After a race I feel like shi* the whole day after the race and usually the entire next day. Sometimes I will cough up little chunks of mucus up to three days after a race. I typically race Olympic distance but even a 40 TT or a 10K running race can bring on the suffering.
Anyone else suffer this long after a race? I do have asthma so I’m sure that exacerbates the pain. I guess it just comes with the territory. I raced a 35K TT in Charlottesville, VA yesterday and I’m still suffering today. Very hilly, so much so that most people including myself opted for a road bike with clips.
After a long running race (15K or longer) or any Du, I generally experience a little bit of muscle soreness that goes away after 24 - 36 hours – but nothing like you have described. Try to pay a lot of attention to post race recovery with a lot of stretching, self massage and proper nutrition. Take in large quantities of fluid and quickly restock glycogen supplies. Proper recovery is the key.
I sometimes get sick(cold-like symptoms) after a race. I think that is because race level exertions can depress your immune system.
After my first 1/2 IM last year, I was sore for a week, and it took me a month to get back to being able to work as hard as before the race. One piece of advice someone gave me that works is to work out really easy the first few days after a race. Swimming in particular seems to help get my muscles ready to go again.
I think we all have different recovery times. I did a sprint Tri last weekend and went back to training 1 day too early, then paid for it at the end of the week. Every race is different, your age, how hilly was it, how long was it, did you go real hard because of your competition? After you have done a bunch of these you will just begin to know your own body. Also Endurox, though expensive, really works. I’m a masters athlete and it cuts my recovery time way down.
I’ve been hooked on Endurox ever since I stopped giving a friend crap about the fruffy pink stuff in his drink bottles and tried it. I use Accelerade during races, and Endurox after, and like you, I swear by it.
You can usually get it on sale at Performancebike.com for $49.99-$54.98 for a large container of each(combo deal). That’s about the best deal I’ve found anywhere, and if you’re a member, you get another 10% back in points.
Someone mentioned self massage. I got sold a “Stick” at a race expo a year or two ago. Use it all the time now. Right before bed, first thing in the morning, after workouts. It helps a lot with the muscle soreness in the legs.
After the first tri of the season I will be really sore and super stiff. That lasts betwen three days and a week. After the next race though, mentally I’ll be a total wash the next day, and physically sapped for another day. Then it’s back to training and functioning. Tri’s rock.
jmorrissey, I can’t take Accellerade, and neither can a couple of my buddies…gives every one of us “atomic gut bomb” syndrome. We don’t know why, but, we all succomb to it. They never touched it again after their first bad experience, but I did. I re-measured to make sure I wasn’t overdosing on calories per hour thinking maybe I had it too strong or drank too much in an hour. Same thing happened. Twice. I really like how it tastes, so I kept trying to make it work…it just doesn’t work for me.
However, I’m a fan of Endurox. I’m not sure it’s important exactly what product you use, or if you use a product at all. I do think it’s important that you fuel up as quickly as possible after the race with carbohydrates and protein. It probably doesn’t hurt to include something with antioxidant properties, too, although, post-race may be a little late with the antioxidants…the damage they may do may already be done by the time you’re taking something to combat them.
I have been surprised the few times I had hard workouts and seemed sore the next day. It’s always been when I forgot to take Endurox afterward, or didn’t have any prepared. Like I said, though, I doubt there is anything majic about the stuff. You may be able to get the same, or better effects, from eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some blue berries and washing it all down with water after the race.
It really depends on what I do the rest of the day after the race. If I can get home and sleep and maybe take a cold shower then I’ll feel a lot better. If not, then usually the day after I’ll be cramped, but usually I recover quickly so this is pretty rare (cramping).
After my first race this season I was cramped for like 2-3 days, but then the second one came and I was feeling really good the day after.
I’m lucky, I bounce back pretty fast. Usually the day after Ironman, at least in my mind, I am thinking, “I wish I could do that again…”
I may not be a very good athlete- I never have been. But I am a durable athlete. That I know. There is a certain beuaty in this kind of mediocrity, at least that’s what I tell myself.
Some people have trouble with the protein during workouts. I use Accelerade during both long workouts and races, and like it a lot, but, for example, during a 1/2 IM, I will be fine using it on the bike, but have a little trouble with it on the run. Of course, by halfway through the run, water is about all I can swallow.
Powerade kills me during workouts. Too much sugar. WAY too much sugar. They were using it at Tupper Lake last year, and I was astonished(because I know a lot of people who can’t use it during workouts), until I realized it was watered down about 1:4.
I’ve had races where I’ve been shelled for up to 6-7 days after an oly duathlon. Other times like the other weekend I raced both sat and sun and was fine. It depends upon how hilly, windy, how intense the comp is etc.