Secrets to Successful Post-Race Triathlon Recovery Ep 50

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I'll see you there.

Welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast.

We are on day 5 of our podcast blitz as we lead into Ironman North Carolina 70.3. But as I've said all the podcasts before, this can be applicable to really whatever race that you are doing. Today's episode is all about what happens post-race, cuz we're all talking about how you swim, how you bike, how you run, how do you get prepared, and then what do you do afterwards? So we're here to tell you some insider tips and secrets to do post-race to make sure you feel your best in the coming days. So first of all, huge congratulations. Secondly, it's important that if you are in immediate pain or need some, um, immediate assistance that you go to the medical tent. This is if if you're like feeling like you're gonna faint or pass out, or if any of your injuries needs medical attention, this is the time to do it. However, if you are feeling pretty good or feeling pretty done, uh, my suggestion to you, because I see it all the time, is don't stop moving. So many people get across the finish line and they'll put their hands on their knees or they'll lay down or whatever, which lying down is totally fine, especially if you are really overworked or if you're really, really hot. Um, if you are in a hot race, which this race probably won't be super hot, but if you are in a hot race, it is important to help your core body temperature come down, to get to a shady spot or to get to some air conditioning, lie down and put your feet up, which helps with additional, um, recovery and circulation. But if not, if you are in the situation like we're gonna be in tomorrow, which looks like the high is gonna be sort of in the upper 60s, so it should be pretty pleasant. Just don't stop moving initially. Very light walk around for some active recovery, just letting the blood flow slow down nice and easily rather than just plopping down. We see it all the time with people just plop right into the grass or they head right to the beer tent and then they sit down and then everything locks up. So take your time, at least for the first 5, 10, 15 minutes, just to walk around, let your heart rate come down, let some of that blood flow return to your GI tract. And come away from working muscles. If we sit down too quickly or if we certainly like bend over too much, we might get a little dizzy. So, and we certainly don't want to faint or pass out. So once you are done, you've had some of that active recovery, if you are feeling up for having something to eat or drink, go for it. If you're really thirsty, go grab some water. If you really feel like you need something specific, when somebody puts it in front of your face, whether it be anything from a sandwich to a Rice Krispie treat to sports drink or whatever, you might look at it and be like, oh, that sounds terrible. Or you might be like, oh wow, that sounds delicious. So honor your body's needs in that time frame and go for it. I would recommend not chugging something at this time. Just sip on something very lightly if you are thirsty. And we don't want to upset our stomach. So you have to remember that your GI tract has pretty much been not really online a whole lot and all that that blood flow has to come back. So let's do it pretty easily. If we stuff it too full, I had a guy who finished a half marathon and they were handing out chocolate milk and he grabbed it and he just threw it back as soon as he got across the finish line. And in about 5 seconds it came right back out. So that is a good testament to say like, all right, let yourself chill out a little bit. Pay attention to your body, listen to it. If you need water or if you need sports drink and it sounds appealing, go for it. Sip on it nice and easily. Don't be shoving things down your throat. So, and from a recovery nutrition perspective, if you're gonna continue doing exercise, if this is like not a one and done kind of thing, if you want to feel good in the coming days, then good recovery nutrition is optimal here. We wanna try to have something on board within about 30 minutes. That doesn't mean immediately afterwards. That means somewhere around 30 minutes, which is a good opportunity to walk around, maybe take your shoes off if you've got some blisters or put a thermal blanket on just to make sure you maintain some of that heat or get outta the heat if you're in a hot race. So, and then hopefully getting something down the hatch within 30 minutes. It's ideal. This is an ideal time to take in carbohydrates. They can be as bananas, they can be as a sandwich, it can be as a recovery shake. There's a lot of different ways to skin a cat, but those carbohydrates that you take in are more likely to be stored as glycogen, which is stored in your liver and muscles. So that's, an optimal time to take in those carbs. And then a little bit of protein goes a long way. So can we get anywhere from 10 to maybe even upwards of 40 grams of protein into the system? So that might be in the form of a burrito, which is one of my favorite post-workout foods. It might be a shake. Um, it doesn't necessarily have to be anything expensive or fancy if you don't want it to be. It just has to hopefully taste good to you. So that's our fueling and hydration. And then just continuing throughout the rest of the day, hopefully having a meal within 2 to 3 hours after after finishing. Uh, that can be more of like a sit-down kind of real meal, if you will. I'm air quoting here. Um, and also consider where does alcohol come into this? So there has been a little bit of research to suggest that maybe one beer post-race is good for rehydration because people are more motivated to drink it. It's typically cold, it's bubbly, it's tasty, so they get it down a little bit more than if they're just like, eh, this is water. However, it starts to become a problem if it's 2, 3, and 4. Then we start to really tap into our recovery and not benefit it nearly as much. So then we might start to have headaches later, later. We might just slow our recovery, especially, uh, how you are, uh, genetically formed. Some of us just don't clear some of that alcohol quite as quickly. So that's up to you. Uh, a quick story. I, after one of my first races, I went with some friends to go get pizza, beer, and wings, and that was probably one of the most regrettable things I've ever done in triathlon cuz I felt like death for probably 3 days easily. Um, I've learned a little bit more about myself as it relates to like my genetics and, um, why that was such a bad idea. But again, this is you, so take care of yourself. You just did an awesome thing and hopefully you can continue to do awesome things. So I think Athletic Brewing is actually one of the sponsors for Ironman North Carolina. They're alcohol-free and honestly they're pretty tasty, so So if you're just a beer purist, just try it. Um, but if you prefer to go another route, that is totally fine too. All right. It is important that you focus on hand washing for the next couple of days. Uh, there is an increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections, so things like cold, flu, things like that. So just make sure that you're being really good about your hand washing for the next