So you’ve just completed your big run: now what? Set yourself a new goal immediately to keep that energy and enthusiasm flowing
SO, YOU’VE JUST finished your big race. Your legs are burning. Your toenails have dropped off. Your whole body is wrecked. And you feel great.
You set out on a challenge – whether it’s today’s Flora Mini-Marathon, or the half or full distance at the Cork City Marathon, and having achieved your goal, you know it’s time to take on the world, to keep going on to greater and better things.
But you don’t. Welcome to the post-race blues, a particular sense of drift that can afflict even elite athletes once a challenge has been met. “It’s a very common scenario, particularly when you do your first marathon, or minimarathon,” observes former Irish international-turned-running coach Vinny Mulvey. “A lot of people will train for it and have a date in their heads, June 3rd in this case, but don’t think about what they’re going to do on June 4th or the week after.”
“For four or five months they have had this goal in mind. They’ve been telling all their friends, or they might be doing it for a charity. They’ve been meeting friends for runs, then they do it and find themselves asking ‘what do I do know?’ There can be this big anti-climactic feeling after any marathon or big goal.”
Even Olympic winners talk of that lack of focus that hits them after reaching the top of a mountain. For runners of all levels, a new challenge is the key to keeping going.
Kerry-based Thomas Bubendorfer blogs at Diary of a Marathon Rubbish Runner ( rubbishrunner.blogspot. com) – although his personal best of 2:59 now belies that title – and he will be running as a pace-setter in Cork today. He says that the Belfast Marathon in 2005 was the last time he said "never again". He avoids the post-race blues by always having a plan.
“The most common mistake is to do nothing. A lot of people stop exercising completely, and that might be a contributor for marathon blues. When you’re exercising, endorphins are released into the brain, and when you stop there’s a withdrawal syndrome. It really helps to set another target, just to get you out for half an hour every so often.”
Bubendorfer is now training for ultra marathons (he ran a 39.3-mile race in April) and for physical recovery he recommends eating well immediately after a race, and then enjoying a few days of doing what feels right. “I’ll have a couple of beers, or stay in bed if I want. The more sleep you get the better. I usually can’t sleep the night before a marathon but for recovery, it’s the best thing you can do.”
Both Bubendorfer and Mulvey advise quickly following up your achievement with a new challenge. “I always say, as soon as you reach a goal, go online and register for a race straight away or join a running camp or something,” says Mulvey. “Consistency is the key. A little a lot is better than a lot a little. You’re better off doing five runs of five miles than one five mile and a 20 mile. Routine and consistency are important.”
Mulvey organises running camps in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, and he says even elite athletes lose focus.
“It happens at all levels, even top levels. Particularly at the elite level, when they get injured or are coming back from injury. I had a good few injuries myself and when you have no specific goal, you can be just drifting along, you don’t know why you’re training. There’s no motivation to get you out of bed to train.
“But goals don’t have to be a specific time or race or anything, but just to get to 30 miles a week, or down to a certain weight. Any type of goal will get you training, but it has to come from the person doing the training. It has to be your own motive, rather than someone telling you what your goals should be.”
Chocolate milk, and other recovery tips
* Drink as much water as you can. “I have a bottle of water at my desk, I’m drinking all the time,” says Thomas Bubendorfer. “Make sure to have one.”
* Get nutrition, perhaps a protein shake. Bubendorfer suggests chocolate milk. “It’s cheaper and pretty much the same stuff.”
* Sleep. As much as you can. There’s a reason athletes sleep in the afternoon.
* Enjoy the rest. Relax. Relish the time off from the training schedule, but . . .
* Find another goal. There’s a whole summer of races ahead.
