Your feet are still puffy and your lips still chapped from wind and sun. The scab where your timing chip rubbed against your ankle bone is still fresh, and your quads still ache when you walk down stairs. Your brain feels foggy and all you want to do is sleep ... and eat.
Talk to any IRONMAN athlete on a Wednesday after a big race and this strange disease will sound as normal as the common cold. We call it "the post race blues," "coming down off a high," "getting back to reality," or, more serious-sounding, "post IRONMAN depression." While we often joke about it, it can be a seriously difficult time.
But guess what? It's totally normal.
Why am I feeling this way?
If you've never experienced this particular type of the blues before, you might be asking yourself "why?" The usual come-down off of a life high can be made more pronounced by an event like an IRONMAN race because of a few factors: the intensity and length of the preparation (training), the magnitude of the accomplishment and the depth of the ensuing fatigue.
Let's look first at the preparation. A race, in a sense, interrupts our training "flow," spitting us out on the other side. Mimi Winsberg, a psychologist and IRONMAN age-group champion, says that when we're training, we're immersed in a cycle of stress and then release, bolstered by high dopamine levels, endorphins and even endocannabinoids. "I think it's what makes this pursuit of ours so addicting," Winsberg says. We like that feeling of being fully absorbed in our experience." Winsberg adds that when such a cycle ends, the need for recovery is high. Most athletes, however, get thrown right back into a stimulating environment, making the process almost like withdrawal.
Secondly, the magnitude of completing an IRONMAN can itself be another catalyst for the blues. "It's not every day you get to feel like a rock star—which most people do when they cross an IRONMAN finish line," Winsberg says. Along with this feeling comes a sense of relief and also euphoria. When those wear off and are replaced by the mundane and stressful demands of life, we become prime candidates for the blues.
Lastly, 140.6 miles leaves us feeling just plain tired. During the weeks leading up to a race we feel fresher and fresher each day as we pull back on training. In the days after, we begin to lose physical fitness and energy. Not only have we already met our emotional goal, but physically, "we're feeling pretty washed up," says Winsberg.
Loss and sadness
The emotions we're feeling, Winsberg says, most closely resemble loss. "There is a loss of the physiological and chemical high we get from working out, and there is a loss of power and energy as we are physically and emotionally depleted," she says. And of course, there's the simple fact of no longer having a clear goal: "You've been thinking about (your goal) for a long time, you've structured your life in ways to achieve that goal, and you've involved friends and family. When the goal is accomplished you think you're going to be happy, and then you realize it's actually the process that's more fun than the actual goal. There are multiple layers of loss."
Typically the post-race blues don't manifest themselves in an extreme way, but are more along the lines of feeling lack of meaning in your life, and wondering what the next steps are. It's a mild form of "depression," or "sadness," that's not actually recognized among sport psychologists as a true form of clinical depression.
The blues can morph into something more serious, however, and it's a good idea to monitor yourself or find a training buddy or good friend to act as an accountability partner. Winsberg highlights the following warning signs that might be signs it's time to see someone for help: feeling a state of pervasive loneliness that lasts more than two weeks, experiencing difficulty concentrating and sleeping and noticing that your patterns of behaviors are thrown off.
How to deal
Winsberg, as a multiple IRONMAN finisher and Kona qualifier, knows the post-race blues intimately. She says she expects it and preps for it. How? Read on for her tips.
→Take time to relish the race experience,and then move on to other non-race challenges. "That can be reconnecting with family and friends, work challenges or other hobbies you've let fall by the wayside."
→Don't indulge too much."Eating unhealthily and drinking too much alcohol will just make things worse. Give yourself a day or two to indulge and then return to a healthy diet and light movement to keep blood flowing to your muscles."
→Accept it."If you know that's something you're prone to, know that for those few days you're not going to be at your best. Take measures like getting extra sleep, or not putting yourself in situations that might make it worse." Know that it's a normal cycle and not be thrown off by it."
→ Sign up for another race. Yes, you heard that right. Winsberg notices the blues are a little different for her when she has another race on the calendar. "When I do have another one on the calendar I notice the physical fatigue a bit more because there's the pressure to recover. When I don't, that's when I have to be more careful to know what what work projects or social projects I'm going to focus on."
