The Post Race Blues
And how to start healing them
So… how was it? Amazing? Exhilarating? Life affirming? Was it everything that you thought it would be and so much more?
But.. how are you feeling today? As flat as your flatlay runner photo? Welcome to the club!
If you’re feeling a bit low after your recent race or big running achievement, the post-race blues is quite common, but strangely not something that is really talked about in the running world, or outside of it. The feelings that you might currently be experiencing after a big event can be quite overwhelming and often take us by surprise. There might be a huge hole in your life where the long training runs used to be, so when it suddenly vanishes and the euphoria of running your race has diminished it’s completely normal to feel a little (or a lot) deflated.
This still happens to me, after all these years running and many races run- here’s how I’ve learnt to tackle my own post race blues.
Let your body recover.
The trauma of racing can break down muscles, cause inflammation, and can generally make you go from feeling like a finely tuned running machine to chewed up and spat out. Physical healing can take more than a couple weeks- your immune system could be low so you’ll be susceptible to picking up colds etc. Be patient, embrace rest as an investment in your recovery and don’t hurry back to running to get a quick endorphin rush.
Let your mind recover.
There isn’t a specific clinical definition for post race blues but there are plenty of anecdotal stories about runners experiencing feelings that are like other depressive episodes once they’ve reached a race goal and no longer have a structured training plan to follow.
If the race didn’t go as planned, if you didn’t make it to the start line or even if you ran an amazing PB, you can still suffer from post race blues. I really do think it’s important not to underestimate these feelings- they can leave you feeling drained, not only about your running but life in general.
You might be experiencing a whole new level of tiredness, completely understanding what your Gran meant by being “bone tired”, as you crawl into bed every night convincing yourself that you’ll run tomorrow, but even the thought of putting your sports bra on is making you breakout in a cold sweat… How on earth did you ever manage to fit running into your life!
All of these thoughts and feelings are completely natural, normal and proportionate to what you’ve experienced. Let it happen, process it, don’t try to blow past it or tell yourself to “pull it together.” It’ll pass.
Know What’s Next
When you’re ready, try and think about what’s going to happen next. Learn from your race, what went well, what didn’t. Ask yourself if you’d have done anything different and is the race distance a distance that you’d like to try for again. If not, what other distances might you enjoy? Try and plan for the next 4 weeks only giving yourself plenty of time to recover and enjoy running again, but don’t come back too hard too quickly.
Have some post-race goals that aren’t about racing
These can be goals that have nothing to do with running. Enjoy the time off, decorate a room, stay out late or have a lie in! Do all the things you’ve denied yourself in training for this event. Socialise, see your friends, have a drink if that’s your thing and don’t factor in how it will effect your performance. Something I personally really love to do at this point is volunteer at my local parkrun or just enjoy a completely no pressure parkrun with some running friends. Get back to the experience for while, and away from the results. But don’t hide away.
Get back out there and run
When we are consumed by the training plan that has taken over our lives for the last 4 months, focusing on pace, energy gels, early morning runs or an extra lap before a session we can often forget the sheer joy of just getting out there and running. Be pleased that you are able to run and don’t put any pressure on yourself to “accomplish” anything until you are ready. Running isn’t going anywhere.
