Post Endurance Race Blahhhs (AKA Depression)

Last week I found myself feeling unreasonably down. Was it my slow work schedule? Was it the fact that all friends I called were unavailable? Was it that magical “time of the month”? Thankfully, I was able to be distracted from these emotions by dorking out while watching the new Harry Potter movie with my boyfriend. But the escape from my reality was short lived. Where were these feelings coming from? Dumbledore’s death was sad but come on! Upon reflection the next morning, I realized I had experienced this feeling previously…after my Chicago marathon.

It is well known in the endurance and ultra-endurance community. It goes by many names: post race depression, PMS (post marathon syndrome), the marathon or post race blues, post competition slump, etc. The feeling of “being down” tends to happen to athletes after they complete a major competition. It may also cause an athlete to be excessively tired, irritable, and have decreased motivation. It may cause other athletes to go on a neurotic search for continued high level or large volume competition. Research does indicate that a person who perceives their performance in the completed event as poor may be more likely to experience this depressive mood state. However, it is not uncommon for those who did well or were satisfied with their performance to share in the blues. There are a couple reasons this occurs.

Imagine focusing on a goal for 4 to 6 months, pushing your body through fatigue to complete a second or third workout in a day, going to bed early on Friday and/or Saturday nights instead of going out for that much earned beer or two, waking up early on Friday and/or Saturday to complete a workout before your significant other is done dreaming, icing body parts that hurt only to use them again the next day, putting as much time into training as you might at a part-time job, and minding what you eat so as to avoid being nicknamed Captain Skidmark of the Hershey Highway on your upcoming bike ride. Keep in mind this is what you are doing repeatedly for 4 to 6 months. As this goal nears and you begin to decrease your training volume, your energy begins to return and your legs start to feel more refreshed. This triggers the building excitement you feel each time you move closer to that date you’ve circled on your calendar. Then comes the race expo. It can be a sensory overload of vendors selling shiny new gear, fellow athletes picking up registration packages, sponsors giving out the coveted free stuff (best free thing so far: a loaf of bread), and of course, some guy interrupting the music that is blasting out of speakers to give an occasional announcement about a pre-race talk. This really amps up the body. Then the start of the race blasts you into crazy mode with its cheers from participants right before the horn or the gun goes off. You are now in the race which you devoted the past 4 to 6 months to. And at long last, there is the finish line beckoning you in, telling you that you’ve met and smashed this difficult goal. You tested yourself and found new inner strength. You feel like you could walk on water (or maybe that is just your legs ready to give out). For the next couple days, you get to relive your moment again and again when friends, family, and co-workers ask you “So, how’d your race go?”. Maybe you even blog about it. Then, after 2 to 3 days (maybe a week if you’re lucky), it hits you…Now what am I going to do?

Endurance sports, such as marathon, triathlon, cycling, and ultramarathon, tend to attract type A personalities. People with type A personalities tend to be goal oriented, driven, competitive, time concious, and feel a need to be an over-achiever. Although not everyone doing these sports fit the type A personality, many still have some tendencies of this type. Many people complete this major life goal, and after basking in its glory for a couple days, they feel the compulsion to find another challenging goal to test themselves again — to find more validation. This happens even with many non-sport life events, such as graduating from college, having a baby, or winning a hot dog eating contest. While it is not entirely unhealthy to seek out another goal, it is problematic if one does not give themself adequate time to recover.

Another aspect that leads to a feeling of depression after a race is the large amount of free time the athlete has while they are recovering. It seems ridiculous to think that anyone who was spending 10 or more hours training each week would be stressed out by having more free time available. Every athlete thinks they will be so glad to lounge around for a couple weeks. However, the reality of it is that we get bored. Endurance athletes are used to being on the move and suddenly they are sitting still. For the athletes that belong to a club, they will continue to get emails about various “fun” workouts. This would be like taking a Jack Russell Terrier, putting it on a 2 foot leash, and placing a wind up toy just out of its reach. Or it might be similar to buckling a five year old into their carseat and parking next to the playground but not letting them out. Sometimes, it would seem that the recovery is psychologically more difficult than the race itself. The good news is that people with hobbies outside of their sport are less likely to feel bored because they are able to substitute an activity in the place of their workouts.

