The afterglow of completing an Ultra

I'm reckoning on 'as long as I can get away with it' but it will probably be 'until recovered enough for next gym visit/run'image, when it becomes obvious I am fully recovered.  What do other ultrarunners think?  Is there accepted practice for this?

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  • I don't think I got away with it much longer than the following morning - but fair play if you can stretch it out longer!



    Just a bolt on to this - once the afterglow has gone and it's back to the grind do people go through a depressing 'post race blues' phase ? Or is it just me!?
  • That's pretty much it Rosemary. When I started running my colleagues couldn't believe that I ran marathon distances plus as training runs, nowadays no one bats an eyelid unless I'm doing a hundred miler
  • It's pretty much accepted in my household that, 'hey you chose to do it so don't expect any freeloading while you recover, 'Harden the f*&k up!'

  • I have  to usually do more the following day as i had a whole day off the day before for the race............

  • Rosemary, I raced on Saturday & was fit for nothing but the sofa yesterday. Although Im off work today I expect to be able to help around the house & Im back at work tomorrow. In all honesty though it's about your relationship. I don't want to avoid chores but some are more difficult to embrace than others, especially if it involves going up/down steps or stairs image.

    I can relate to what Andrew & seren nos say though image.

    Andy, I've felt really low for days after completing a marathon but not had it with the few ultras I've done. Maybe that's due to the level of achievement I thought I'd managed rather than the distance covered. 

  • My wonderful husband drove me down to Farnham on Friday evening; crewed for me a bit on Saturday; met me at the finish where he looked after me, brought me clothes, food etc. and took finish line photos; drove me home with a detour to pick up the parkrun gear (I manage a local parkrun); fetched and carried and looked after me in lots of ways for the remainder of Saturday; and helped me with carrying stuff up & down stairs, getting up after sitting down to stuff the clothes into the washing machine etc. yesterday. I think that's sufficient!

  • Debra - that sounds like a fair trade off image

  • I think the generally accepted practice is to milk it for all that its worth. 

    Some families are savy to it, but the majority are not. 

  • I got this badly wrong last time, my wife and daughter crewed my last race, TR24 and then milked their support of me for all it was worth leaving me with the chores!

  • Post race blues - could be a whole thread on its own. After TR24 I had a strange reacton to the shoes I had run in for 24 hours, couldn't look at them let alone put them on. Picked up another pair went out happily for a trot, wierd.

  • Post race blues are missing, thankfully. I would have happily gone for a little jog to stretch my legs yesterday, but I've got a sore spot over my left big toe tendon - ? tenosinovitis or other soft tissue upset, so I'm being amazingly sensible and resting it. Itching to go out again...

  • UltraCasUltraCas ✭✭✭
    Lol! Smiffy doesn't get that reaction at all...he won't let me do stuff cos he's too obstinate to let me!
  • My husband had a lovely day crewing on Saturday, he really enjoyed sitting in the sun on Reigate Hill in particular - not sure what his reaction would be on a rainy day.  He is so impressed with my finishing that he is currently taking on my chores to build his own endurance! He's at work today though, so I am pottering around and doing bits and pieces, trying to gee myself up for dragging the bins down to the main road - 1/4 mile round trip.

    Have had some nice messages from colleagues at work, so I might be able to escape a Costa run or two.

    I have slight post-race blues.  Other than my stupid navigational error, I was pretty happy with the rest of the event, so I don't have that driver of 'damn, if only I'd done 'X' differently' that usually sees me looking for my next event.  I still don't really feel ready to step up to the full 100-miles.  Maybe next week I will get 'Relentless Forward Progress' out and see what the 100-mile training schedule looks like.

  • UltraCasUltraCas ✭✭✭
    But then there are events where we've both run so no other option than to get on with it!
  • I did an adventure race last year - one day across Scotland - so 100+ miles, running cycling kayaking. Took me about 13 hours non stop.  The next day at breakfast my wife was talking to a table of people who had done the two day option - they'd taken something like 20 hours to do it and had to spend the night camping in torrential rain. 

