Now What? Avoiding the Post-Race Blues

You did it.  You trained hard.  You ate right.  You got up every morning in the dark, rain, snow, and cold to run up hills, sprint and get your distance in.  Those 13.1 miles were amazing.  Now what?  There are many post race effects that can put a cramp on your training routine or even put you in danger of injury.  

It’s common for runners to fall into a slight depression after the adrenaline of the big event has worn off.  So much time and energy has been focused into that one goal and there may be a feeling lost and uncertainty.  Runners often stave off this feeling by planning another goal like a 5 or 10k race in the future.  Make sure your new goal is far enough away that you have time to slowly build up your workout.  Otherwise you may increase your risk of injury. You can also link of with running buddies or find new paths to help keep up motivation.

Some runners jump right back into running, hungry for the next feeling of elation; but hard workouts on still-recovering muscles, tendons and joints can set you up for injury and take you completely out of running.  Runners World suggests recovering with short cross training workouts on a bike or running in water for the first few weeks before building into a regular running routine.   For more ideas on post-race recovery and work-outs check out these articles   http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--8957-3-1X2-3,00.html  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263--12976-0,00.html