Whether it’s your first or fiftieth foray into the world of racing, testing yourself in a race is always an exciting and stressful experience. Exciting because you’ve trained for weeks and months in readiness for your event, and stressful because you are likely to make greater demands on your body in the competitive environment of a race as you strive to do your best. For this reason, whatever your race distance, what you do after your race is absolutely critical to your recovery. By following the correct post-race protocols, not only will you feel better after your efforts but you will minimise your recovery time and reduce your injury risk –and hence you’ll be able to resume normal training much sooner.
What happens when you race?
In a race, you will frequently run (or aim to run) further or faster – or both further and faster – than you would usually do in training, as you seek to perform at your very best. A race is the culmination of all your training and as your competitive instincts take over, you could be rewarded with a memorable performance, a season’s best or even a personal best time. Of course, to achieve your goal you will be pushing harder than in training – and so the additional stress incurred by your body will require correct management after you cross the finishing line (and the faster you recover, the faster you can move on towards your next running goal!).
The following checklist is applicable to any race from the 5k through to the marathon, and should become an embedded routine every time you finish a race. Simply follow the plan according to the time frames for each activity and you’ll optimise your recovery and return to full training sooner rather than later.
Immediately after you finish
Cool down. Once you’ve crossed the finish line, your natural reaction will be to stop, catch your breath and then probably chat to other runners – but a cool-down will be far more beneficial. Ten minutes of very gentle jogging immediately after you finish will pay dividends over the coming days because you will significantly reduce any post-race muscle soreness. Light jogging will help to flush out all the waste by-products that have built up during the race – and this very gentle activity will also safely lower your heart rate and blood pressure towards your pre-exercise levels.
Stretch. Before you stroll across to the finish area to compare notes with your friends, take another ten minutes out to stretch all the main muscle groups of the legs – namely the calves and Achilles tendons, hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, glutes and adductors. Your muscles have just worked overtime during your race, and stretching them while you are still warm and your muscles are elastic and pliable is the optimum time to do it. Ten minutes’ stretching will help to ease any post-race soreness as well as help to keep your muscles loose, supple and injury free.
Eat. The sooner that you can begin the refuelling process the better, because refuelling contributes to your recovery by aiding cellular repair and replacing energy. You will have depleted your energy stores during your race and so your first target should be to consume a high-GI food within 15 minutes of finishing your cool-down and stretches – and if this is in liquid form it will also contribute to your rehydration. During the 15-minute post-race period, your body is super-receptive to loading on fuel and can restock at a much faster rate than usual – so to maximise your recovery, drink a glucose drink, which will perform two important functions: refuelling and rehydration.
Drink.In addition to consuming a glucose drink, also look to rehydrate with water. Even on cold days you’ll sweat and you also lose a lot of fluid on your breath – and when you’re racing, you breathe at a much higher intensity!
Whatever your race distance, you will need to drink plenty of fluid afterwards until your urine is the colour of pale straw or lighter. The colour of your urine is the best indicator of your hydration levels.
Back at home
Rest. After your exertions, you should aim to minimise your activities for the rest of the day. Remember, your body has exercised at a much higher intensity than usual – so the best way of recovering is to do as little as possible! Put your feet up and let your muscles relax and recover, rather than ask them to do more work; this way, you’ll be able to resume your usual training sessions much sooner.
Eat again. Within two hours of completing your race, you need to eat for the second time. However, this time you should focus on a more substantial meal, containing some complex carbohydrate to further replenish your fuel stores, together with some low-fat protein to aid muscle repair. An ideal combination is pasta and tuna or perhaps baked beans on toast.
The next day
Light training. On the day after your race you should avoid heavy training. Your body still needs recovery time and if you try to force through a more challenging session, you’re likely to under-perform and/or risk muscle damage or injury – and you certainly won’t enjoy it! Your goal should be to recover both physically and mentally, so that when you do resume full training, you’ll be raring to go. So, go for a short, very light, low-intensity jog – or better still, cross-train. Dig out your bike from the garage and spin the pedals for a few miles, or alternatively swim a few lengths of your local swimming pool. The change of exercise will be very refreshing and will help your muscles to recover.
Stretch. When you finish your light training session, your muscles will be warm – and that is the ideal time to repeat the post-race stretches that you carried out yesterday. Afterwards you’ll feel much more relaxed and loose – which means you’ll be well on the way to returning to your usual sessions.
Sports massage. For keeping your muscles in tip-top shape, flushing out the waste products of both training and racing, and identifying any potential injury sites before the damage worsens, a sports massage is the ideal tool. To really maximise your race recovery, visit a good sports therapist for a 45-minute session on your legs – after which you’ll really notice the benefits the following day. Your legs will feel fresh and light and you’ll be really ready for a run.
Refocus. The final phase of your recovery is to refocus on your next goal or race. Without a goal, your training can become aimless and eventually sporadic, resulting in a loss of fitness. So as part of your recovery programme, take a little time out to consider what you want to achieve next – so that when you feel ready to ‘get back in the saddle’, you know exactly where you’re going!
When can I resume full training? A common question that runners ask after a race is, ‘How soon can I start training seriously again?’. This question is difficult to answer because there are so many variables to consider. Answer the following three questions honestly before you ramp up your training again:
How hard did I race? If you jogged around comfortably, your recovery will be faster than if you really pushed hard throughout.
How long was my race? If you raced over the marathon distance, your recovery will take longer than if your race was a 5k.
Do I have any muscle soreness? Don’t resume full training until any lingering stiffness or soreness has disappeared – and definitely don’t attempt to return to training if you feel that you have an injury.
As a rule of thumb, wait before resuming full training until you feel that you’re fully recovered and then add a couple of days on top. Light training is fine, but by slightly delaying your return to more challenging sessions, you’ll be champing at the bit to get out and will have renewed enthusiasm to aim for a new target.
Enjoy your recovery – and your return to training!
With special thanks to author Mike Searle