Hopefully you know what I’m talking about: The headache-y, dessicated, food-binging, *nap-for-3-hours-then-sleep-for-10 *state that you go into after a hard race or training session.
Most recent example – a trail 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. It was about 85 degrees and 100% humidity. I carried a water bottle, drank it down twice from full, had two gels, and finished in 1:48 for 10th overall.
I’d like to say I gave it all I had, or at least very close. I had liquids and food as soon as I was finished and then went for a hearty, (mostly) nutritious lunch. Yet I had a headache by the time I got home. I napped until 6, ate a good dinner, drank a lot of water, and fell asleep by 9:30. Yesterday, I was still moving slow. Today, I feel like maybe I could swim, but I don’t want to touch a bike or go for a run.
This happens to me after nearly every race longer than 45 minutes, or after hard training rides of 2.5 hours or more. Is this a normal sign of pushing to my limits – or am I doing something wrong in my training/nutrition/hydration/recovery?
For me at least, I feel this way when I don’t eat properly, pre, during and post racing/hard training session. Maybe 2 gels isn’t enough. Maybe your lunch didn’t have enough calories to replenish you? Maybe it’s because you were electrolyte deprived because of the heat and humidity? Have you tried salt pills? Drinking more gatorade, heed, perpetrum, your drink of choice? For the pre part–did you eat a proper pre race meal? Easily digestible carbs, a bit of extra salt, etc?
Other than the headache why are those things so bad? If you’ve pushed yourself physically why not listen to what your body wants i.e. rest and food. I say enjoy it…
I experience the same thing after races (but no headache) especially hot ones. Sorry I don’t have a solution or a recommendation. Being able to sleep that much I would think would be the best thing you could do afterwards. I would say its a normal reaction but I’m interested in hearing some suggestions.
I have the same problem after a hard race, it really feels like the worst hangover ever. It never happens in training yet after an olympic or half IM i start feeling like absolute crap maybe 30 mins or 1h after the race, sometimes longer. Terrible headaches, feeling sick. I have been able to control it much better by really drinking a lot immediately after the race and for the rest of the day (drinking WAY more than I think I need) and taking salt pills (way more than I think I need).
Chocolate soy mily as a recovery drink.
Lots and lots of water until you’re continually peeing clear. This takes hours of focused water drinking and can be a real pain.
A hefty, easy to digest meal. Avoid fried stuff and cheese.
Overall though, it’s kind of unavoidable. Your body needs to heal and that makes you tired.
Nope, no idea. Maybe your not eating and drinking right post race since I think a alcohol induced hangover occurs in part because of dehydration. I know when I used to do a lot of motorcycle touring, the lack of hydration on a hotter day when riding 6-12 hours in a day would sneak up on you sicne you only stopped every 90 minutes or so.
My worst hangovers are after eveenings that I have no memory of past a certain point and foggy details a few hours before that. Brutal feeling. HIM is just very bad muscle sorness.
keep trying to ‘figure it out’. if it happens just after races then it could be the result of racing however, i think you could probably cut down on that effect. From my personal experience, it comes down to pre-race nutrition and hydration. if i don’t have that right then the rest is affected guaranteed. The next priority for me is what i take during the race - expecially during a tri - i made the mistake of not eating and drinking enough and it afftected my run and recovery. i was battling a migrane for a few days post race and then a headache for another few days after that.
Good Luck!
I will echo what some others have said, it’s a nutrition issue. You’re likely not eating enough before/during/after the race. When I say before, I mean in the days leading up to the race.
I find that, for me, I tend to always be in the “cut weight” mentality as far as food goes, and sometimes I forget to change that mentality on hard days or building up to important races.
For the headaches, I would try using skratch labs mix in your bottles. I’ve found that I don’t get the “heat headache” with that.
I think the headaches are from insufficient sodium intake. If you can choke down additional salt tablets, that’s helped me to stave off heat induced headaches.
Interesting… I know I’ve been in that situation before, but I thought I’d addressed it in the last year or two. In fact, I’m carrying about 5-8 more pounds than usual this season (as much as it kills the old, “lighter is better” me).
I’ve never tried Skratch. I tend to be very minimal about my nutrition demands – in the sense that I’m usually fine with Gatorade, water, PB&J, Clif bars, Nuun tabs. This year is also the first time I’ve ever done runs long enough to justify carrying water or gel.
Thanks for the suggestions everybody! I have an Oly this weekend… we’ll see if I can solve the riddle.
A lot of people have suggested good ideas on this thread, and it could be a nutrition thing, but I want to weigh in on rehydration. Be very very careful about rehydrating after long rides or races of 2+ hours in hot/humid conditions. Someone suggested drinking lots and lots of plain water. Drinking too much plain water can lead to hypotranemia, which is uncomfortable to say the least. The ER trip after Vegas last year was enough to convince me to be pretty darn careful about electrolyte balance.
Honestly, recovery is dictated partly by the nutrition you consume and the actions you take after the race. What people forget to mention is that recovery is dictated very heavily by your pre-race fitness. The fitter you are, the faster you recover. Matt Fitzgerald writes some good stuff on this.
The more you push your body, the fitter you will get and the easier it will be to recover from hard training sessions or longer races.
Ha! Naps are good. Forced sleep because you’re too trashed to do anything else… meh.
It’s hard to have cold chocolate milk at the end of a race. But that’s my go-to at home. I also tried caffeine (I’m not a junkie, but I’m close). Didn’t help on Saturday.
Sounds like salt is the common denominator that I’m not really monitoring, out of all the answers. I’ll try upping my intake.
Jeez, I’m getting old. I just can’t bounce back like I used to at 21… It’s been a rough four years.
2 bottles of water in almost two hours in the conditions you describe doesn’t sound like enough. You are probably battling dehydration and normal race recovery.
I use Skratch Lbs to rehydrate. As has been mentioned, hyponutremia is a possibility if you only drink water.
I’ve been racing hard for 20 years and cannot figure out the race hangover. I get SEVERE migrains after hard races (not all races). I’ve tried everything and have never been able to figure it out.