    She was telling them of the 'awful' drive she'd had to do to get to the finish. Really wiggly roads. They didnt seem impressed at her hardships ! image

  • Rosemary don't feel you have to do a 100, there's this thing in the ultra community which really gets on my nerves that 100s are the holy grail of ultras and if you don't do one you're not a 'real' ultra runner. If you really want to do one go for it, if you're happy not great, as far as I'm concerned there's a load of fantastic races out there I'm dying to do, it's the race itself I'm interested in not the distance
  • Thanks Lirish, I think I'll do a few more around the 50-mark and see how I feel then.  I really did enjoy the event, but I can't get my head around the thought of another 50 on top of the firstimage.

  • When I did my first 50, I vowed that I would never do a 100.  Now 18 months on I have done three and am signed up for a fourth.  Once you have done a few 50s it seems to be only a matter of time before you start wondering if you could do a 100.  If I was a betting man, I would predict that a lot of people who ran the NDW50 this weekend, will ultimately go on to do 100 mile events!

     

  • I'm sure you're probably right Ben, if you have that character trait that pushes you to think 'OK, I've done a marathon, what next?' and motivates you to enter a 50 in the first place, it probably won't be long before you then think 'hmmm, maybe I can do a 100'.  Just not quite yet for me, I don't think.  Although I have just looked at the training schedule and think it would be manageable. 

  • Then don't, seriously it really does my head in this oneupmanship, enjoy your running whatever the distance. My favourite event, or events if I'm honest, a the mightcontainnuts 30 miler in the Black mountains and their 40 miler in the Brecons, pretty standard distances in terms of ultras, not a ridiculous amount of ascent/decent but enouh to make it fun but they're run on the most fantastic trails in simply the most stunning part of Wales.
  • Thanks Lirish.  Makes me feel a bit better that im not thinking of a 100 miler already.   At least a couple of years away before I think of that.   I have been looking at the ultras in the Brecons and maybe next year,

    Which one where you by the way?  I was the quiet one in green with Lou.

  • Given the mental stresses of a 100, I think you had better be doing it because you want to do it. 

  • Hiya Spen, I was the gobby Irish guy at stepping stones and at registration, it was only after you'd left our aid station that WiB mentioned who you and loulabell re otherwise I would have made a point of saying hello
  • Rosemary Close 4 wrote (see)

    I'm reckoning on 'as long as I can get away with it' but it will probably be 'until recovered enough for next gym visit/run'image, when it becomes obvious I am fully recovered.  What do other ultrarunners think?  Is there accepted practice for this?

    I think that depends how much you complain after that first run. If you do lots of umming and aaaahing then you might be able to string it out a bit longer....?

  • Yes, good point dancing in spikes!

    Lirish, I will check out the mightcontainnuts website.

  • Damn looked at mightcontainnuts and one clashes with Hardmoors55 and anouther is a week after Malvern.   Got to decide what to do now!

  • Another vote for MCN. The 30 miler in the black mountains is as hard as nails and in the most beautiful setting you could have a trail race. Possibly my fave race ever.

  • Rosemary Close 4 wrote (see)

    Thanks Lirish, I think I'll do a few more around the 50-mark and see how I feel then.  I really did enjoy the event, but I can't get my head around the thought of another 50 on top of the firstimage.

    Rosemary, i think Lirish is right in that you shouldnt  feel you 'should' do a 100miler or 'have' to...for some it may be natural progression ,others not. its whatever floats your boat or makes you tick.its interesting you say that about the kind of people who do a marathon and then immediately say'ok, done it , now whats next' ...thats exactly the sort of person i am. not just running  but work, exams etc..i pass one mark then need something else to aim for..not saying i would do a 100miler...certainly not in the next year ..but im not saying i wouldnt do it either...the euphoria of completing things wears off quite quickly with me which is a bit worrying image where will it end??

    Lirish, i dread to think what WIB told you....imageimage

     

     

     

     

     


     

     
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