Is there a real medical reason for this feeling? Absolutely. After many hours of parusing research articles and medical books, it was apparent that there is great interest in the effect exercise has on mood state. An increased amount of dopamine has been found after participation in marathon. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released when one experiences pleasure, which further improves mood state. The presence of dopamine also increases the sensation of motivation. When dopamine leaves the system, such as when endurance activity is over, it can lead to a feeling of depressed mood. Another angle is that the body craves the feeling of euphoria and motivation associated with dopamine’s presence; so, when this feeling is gone, the body seeks out the activity that releases dopamine. Another finding of research, which varies in the literature, is an increase in the release of beta-endorphins after exercise. It is controversial as to how much exercise, what intensity of exercise, and what type of exercise increases beta-endorphins. Some of the research states after an hour of moderate to intense exercise. Some research states after exhaustive and anaerobic treadmill running, but not submaximal outdoor running. Some research states after marathon running. Overall, the general idea is that beta-endorphins are a type of opioid that is naturally produced by our body. Opioids induce a state of euphoria, which in runners’ terms is recognized as a “runner’s high.” As we train more, our bodies become more sensitive to this opioid. If we exercise regularly, we are consistently releasing this natural opioid into our system, feeding our endurance addiction. During the recovery time after an endurance event, the amount of beta-endorphin decreases due to the lack of or decrease in exercise. It might be safe to assume that everyone knows what happens to an addict that can’t get their fix.

Fortunately, you don’t have to sit around waiting for the dopamine to kick in again. Some tips for surviving or avoiding the post race funk is as follows:

Schedule another race event if you aren’t suffering burn out or overtraining syndrome; just remember to keep it several months out so you can properly recover and safely train.

Pick a fun, non-competitive event to do, like a Turkey Trot, a mud run, a St. Pat’s Day Race, or just organize a small, social fun run with friends.

Hang out with your friends that you blew off during your training period. They will zing you so much for being anti-social over the past couple months that you will forget that you want to train for another.

Try out other non-endurance activities that you’ve never done. This gives you a new set of muscles to play with and provides entertainment for those watching you attempt the new activity.

Revisit non-endurance activities or hobbies that you put aside for training. From personal experience, I can tell you knitting is a great past-time. It is repetitive, rhythmic, and has an end result…it’s like running only without the cardiovascular effort!

Take a vacation. Actually go somewhere other than where you train.

Set a new life goal that is not related to the endurance sport. Maybe now is the time to start that novel that has been knocking on your skull to get out.

If you must and you are not injured, actively recover with walking, easy hiking, qigong, tai chi, or yoga. The walking is even better when done with a good friend (I affectionately call these bitch or gossip sessions).

Pamper yourself, dammit! You forced your body to do something it found unmistakeably painful; so now you owe it big time. Get it a massage, schedule a salon visit to trim that mop you call hair on the top of your head, relax by the pool (don’t forget sunscreen), feed your body some junk food, buy it something.

Watch some inspiring endurance sports movies. For this, I recommend Prefontaine, Saint Ralph, Breaking Away, American Flyers. Sorry, I’d love to recommend Chariots of Fire, but I kept falling asleep the 3 times I tried to watch it.

Watch some funny endurance sports movies. For this, I only know of one…Run Fatboy Run. Although Saint Ralph can be kind of funny too. And the episode from the office titled “Fun Run” is pretty awesome as well.

I am now just two days shy of being two weeks out from my first half Ironman. It was about a week ago when I recognized my case of the post race pouts. I have ran once (a flat low tide run at the beach — a favorite of mine). I’ve stationary biked at a low level once for 35 minutes. I’ve done Pilates once. I swam casually in a pool for 20 minutes, including breaks. I have eaten an In And Out cheeseburger meal, a Wendy’s frosty, a cinnamon and sugar bagel, yogurt with toppings of carmel twice, multiple burritos, pizza, a blue Slushy, sake, Stella Artois beer, almond champagne, and Wyder’s raspberry cyder. I’ve gone to the beach 3 times. I pester my boyfriend for massages (this is actually nothing new). I’ve also got an Olympic distance triathlon scheduled in Malibu and I have the St. George Marathon (which I’m on the fence for since I want to give qualifying for Boston my best effort). Legs permitting, I may begin some light cycling and some trail running. As anyone can tell, I’m coping well.