Conquering The Post-(Big) Race Blues

Having the right plan can help
to ward off those post-race blues.
Photo: bostonmagazine.com

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The post-race blues are a real thing.  And the longer the preparation time and more significant the event the more dramatic these feelings tend to be.  There is a way, however, to minimize or even prevent the phenomena.  It can be done with just three steps.

Step #1: Own It.  Learn From It.  Move On.
Race performances are almost always viewed through the narrow prism of "success" or "failure".  And often the greater the sacrifices in pursuit of these outcomes, the more pronounced the emotions.  Both pride and regret require an incredible amount of energy to maintain and ultimately neither will serve you well going forward.  The first step to beating the post-(big) race blues is owning the performance, learning lessons from the experience, and then moving on.

Own It
No matter what the outcome was or how you got there, you must take personal responsibility for what happened.  Growth is only possible if you acknowledge that it is you, and you alone, that determines your fate.  

Learn From It
If (secretly) the reason we challenge ourselves is for the number of "Likes" on our social media accounts after the event, then we potentially miss out on an incredible opportunity to achieve higher levels of performance.  What we learn from these experiences is far more significant that what we achieve from them.  Kudos, PR's, and trophy's only serve to bolster our Ego and keep us idling in place.  But if we can learn from the experience then we grow.  And with growth there is development both as an athlete and as a person.  

Move On.
This is often just as difficult for the athlete that viewed the event as a "success" as for the athlete that viewed it as a "failure".  But once the lessons are learned and cataloged, both need to tie a bow on the race and move on.  The longer an athlete commits energy to maintain the emotions of the outcome (positive or negative), the more exaggerated the eventual post-(big) race blues will be.

Step #2:  Get Back To Activity
For the same reasons the taper caused feelings of restlessness, sleeplessness, and anxiety the post-race period has the potential to do the same.  See my recent article on tapering and endocannabinoids.  The sooner you can get back to being routinely physically active the sooner you'll be able to balance brain chemistry and start to feel like yourself again.  You don't have to be running to take advantage of the mental benefits of exercise.  In the week following the race choose cross- and complimentary-training activities that limit or avoid impact.  Examples include cycling and strength training.  Keep the consistency high but the intensity and duration relatively low.  

Step #3:  Create A New "Why"
For the last six months or more, every training session had a purpose.  As athletes we crave a "why" for our efforts.  It gives the tough training sessions more value and motivates us to push through fatigue, scheduling challenges, and discomfort.  After the big race has concluded the "why" fades away in the distance.  We find ourselves struggling to find motivation to do much of anything.  The last step in conquering the post-(big) race blues is finding your next "why".  This may be your next race but it may also be your next cycle of training.  Whatever it is, finding your next focus will help set your intrinsic cause and effect mindset toward action again.

Why The Finish Line Isn't The End

A well constructed recovery plan
will help you get back to training
safely, effectively, and efficiently.

"The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race."  ~Anonymous

Most training plans are filled will intricate details of distances and pace targets that culminate with an event.  Yet what you do in the seventy-two hours following an event of marathon distance or greater plays a large role in how safely, effectively, and efficiently you are able to return to training.  Endurance athletes tend to have busy race schedules.  It's not unusual for some to have multiple events of marathon distance or greater planned in the same calendar year.  This ambitious race schedule not only places a tremendous emphasis on preparation but also recovery.  Here are the essential elements of a post-event recovery protocol;

Immediate Post-Race
They've hung the medal around your neck, you've visited with family and friends, and now you finally have a chance to sit down.  Take a deep breath.  While the race may be over, the event still has one last critical element to execute...the recovery.  

Once a race has finished the top three immediate recovery priorities are hydration, glycogen replenishment, and tending to minor medical needs.  The most effective way to re-hydrate is with an cold isotonic solution.  The amount is generally commensurate with the length of time and type of environment to which you were exposed.  A good place to start is with 20-24 ounces of this type of fluid.  Be cautious not to over-consume before you've tended to the second priority; glycogen replenishment.  The most effective way to replenishment glycogen following a glycogen-depleting activity is to consume a beverage containing a ratio of carbohydrates and proteins tailored to your individual needs within an hour of the event.  Finally, before you leave the venue make sure to tend to minor medical needs.  Commonly these involve the skin which is not only the largest, but also the most vulnerable, organ of the body and subject to integrity issues (ie. blisters, chaffing, etc).  

Post-Race Evening
Now that you're home and showered there are five things to do before your head hits the pillow for some well earned rest.  

1.)  Respect Food Cravings
Your body has a unique ability to signal which nutrients it needs through food cravings.  This is particularly true following an exhaustive event.  Listen to these cravings and follow their lead.  

