"Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."— Lou Holtz

I hope you had a great weekend? Another beautiful weekend of Spring weather in Bristol, I hope wherever you are you had the same. Lots of my clients and friends were out and about running races this weekend including the Bath, Cambridge & Silverstone Half Marathons as well as Ian Goudie completing his 100th Park Run Race & one of my Mental Strength Clients, Doug Wood returning from the Abu Dhabi Triathlon last weekend winning his Age Group. Brilliant!

With so many people running around at the moment, from beginners to seasoned runners aiming for PBs I would write down a few top tips to help keep you in the very best running condition in mind and body, post race…

Nutrition:

  1. Make sure you hydrate and re fuel after the race effectively. Within 20mins have a snack to boost your glycogen stores, anything you are comfortable eating but a banana is a good one, or a protein recovery drink. Then within 2 hours have a good meal with plenty of quality proteins, complex carbs, vitamins, minerals and essential fats.
  2. Hydrate well, using Elete drops will replace your salts without adding too much sugar.
  3. Avoid having too much sugar and refined foods as these will affect your immune system and energy levels.

For more information on nutrition have a look at our Food and Weight Loss section. This includes related articles such as:

Physical

  1. Allow time for stretching after the race, and then the following day dedicate a full 45mins to stretching, foam roller exercises and mobility. If you can, book in for a sports massage to ease out any niggles and aid in recovery. Whilst there is no actual research to support the science behind this, Olympic athletes would rate this as number 1 treatment to have after training.
  2. Have an easier week training wise, focusing on light sessions with good technique, core & strength work, and cross training.
  3. Adjust your training plan if you have another goal coming up so it accommodates how you feel after the race, but remember always increase by a maximum of 10% and the 4th or 6th week have an easier week to allow recovery and adaption of the muscles, plus reduce the risk of injury and increase motivation.

The Running Bug has essential Training and Injury guides. Have a look at:

Mind

  1. Whatever your time, know you will have done the very best that you could have done on the day. Yes you could have done better on another day perhaps but whatever you achieved will have been your best so be proud of yourself.
  2. Write down 3 good things that happened in the race, then two things that you are going to work on for next time, and then 1 more good thing that happened in the race.
  3. Allow your mind and body to recover, you will always feel more tired after a race due to the atmosphere, naturally you will have run faster with other people around you and you may have been nervous or excited. Listen to your body, and only return to full training levels when you feel recharged.

For extra motivational tips have a look at our Motivation section.

I hope those are useful little tips and for any advice or questions on our specific tips just comment below, I am more than happy to help. Until next week…. Happy Running & Racing! The next race we are at is Forest of Dean Half Marathon… what’s yours? Let us know in the comments below.

My Twitter is kimingleby, join me for daily tips and advice.