I thought you were talking about being depressed it was over.

The cure for that is waiting in line to sign up again the next day! And with my Ironman Florida 18 days away, i'm experience PRE IM apathy and depression.

Can you build a base, reach a peak intensity, and taper all in 18 days?

(and to answer your question, you do need to take a break and if you don't start 'missing' the training, then it's time to buy a new Tri bike. Sorry, I hope it doesn't come to that for you)

Happens to me every year after I do an IM. I wouldn't say I get depressed- more like restless. Seems like I have way too much time on my hands and nothing to do. The coming of winter makes it even worse. I try to spend as much time as I can doing other things(work, family, etc.) and don't worry too much about what I am doing for work outs. I try to keep it simply and just do what I want for a while. I find that making my training plan for next the next year and identifying new races tends to help get me through the post season blues. Eventually I get sick of being sick, start eating right and start feeling better about the whole thing.

I guess for every high there is a low, and it's a long way to fall after an IM before you bottom out and start going up again :).

I have heard about this and I must admit that when I was racing seriously years ago there was a little bit of a let down after an IM race. I think part of the problem for many people that REALLY get down is that they have put ALL of their eggs in one basket. It's all IM all the time. The whole season/year revolves around their IM race. I would suggest racing more. Outside of tapering for an IM and the 3 - 4 week recovery time afterwards, I say people should have a mini goal every month of the year - a race that they should take a bit more seriously and focus their efforts on. This takes the load off having the IM race be the only race of the year that matters.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

About a month before IMLP '04, I signed up for Timberman 1/2, which was a month after LP. I knew this was sort of risky, but the field had just been expanded, there were another 80 or so spots available, and it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, it turned out to be a great idea, as I avoided any post-iron depression by having a serious goal-race on which to focus. So, I took a couple of very soft weeks, then a hard, intense week, then a taper week, and did 5:30 at Timberman despite feeling a lack of "pop" in my legs.

This year I did a similar thing - signing up for Mighty Man 1/2 as a 29-days-later race on which to focus after The Canadian Iron. I followed a similar post-iron training regimen to the one after LP '04 ---- but for various reasons I was unable to go to Mighty Man. However, by having that race as a goal, and falling into the training for it, I successfully avoided any let-down or depression after the iron.

I've twice chosen 1/2s as my post-iron race, but I think anything moderately challenging would work. (Had I been qucik enough I would've signed up for Westchester [olympic] instead of Mighty Man, even though that was only three weeks after The Canadian Iron.) I would recommend this type of plan to anybody as a way to avoid post-iron blues.

Fleck, I go with the buildup and ramp down from Ironman. Before ironman LP, I did Muskoka, Tupper Lake and Peterborough, and after that I did 1000 Islands Olympic, Canadian Half and Esprit Half.

For "normal people" two shorter races before an Ironman and 2 after is a perfect way to ramp up and ramp down gradually. There is also a secondary benefit as you gradually ramp up from 8 hour weeks to 15 to 20+ and then after Ironman, you can build up again if you want to some moderate large weeks and then taper down to sub 10 hour (or less) weeks. Your body, hormones, and appetite gradually ramp down so you don't have this sudden shock to your system going from 20 hour weeks to almost nothing. Never a good plan.



Dev

Absofrikkinlutely! Back in the day when I was just doing marathons, I would 'crash' for a month or 2 after my fall race. Just in time to start Holiday season. But I'd bounce back by January.

With IMFL - I 'crashed' harder than I thought was even possible. It was like, 6 months, before I even wanted to look at my sneakers or bike. And lemme tell you, it was no fun trying to get back into shape after that long a layoff. It wasn't that bad at 1st, b/c it was off season. But I let it go too far.

Next time I planned a fall marathon after a late summer IM. I think I would've been able to pull it off, except an old injury resurfaced, so had to pull out of the marathon. Which, of course, kick started the depression.

I think it's natural to need a break. I thinks the Post IM Blues is a reaction to the months of physical & mental stresses of training that IM requires.

I'd like to find a way to avoid the major crashes I've had.

Next year I'm gonna try the summer IM & fall half IM formula. Wish me luck.

I hope you find a way to avoid the Post IM blues!!! Hey, how 'bout a great vacation to a warm climate, (lot's o' cocktails reguired!)

Oh, and I broke out of it by just starting to go thru the motions again, even though I wasn't really in the mood, and just prayed the motivation would come back. It did, eventually. And I wanted to fit into all my cute clothes again, too - so that got me off my butt!

I am sure its mental, with a bit of physical thrown in. Physically I was OK, but had no real strength if I wanted to climb hills or anything for two months. Mentally, I just couldn't dial in to doing that amount of training, or any training. On top of that, having acheived what I thought was an impossible goal, I had no idea what to do next.

The next challenge I signed up for was a 10-day meditation retreat, which involved no talking for 10 days, plus at least eight hours a day sitting down. It was certainly more mentally challenging and very physically demanding.

Everyone has their own experience, but I found out far more answers there than I ever could in a lifetime of Ironman training.

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Those who know do not speak, those who speak, do not know.

Just my personal opinion-
It sounds like you have possibly overtrained/underrecovered here. You were able to stick it out and do the race, but perhaps there was a long build up of fatigue due to stress- whether it be mental (cramming in workouts), physical (not enough sleep or recovery or too much intensity), or whatever. Training should be both focused and enjoyable. I think it is definitely smart to take a good mental and physical break after an IM, but not a "black hole of depression for some months". Back off of training as long as you need to, but I couldn't see this lasting more than 4 weeks if you still have races left or 8 weeks if it is the end of your season. Stay active, do fun stuff, and relax. If depression is really an issue, you may need some professional help.

Again, just an opinion here.

Fleck, I agree with the all the eggs in one basket. I just completed my 19th tri for the season and am now done. I love the goal of getting to the line at race day, seeing the friends I have made, and staying in shape all rear round. I ended up doing 1 IM, 2 Half IM, 14 olys, and 2 sprints. Tough to get down when you know you have another race in a week or two. I have my first half marathon in 2 weeks, probably a few 10k;s or so after that and my marathon in early Dec. I am even thinking of trying a 50 miler in March at Folsom. A friend of mine qualified for the western states 100 from that race. Who knows, :o)

So I have no race that is a season maker or breaker. They are just goals to keep me exercising, see friends, and be around folks who are all having fun staying in shape.



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

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