The Post Race Blues

I Had Junk Food for Lunch

I drank this:

And ate this:

M&Ms

Okay, I didn’t really just eat junk food for lunch. I had a cup of Garden Vegetable Soup (90 calories) and some Rice crackers too (about 100 calories). I also went for a brisk walk outside in between rain showers. It was a nice temperature outside, even if it was gloomy.

While I was out, I stopped in a liquor store to buy a lottery ticket and a raffle ticket. 🙂 Oregon has a state raffle a few times a year and I actually know someone that won the last one! She won $20k! Talk about exciting. So I broke down and spent the $10 on a ticket. If I win, I’m paying off my car, buying a whole new workout wardrobe, and entering EVERY race I can! 🙂 What would you do if you won the lottery?

Speaking of Races…

I definitely have a touch of the Post-Race Blues. I’m sure everyone has heard of this phenomenon. Even if you’ve never run a race, or biked a race, it can happen with any “BIG” event that takes up a lot of your time. For example: planning a wedding. You can spend all your waking moments eating, breathing, and thinking wedding plans. You put everything else aside for that time period. Then the wedding comes, everything’s grand, but what happens after the wedding? When all of a sudden you have tons of free time and no focused goal?

That’s when the sadness, boredom, depression, blues, disappointment–whatever you want to call it, can come into play. It might be subtle, it might be severe depending on what you trained for. Was it a marathon? Did you spend 6 months doing nothing but running?

I didn’t think the Post-Ride Blues would happen to me. First, I knew I’d immediately start training for running Hood To Coast this August. Second, I figured Michael and I would continue to do long bike rides on the weekend but instead of training it would be for fun.

Well, the weather is clearly preventing that from happening. The next 10 days look like solid rain. Blah.

And to be honest, Hood to Coast feels like a million years away for me. It’s the last weekend of August and it certainly does NOT feel like summer yet. I think I need to have a mid-summer event to plan for.

So how do you prevent/overcome those Blahs?

1. Make some plans/goals for after the race. Maybe a smaller 5k run, or less strenuous ride. Or a vacation!

2. Hang out with friends. You probably neglected happy hours, dinners with friends, or just girl time while you were training. Or maybe you neglected having “special time” with your significant other. How many times have we said, “Can we see the movie next weekend honey? I need to train.”

3. Let your body rest after the big event–but don’t stop exercising. Keep doing a lighter version of your workout routine to stay in the “groove” and routine of exercising.

4. Try cross-training. It may inspire you to start training for a triathlon!

5. Be prepared for how you’ll feel after the race, and don’t beat yourself up for it!

6. Change your workout. Maybe start working on speed work, try distance running. If you bike, try mountain biking. Swimmer? What about switching to open water swimming instead?

QUESTION: Can you relate to this? Are there any other tips or tricks you’ve discovered to cure Post-Race Blues?