An outstanding showing today from everyone: walkers, joggers, runners, half-marathoners, marathons and even the weather. Post-race events can be draining to the runner and post-race runs can be a disaster if not done properly. Whether you had a great race day or you've seen better don't increase your risk of injury, illness, or over-training by not taking following some appropriate recovery guidelines.
1) Stay positive - You're done, now, and it's easy to start playing the "Yeah, I did well, but I could have done better." or "That was the most horrible race I've ever done." or well, you get the point. Regardless of how well you did, regardless of whether or not you achieved your goal(s), a negative post-race mentality can put added stress on your body and the last thing you need is more stress. Also, take a couple of days off of running, put on the house slippers, and have an extra cup of java in the morning. Give yourself a high-five, pat yourself on the back, and even give yourself spoken compliments. Tell yourself you did well...even if you may not fully believe it. When people ask how you did give an honest answer, but avoid negativity.
2) Good Nutrition isn't just an extra desert. It's also an extra serving of vegetables - Post race nutrition is right on par with pre-race nutrition and training nutrition. Keep it healthy and avoid too many poor quality foods. You're going to need to take in more fluids and electrolytes for the next couple of days to combat the debt you created today and a healthy post-race diet will help fuel your body through the recovery phase of training and keep you at a lower risk of getting sick.
3) Personal Race Review - This is an honesty test, a revealing test, and something that most runners don't do enough of, but the key to critiquing your future training to produce even better results is to analyze your race day performance. Sit down with yourself and write down your pre-race goals and how you fared. Go through each mile of the race and think about how you were feeling. If you have high points and low points identify them and adjust your future training accordingly. Example: "I really struggled on the hills, today." This could be from a lack of hill training or going too fast during the miles prior to the hills. Adjust your future training by either, adding in more hill training or working on maintaining a consistent running intensity. By the end of the review identify three things positive to keep in your training and one or two things to add into your future training ventures.
Share with us, on Facebook, how you did, your race day photos, and your favorite blog post over the last ten days. Also, leave a comment here, on the blog, with any recovery questions you may have.
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