After a big event you can get a bit of a slump – post-race blues some people call it – you have spent so many months building up to the race and now it’s gone – and many training programmes stop at the race and don’t include recovery weeks.

First of all remember your achievement – the months (or years) of training – the commitment to sticking to your programme and completing the race itself – takes dedication and hard work. So take a moment, give yourself a pat on the back, take another look at the shiny medal and remember YOU DID IT!

But what do you do in the weeks and months after a big race?

Usually, after a half marathon you would want to give yourself a couple of weeks off running – or a return to light exercise – remember it’s not just the race that may have taken it out of you – the training leading up to the race would have also been a strain on your body – especially if this was your first half.

Remember that no one (not even professional athletes) can sustain intense training periods all of the time.  Recovery IS part of training. So for your first sessions back, go for a walk rather than a run – and add in some running sections in your walk – if you feel OK – and build it up from there.

But once the recovery period is over – what happens next?  Many runners will already be thinking about their 2023 goals – and although Bath Half Marathon is a year away – its normal to have longer term goals as well as shorter ones too.

My advice would be to book yourself into a race this side of Christmas – a 10km would be an ideal distance – as you should find that building back up to that should be fairly straight forward after a half marathon.  Look out for local races – many have Christmas themes around this time of the year and you don’t have to take yourself too seriously during this time.  Then I suggest booking onto a race in the spring – to keep you motivated over the winter months.

You may also want to have a different goal for the coming months – this could be a non-running challenge, but something that keeps you motivated to keep moving.  One challenge I do every year is the Million Step Challenge – work out how many steps you can do on average every day and how many days it will take you to complete the steps.  Keep a log on paper, in a diary or on a spreadsheet and perhaps give yourself a little reward at the end (new running shoes ready for your 2023 goals?).

Check back here for my monthly blog posts – with tips, ideas, motivation and things running – to keep you on track with your running goals.

And if you would like to know about how a Running Coach can help you train better and prepare for your next race goals, get in touch.  And if you want to know anything about running Bath Half Marathon – let me know, 2023 will be the tenth time I will have run the race (although I am pretty certain I have run the route many many hundreds of times in training).

Run Coach Angela

www.runcoachangela.co.uk

Click here to find out more about Angela