couple of days as your immune system is weakened a bit after doing something like this, especially a half or a full marathon or a half or full Ironman, understand that sleep may not be particularly wonderful in the couple of nights after a race. You might sleep like a baby, that's great, or sleep fantastically, but just know that maybe sleep might be a little off for a couple of nights. That is normal. Just knowing that everyone's recovery is a little bit different. So be patient with yourself. The more you have experience in the sport, the more your body will adapt to it, and then you can be able to obviously predict what's gonna happen. And certain recovery methods might work better for you. You might really love to get into an Epsom salt bath for that additional magnesium, especially if you tend to be a cramper. That's a really good one to do post-race. Or you might like to do an ice bath. It's a great way to reduce inflammation, especially in the immediate hours afterwards. You don't have to be in there for a long time and it doesn't necessarily have to be freezing cold. We have a couple of podcasts on that, so I would point you in those directions. Other things you can do is get into some, you know, get a massage, get some physical therapy, put on some compression hose or compression boots. Those are really fantastic to help with blood flow circulating all of those inflammatory markers just a little bit quicker if you can. But honestly, your best recovery tool is sleep. So we need to get good quality sleep in those days afterwards to recover a little bit better. Another thing some people don't necessarily talk about, but your gut, your GI tract, especially for women who have more sensitive GI tracts, especially, um, depending on where they are in their cycle or how much jostling is going on, our guts just tend to be a little bit more sensitive. Your gut might not be normal for a few days. You might notice a little bit of diarrhea or just unusual, um, habits as again, especially post-race. As your gut kind of quote unquote comes back online and starts to function again, it's going, oh, what's happening here? I'm going to pull a bunch of water and send it into your gut and then you're going to be hanging out in the john for several times or for a long time. So know that that is normal. We certainly don't want to see blood in your stool. So if that is something that happens to you, you definitely want to hit urgent care or that or call your healthcare provider. But just understand Yeah, a lot just went on in your gut. Be patient with it and know that it will be back online in a few days. Just go a little slower. Make sure you're getting your hydration. Make sure you're getting a good quality diet to refeed all that gut microbiota. Things like your fruits and vegetables, good quality proteins, good quality grains and starches and beans and things like that to kind of get everything back online. Another one that you're probably going to be aware of is chafing or blisters. So these are really common. Uh, chafing tends to be for women, maybe where the sports bra is, or, um, for men where the heart rate monitor might be around your chest. Uh, you might have some underneath your armpits or along sort of the insides of your arms, the back of your neck where maybe some Velcro from your wetsuit has hit you, or along the sides of your neck. Oftentimes people will have some chafing where their saddle was. In the niddle regions. Other places where there might be some sort of a seam, like around your thigh, around ankles or toes, things like that. Yes, that is totally normal. Hopefully you can— you'll find them. You'll find them when you hit the shower for the first time, especially as all that salt water from the swim comes off. It is— it'll wake you up right there. So that's where you'll find everything. And just make sure you take care of those blisters and chafing spots just like you would any other sort of injury, be nice to them and hopefully they'll feel a little bit better in the, in the coming days. Otherwise, go grab your equipment and go grab your bike gear or have somebody else, uh, do it for you. But this is a good opportunity, especially after you get home or maybe even the next day, is to just give your equipment a quick once over. Um, you have just dripped all over your bike with saltwater. And with sports drinks, some of you who are savvy enough to pee on the bike. So let's just give it a rinse down. You can literally wash it with a hose and some Dawn. Make sure to dry it so that your chain doesn't rust. So that's important to do. And then rinse your wetsuit and just kind of hang it up in the shower so that it can drip dry. Try to hang it not in the sun if possible. And just checking other things like your race number belt and your shoes. everything might need a nice wash. So go ahead and take care of all that kind of stuff. Also join a community if you haven't already. Be, we have celebrate with other people like you just did an awesome thing. So hopefully you've got a local or an online triathlon community, a club. You're always welcome to hook up with us, the Endurance Edge Club or team as we like to say. But definitely it's a good opportunity to socialize, to celebrate, to nerd out with all of your friends about Oh my gosh, did you see that cow on the course? Or what about that pothole? Or oh my gosh, what happened when you got caught in the rain? So you could just, you know, talk through things, have fun, celebrate your accomplishment. That is really what life is about. It's about relationships and celebrating your successes together. And then maybe it's time to plan some future goals or to plan some future races depending on what type of challenge you wanna tackle next. Is it a different type of race? Is it a different length of race? Is it going to a certain location? There's so many different options when it comes to various races. I would encourage you, try to race locally if you can, even if it's some short races, that's totally fine. And then do you need some support and professional guidance? Maybe this is the opportunity to get a coach so that you can learn more or so that you can start to know what you don't know and get better at the things that you really wanna get better at. And hopefully by this point you've already smiled and gotten a finish, a finish line picture. I think I forgot that at the very beginning. Definitely go get yourself a finish line picture with your medal if you are done or when you are done. Uh, celebrate with friends and family for sure. You're awesome. You're amazing. Congratulations. And don't forget to reach out to us at our tent at Ironman North Carolina post-race. We've got a blue tent with orange writing that says The Endurance Edge, so come see us. If you are somewhere where you'd like to join our team, don't forget to find us at theenduranceedge.com. Hey guys, thank you so much for joining us on this 5-day podcast blitz. It's been a lot of fun. If you enjoyed it, let me know, chris@theenduranceedge.com. And if there's anything else that you wanna learn about via our podcast or any guests that you want to have on, I'd love to hear about it. And again, congratulations and keep on racing.

Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sports and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.