Posts Tagged by running tips

Post-marathon Blues — that feeling of loss, complete lack of motivation, and even mild depression after a big race (such as a marathon). A crazy condition that seems to make no sense, because instead of celebrating your awesome accomplishment, you actually feel somewhat let-down, and find yourself with a huge empty void where your excitement used to be.

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This feeling is actually very common among runners after a marathon. You spend months preparing for the race — you eat, sleep, and breath marathon training. You obsess over every detail; visualize yourself running the race countless times. And then, after one climactic day, it’s over. Regardless of how you did on race day, the fact remains: that goal you’ve been working toward for so long has been accomplished. As an article on Active.com so aptly puts it:

We have been taught that the attainment of the goal is the reward. Now the goal is attained and you are puzzled by your unanticipated unhappiness. The goal has turned out to be an illusion. The joy was in the dream and the process of moving towards your goal, in mobilizing your physical and mental potentials to their fullest. Once the goal was accomplished, the dream died. The joy ended. And now it’s time to regroup and start over again. (Jack Lesyk, PhD — emphasis added)

Sounds depressing, right? If you’re not a runner, you may now be questioning even more why people put themselves through these things. Between the taper craziness, the pain of the actual race, and now this post-race mini-depression, it doesn’t seem like much fun, does it?

I don’t mean to be painting such an awful picture of marathons. While there are also indescribable feelings of joy and accomplishment that go along with them, that’s a topic for another post. My point in all this is to show that these post-race blues are quite real. And after the Cape Cod Marathon, I was hit with them, hard.

At first I thought I was just being too hard on myself about the way that I raced. And then I thought that these blues were coming from the fact that I felt sick on and off for a long time after the race. My appetite was weird, and I was nauseous and tired most of the time. While I still don’t completely understand all the reasons why I was sick (though I have my suspicions), last week I finally realized that I was deep down in the post-marathon blues. Even though I knew I should be happy with the fact that I ran a Boston Qualifying time, the truth was that I just felt disappointed.

Now before you go assuming I’m a crazy person who doesn’t appreciate her own accomplishments, let me clearly state that I was proud of what I did. But, believe it or not, being proud of something doesn’t necessarily lead to feelings of happiness.

So what’s a person suffering from a little post-marathon sadness to do?

Beating the Post-Race Blues

Acceptance

First of all, I think it’s important to realize that this feeling is normal. You’re not a crazy person for feeling a sense of loss. And the situation isn’t made better if you beat yourself up over the fact that you’re sad when you’re supposed to be happy (like I did!). Surprisingly, being annoyed with yourself because you don’t feel as joyful as you think you should be dosen’t suddenly make you happy!

Once you’ve accepted the fact that you’re in a slump, you can start thinking about getting out of it. After all, the first step in moving on from anything is acceptance, right?

Rest

Secondly, it is important to actually rest. Your body just went through a huge beating – it needs to recover! I think sometimes endurance athletes are too eager to jump right back into training for fear that they’ll lose their fitness. But unless you’re an elite athlete, I don’t think this is something most of us should worry about. When I ran in high school and college, our coaches would make us take a week of complete rest between each season before easing back into training. During that week, we weren’t allowed to do anything strenuous. Easy walks were allowed, but no cross training — and certainly no running.

I really enjoy this period of complete rest. Although I get a little antsy sometimes, I know it’s important for me to have at least one week that’s free of running and scheduled workouts. This gives me a much needed physical and mental break. And let’s face it — I want to be a runner for life, not just for a few good years. My dream is to be 85 years old and still going out for regular runs. In order to avoid burnout and serious injury, I have to take a little break from time to time. Running and I never completely break-up, but we do go through regular trial periods of separation.

Mix it Up

After my week of nothing, I’m usually anxious to start moving again. But I don’t want to push myself into running two quickly. Instead, I focus more on cross training. Whether it be longer walks with the pup or some quality time on the elliptical machine, I try to enjoy exercising just for the sake of moving. In between training cycles, I always try to focus more on other types of exercise that tend to fall to the wayside when marathon training. Like lifting (which I am now trying to add back in).

Have fun!

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For the first couple of weeks, I really don’t care too much about following a set plan. That means if I don’t feel like working out, I don’t. True confession: in the two weeks following my marathon, I ran a total of ONE time. That’s it. The girl who loves to run and can’t even go one day without talking about running simply didn’t feel like it. But seriously, when I plan to be in training for the course of an entire year, I think a couple of weeks of having a more relaxed approach to exercise won’t kill me…and actually makes me a stronger runner in the end.

Plan New Events to Look Forward to

Part of the let-down after a race comes from the fact that you no longer have this huge event to look forward to. To combat this, I try to plan other non-running related things to be excited about in the weeks after the race. For instance, last weekend I took a much-needed mini vacation to surprise my dad for his birthday. Not only did the anticipation and excitement of the surprise help me get through the weeks following CCM, but the change of scenery was hugely beneficial! Not to mention the fact that spending some quality time with my family is always restorative.

Set New Goals

After giving yourself a mini break, it’s important to start thinking about new goals. A post-race slump is okay for a few weeks, but you don’t want to be stuck there forever!

The time away with my family was just what I needed to break through my feelings of apathy. I came back feeling newly excited about training, and yesterday I pushed myself through a hard workout for the first time since my marathon. It felt wonderful. I’m still not ready to get back into full-blown training mode, but I am ready to set new short-term and long-term training goals.

Short-term: My plan for the next several weeks is to concentrate on running for fun and fitting in more cross-training, particularly strength training. I did The Core yesterday for the first time in months, and realized just how out of lifting-shape I am. I plan on doing this workout twice a week.

Long-term: But I can’t be content with cross-training forever. I already have big plans for races this spring, including a half marathon, a full, and another relay. I won’t start actually training for these until December, so have a few more weeks to finalize my new training schedule. Stay tuned for more race announcements in the coming weeks!

As with anything, there’s no magic answer for beating feelings of post-race blues. But if you prepare for them and remind yourself that it’s only temporary, you can help make the slump a little easier on yourself.

If you’re a runner who has gone through this, what are your tricks for keeping the negative feelings at bay and getting yourself out of the funk?

And if you’re a super star who has never felt any sort of post-race sadness, please let me know your secrets!

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For a good article about recovery, see this one from the December issue of Runner’s World: The Kick-Back Plan