Now that the Boston Marathon is Over
Congrats on running the Boston marathon. The fact that you got to Boston is a huge feat but now that the race is over how do you deal with the end and the outcome.
Race Day
It was a hot day in Boston and being an east coaster I know that with east coast heat comes humidity which makes it feel even hotter. For many of you that aren’t from Kenya or other warm countries the heat alone was surely a challenge. It is not that hot or humid anywhere in the USA yet which means that no USA runner has had a chance to train in these temperatures. But given that fact, that leveled the playing field for many other runners doing the marathon. Regardless, hopefully you had a mental plan for your race that included dealing with the heat. I was talking to one of my elite Boston marathon clients about whether or not the weather was in her control. She said it wasn’t and that she’d just have to physically & mentally adjust. Hopefully all of you had such a game plan. How did you mentally deal with the heat? Did you let it throw you off or beat you up?
Dealing with the outcome
Given that it was a hot day you may not have achieved the outcome you wanted. If you were able to achieve your expected outcome (hopefully you adjusted based on the temps) congrats! If not, how do you deal with outcomes that are ‘less than’ you expect? Most of the elite, Olympic and professional athletes I work with really struggle with this but there are alternative ways to look at this that can be beneficial. Beating yourself up about something that’s already happened is not going to help you change what’s occurred. Losing or having outcomes less than expected are similar to making mistakes because they provide your brain feedback on what you need to do differently. These are important moments and performance can’t grow if you are not willing to have these experiences and find a way to deal with them in a healthy manner.
My elite Boston marathon client came to see me last week and for her the mental stuff is pretty new. We spent a lot of time talking about how she’ll know if it’s helped. I suggested that she write down all of the mental stuff she tried. At the top of the paper have a scale from 1-10. Rate where she felt she was during the Boston Marathon and then figure out where she needs to be to improve her performance. I would suggest this for all of you. Take a baseline reading and then set goals around improving for the next race.
The Days after the Race
Depending on race length you will probably want to take the next day or two off from training to allow your body some recovery time.
Psychologically you might feel some depression or sadness a day or two after your event and again this depends of the length of your race. This is fairly normal for most people, but particularly people new to the sport. You’ve put a lot of time and energy into training and perhaps participating in a group experience (team) and it has just ended. You have also probably given up time with friends & family. Getting back into your normal life routine may be difficult, but it’s important to be able to make that transition. Just as important is to make sure you have a program in place to begin light training again after a couple of days, get plenty of rest, eat well and drink plenty of fluids. All of this will help with post race blues.
If you continue to struggle with this contact me so that I can help you through this transition.
Congrats on being a Boston Marathon participant!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: runnersworld.com