2.)  Hydrate
Although it will likely result in you getting up multiple times during the night, continue your hydration plan.  Your objective is to return your urine to a pale yellow color.  It's worth noting, clear urine may be an indication that you have over consumed and potentially have placed yourself in jeopardy of electrolyte disturbances.  Pale yellow is best. 

3.)  Eat A High Performance Meal
Item #1 notwithstanding, the majority of calories consumed should be from healthy proteins and fats.  These nutrients accelerate skeletal muscle repair and assist in the regeneration of key hormones.  As much as possible attempt to limit simple sugars (ie. high fructose corn syrup) as they may contribute to inflammation during a time in which you are attempting to reduce activity-associated inflammation.  

4.)  Boost HGH To Aid Recovery
Consuming a serving of whey protein (mixed with water) within thirty minutes of bed time may enhance human growth hormone (HGH) levels.  HGH may aid in skeletal muscle repair of which you are going to need to do.  

5.)  Get To Bed Early
Although not always practical, it is good practice to get bed an hour earlier than usual.  Physiologic recovery occurs during rest.  Multiple factors may disrupt your sleep pattern following an exhaustive bout of physical activity so it's important to realize that even though you may have a hard time falling and staying asleep, as long as you are laying down you are resting and recovering.

The Next 72 Hours
Despite how you feel when you go down stairs, you are now well on your way to safe, effective, and efficient recovery.  But it's far from over.  The next three days are incredibly important.  Here are the items to focus on;

Physical Practices
1.)  No running for one (1) day for every ten (10) miles raced.  
2.)  Perform a 10-20 minute "active recovery" walk each day.
3.)  Follow that walk with some gentle mobility exercises.
4.)  Continue to get to bed an hour early each night.  

Nutritional Practices
1.)  Increase healthy protein intake in order to provide your body with the building blocks it needs to continue with skeletal muscle restoration.
2.)  Consume healthy fats to continue assist in the regeneration of key hormones.
3.)  Continue to hydrate to a pale yellow urine.  
4.)  Continue to consume a serving of whey protein (mixed with water) thirty minutes before bed.

After the 72 hour post-event period you should be feeling well on your way to completely recovered.  While you follow the "10 Mile Rule", consider adding some non-impact "active recovery" cross-training modalities to slowly increase your activity level and to mitigate significant alterations in form (ie. becoming stale).   

A professional endurance coach can not only provide specific details with respect to the recovery protocols listed above but can also provide guidance with regard to resumption of sport-specific training.  

Training Interference: Kicking It Down The Road

If you can't get in today's workout
should you kick it down the road?

"Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?"  ~Anonymous

The variable of interference is an integral part of every endurance training plan.  In every day practice the concept helps to answer the question, "If I miss today's training unit should I push it to tomorrow?".  The answer is almost always "perhaps", but let's look at why.

In the programming of endurance sports training, interference implies that one training unit has the potential to impact another training unit.  The magnitude of this interaction almost always is directly related to the time proximity of the two training units.  That is to say, the closer the training units are stacked together with respect to time, the greater the potential for them to interact.  When training programs are designed, this relationship between training units is fairly precisely orchestrated.

For simplicity let's categorize interference three ways; maximal, potential, and minimal. An example of all three is depicted in the training log below.

Maximal Interference
When performed on the same day, two training units have great potential to interfere with each other.  The type, duration, and intensity of the training unit will determine the amount of time needed for recovery (complete or incomplete) and therefore the magnitude of interference exerted on the subsequent training unit.  In this example, a running-specific hill workout precedes a mobility/strength training unit.  Because this training cycle represents a specific preparation phase for an upcoming event (within 4-8 weeks), running is given priority over mobility and strength development.  When two training units are scheduled and performed on the same day it can be assumed that the first training unit will maximally interfere with the subsequent training unit.  Sometimes there is an attempt to avoid this interaction (as in the case of scheduling the running unit first), and sometimes the interaction is used purposefully (as in the case of pre-fatiguing the sport-specific soft-tissues with "doubles").

Potential Interference

A common program design philosophy includes microcycle variability.  This is seen as following "hard" days with "easy" days to give the body's adaptive mechanisms a chance to do their work.  When multiple hard efforts are scheduled in sequence, not only is there less time for important training adaptations to occur, but the risk of overreaching is considerably higher.  In the example above, Thursday's steady-state workout is scheduled forty-eight hours prior to Saturday's long run.  This design is described as "potential interference" in so much as there is likely to be some carried fatigue from Thursday without compromising Saturday's training unit.  This carried fatigue is both purposeful and potentially important with regard to sport-specific performance.  In other words, marathon and ultramarathon sports have both a strength endurance and metabolic endurance component.  Performing Saturday's long run on some carried fatigue helps to prepare the athlete for the physical and energetic demands later in races.

