After Care In Athletic Competitions
After months and sometimes years of training and preparations your celebration event has come and gone and that can sometimes leave what seems like an epic GAP in your experience. What is the best way to recover from a competition and is it normal if you feel slightly depressed after it is all said and your recent is in the recent past? Learn the best ways ( in my professional opinion) how to transition between events and how you can also stay happy, healthy, strong and motivated and continue onward with longevity long after your recent event is behind you.
The following suggestions can help you transition from racing back to training and returning to adventures or competitions (or both) over the longterm while feeling great!
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Congratulations!! Big hugs, high fives and fist pumps coming your way! It really is amazing what you have accomplished and I hope you are feeling the post race bliss, enjoying your memories and feeling proud of all you have accomplished. You rock! A few thoughts for you as you transition from one chapter to the next...
The days and weeks following such a big event that has been building for months can be interesting and challenging. You may feel high highs and then low lows following your big event and that is ok. 'Post Race Blues' are a real thing and seem to be the rule, not the exception, based on my own experience and the conversations I have had with athletes over the years. Not to worry. Any emotional roller coaster you may feel will most certainly pass and you will level out again and be back to your usual self before you know it! It seems that the bigger the event, the further we can fall and this is a result of many factors- physiological, emotional, chemical and neurological. That being said- if you have done a great job at adapting to the needs and desires of your physical vessel then you might just be feeling like 100% with zero downtime - you never know!
Listen to your body and focus on self care including more sleep, downtime, intuitive nutrition (after post race Eat Week that is lol!), and all of the things that fill you up - meditation, yoga, massage, acupuncture etc.
Relive your journey through photos and writing your race reports. Focus on gratitude for all you have experienced and all that you have gained and let yourself be a little sad if that is what you are feeling!
A great way to kick start your next training cycle- when you feel ready - is talking to friends, searching and scheming future adventures and races for once you are feeling the call again.
Please take some time this week to write down your post race report. Reflection is an important part of the racing journey and it will help you learn and grow even more than you already have. It doesn’t have to be a big blog or journal, just write what works for you. Include things like the logistics and conditions- weather, what you wore, ate, how you paced, the course details. And then reflect on what went well and what lessons you learned about your racing and yourself so that you can respond and adapt to these things in the future.
Take some time to let your body and mind recover- it can take longer than you think! Some people need a week for every 10k raced (up to a point of course!) but some times we can recovery miraculously sooner than that as well.
Be kind to your body with easier workouts, less structure and lower volume for a few weeks while you recover. Make sure you are healthy in body and mind before you start ramping up your training again so that you can be successful training and racing for your next adventure.
There are no guarantees in training, racing (or life!) but we are so fortunate to have the opportunity to experience these powerful journeys with healthy bodies, full hearts and strong minds.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your exciting journey! I am grateful to have had the chance to support you!
Woot! You are amazing! I don't care if you finished or won the race or what! Just accepting the challenge is worth an award IMO. Good job!
xo
In Love,
Coach Sarah
Looking for additional (and alternative) ideas that can improve your recovery and support your transition between big fitness events? In this podcast I share my personal experiments with alternative training and recovery techniques that speed up my adaptation and decrease the time it takes for me to recover: including Pranayama, BEMER PEMF therapy, meditation and theobroma cacao. Find out what steps I took to overcome suffering from pain, nausea, foot damage and chronic excruciating acid reflux between my first and second 100 mile ultramarathons as well as my experiences utilizing “life force energy” to adapt to my training and accelerate my recovery, in this episode.
Listen To This Episode at May The Life Force Be With You Podcast Here
