinely needs it.
Reassess what is still there
Week two is the point at which most general soreness has settled and you can start assessing clearly what has resolved and what has not.
Persistent symptoms deserve a closer look
If something is still present at the two-week mark and not showing clear signs of improvement, that is the point for a proper assessment rather than continued optimism.
At the two-week mark, ask yourself:
- Has the general post-race soreness resolved?
- Is any remaining pain localised to one specific area?
- Is morning stiffness still noticeable?
- Is the problem clearly improving from one day to the next?
- Does normal walking or everyday activity still aggravate it?
If you are already thinking about the next one
If the Nottingham Half has given you the appetite for a spring event, now is a good time to plan the next training block more thoughtfully than the last one.
A run clinic assessment looks at your running mechanics, load history and injury patterns. It gives you a clear, specific picture of what to work on before you start building mileage again, rather than repeating the same niggles into a bigger race.
For the broader picture on why overuse injuries cluster when training load increases, read Why Fit People Still Get Injured .
Our Knowledge Centre article on how to get back to running after foot pain covers the return-to-training process in detail, whether that is post-injury or post-race.
Still feeling something two weeks after the race?
If your heel, Achilles, knee, shin or foot pain is not clearly settling, an assessment can help distinguish normal post-race recovery from an injury that needs a more specific plan.
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