Minimal Interference

Lastly, there are times in which training units are scheduled to minimally interact with each other as in the case of these Saturday long runs.  Although often this more a function of time availability, it does end up serving an important design benefit.  Training units of two hours in duration or longer, place significant stress loads on the body.  This includes the structural components (ie. musculoskeletal system), bio energetic systems (ie. glycogen and fat), and immune system.  The ability to successfully complete these long training units is vital to sport-specific performance.  Therefore while some carried fatigue is beneficial (as in the potential interference example above), an excessive amount of carried fatigue not only potentially compromising the successful completion of the training unit, but is also significantly increases the risk of soft-tissue injuries and illness.

In summary, because most weekly training schedules often use all three forms of interference, be careful when you "kick a training unit down the road" by moving it to the next day.  

The Taper: Fueling Body & Mind (Part II)

Death By Burger. 
Woodstock Inn Brewery. 
Woodstock, NH
Photo by Gianina Lindsey.

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."  ~Marcus Aurelius

In the final weeks before a race of marathon distance or greater there are a number of important nutritional and mental priorities and practices to consider.  

Dialing In Your Nutrition
Performance nutrition is the concept of using food to compliment physical preparation and enhance athletic outcomes.  There are three nutritional priorities and practices to consider during the taper;

#1: Adequate Hydration
Water is the most important nutrient in the body.  It is the medium in which many chemical reactions occur, particularly those involved in energy production.  It is also largely the medium in which other nutrients and waste products are transported in the body.  During a taper your locomotion muscles (ie. sport-specific lower extremity muscles) are busy repairing and fortifying from the months of high volume work you've done.  Intracellular fluid compartments (comprising 65% of your total body water) are where this work gets done.  Maintaining adequate hydration assures that these important processes are optimally executed.  Practice:  drink enough water daily that your urine is a pale yellow color right up to race day.  

#2: Sufficient Protein Intake
The most obvious benefit of sufficient protein intake for endurance athletes is in the repair of skeletal muscle broken down repeatedly during high volume training.  But the diverse function of proteins in the body represents a number of very important considerations for the tapering endurance athlete including antibody formation (which keep you healthy), enzymes (which keep chemical reactions humming along), messengers (like hormones that help different tissues talk to each other), and transportation/storage (which assist in the movement of atoms and small molecules within the cell and throughout the body).  Practice:  make sure to include protein sources at each of your three daily primary meals.

#3:  Carbohydrate "Un-Loading"
It might come as a surprise to many endurance athletes that carbohydrates are third on this list (rather than #1).  As has been discussed before, stored carbohydrates (as liver & muscle glycogen) are an important fuel source that opens up the potential to optimize stored body fat during multiple hours of physical activity.  While the pre-race pasta-focused "carbo load" has become a ritual for endurance athletes, the time to top off glycogen stores is during the last few weeks before a race, not the last few hours.  But most endurance athletes get more than adequate amounts of carbohydrates in their diets.  Practice:  shift focus to healthy carbohydrates including whole grains, low-fat dairy, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables.  Limit simple sugars such as sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup containing foods.  

Sharpening Your Mental Blade
All the physical preparation in the world is worthless without the right mental approach on race day.  In the weeks leading up to an event the additional time you are afforded is the perfect opportunity to sharpen your mental approach.  Here are the three key elements to do this;

#1:  Visualize Success
All mind-body endurance athletes believe the concept of "the body achieves what the mind believes", but theory without practice is like a ship without a sail.  If you can repeatedly create a conscious image of your desired performance outcome then you will program your subconscious to direct your physical body to execute it.  Practice:  once a day create a vivid mental picture of you attaining your performance goal.  Include as many positive emotional elements as possible.  

#2:  Tune Out Distractions
Multiple hour endurance events almost always have at least one significant challenge that has the potential to derail a desired outcome (ie. weather, blisters, bonking).  Your ability to handle these unexpected circumstances is directly related to your capacity to focus.  But like many things, this focus in times of despair is a function of how effectively it is trained.  By concentrating on the effort in the moment during each training unit you can condition yourself to recognize and eliminate distracting thoughts giving you much more potential on race day to "solve the problem".  Practice:  during each taper training unit practice focus by remaining in the moment and continually taking stock of how your body feels.  Any time you are distracted by non-productive thinking; acknowledge it and then re-direct back to focusing on what you are doing at the moment.  

#3:  Stay Positive
The act of tapering can be mentally challenging for biochemical reasons previously discussed.  Either way, feelings of doubt have the potential to creep into the consciousness of every tapering endurance athlete.  This doubt can be expressed as a negative internal (and sometimes external) dialog.  Effort follows attitude and attitude is within your scope of influence.  While eliminating negative dialog is very difficult, it is always possible to identify it and strive to reduce it.  Practice:  refrain from negative internal and external dialog.  Use power thoughts like "I am physically and mentally prepared to give everything I have to this effort.".