Novice and veteran endurance event racers, from road runners to rowers to multisporters, have one thing in common: all are subject to “the blues” in the weeks following the big day. It’s important to be prepared for this possibility and to take measures, if necessary, to get back on track.
Causes and Symptoms of the “Blahs”
Bob Glover and Pete Schuder, in the New Competitive Runner’s Handbook (New York: Penguin 1988), compare postmarathon depression to postpartum depression. While not minimising the trauma of postpartum depression, there do seem to be some shared characteristics. The endurance racer has structured his or her life over a period of months towards the race, cutting back on social activities and devoting weekends to long-day training. Now, as Glover and Schuder observe, “your ‘baby’ has reached the finish line and your sought after goal…has been achieved, leaving you feeling empty”.
It may also be that, for reasons of weather or bad form or bad luck on the day, the event did not go as well as you had hoped, and you are now spending a lot of mental energy cursing circumstances or trying to figure out what happened.
Glover and Schuder warn that the post-endurance-event athlete is prone to fatigue and chronic dehydration, as well as injury and illness. “The body is weak, and the mind is undisciplined because the immediate goal has been achieved. A post-marathon runner is very vulnerable”. They quote running guru Joe Henderson on the three body systems that are now in need of recovery: muscular, chemical and psychological.
Even if you are an experienced competitor and have prepared and tapered carefully, the recovery period may take several weeks, longer if you are an older athlete.
A Recovery Plan
In The Balance Within (New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2000), Esther Sternberg describes the teachings of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: essentially, that “health lay in a balance”. Aspects of the balance included a healthy diet, pure water, and the support of friends and family. Sternberg observes that “essential too were the emotions, as well as soothing activities that calmed them”, such as sleep and music.
The trick to recovering from a strenuous endurance event is to get back to that mind-body balance before embarking on a buildup to another objective. This will involve addressing your muscular, chemical and psychological recovery.
Strategies for how to do this (drawn largely from Glover and Schuder) include:
1. Look after any injuries with techniques such as ice, self-massage, and gentle stretching. Seek treatment if necessary.
2. Train easily for a few weeks. If you have had a great race this may be difficult, as supporters will already be asking: “what’s next”? But veteran endurance athletes say that you are not ready to start training for your next big event until you have forgotten your last.
3. Sleep. Have early nights. Take naps.
4. Don’t throw your good nutrition habits out the window. Food affects mood, and your maximum effort on race day may have compromised your immune system, at least for the short term. You should eat as carefully after the event as before, and be sure to drink plenty of water.
5. Try to spend some time each day doing things you enjoy, such as activities with family and friends that may have been crowded out by your peak period training.
Through re-establishing mental and physical health, you will before long be able to take a rational look at what you have learned from the race, and really celebrate your achievement. Only then will you be ready to think about “what’s next”.
Brenda Ann Burke - A writer, and recently a beachcomber, Brenda was born in Canada before moving to Wellington, New Zealand. She has now made a big move to ...
