What to Do in the Days After a Big Race
Trail Notes | Trail Running Strategies
for the days when your body asks you to stop
What to Do in the
days after a big race.
The race is finished. The medal is around your neck. And somehow, sitting in the car on the way home, you feel an ache that has nothing to do with your legs.
Post-race recovery is one of the most mismanaged phases in an endurance athlete's year. We plan meticulously for the race. And then the moment it is done, we wing it. The days after a big race are not a passive waiting period. They are an active, purposeful phase of your training year.
"Recovery is training. The two are not opposites, they are one system."
What you do in the 21 days after a big race determines how quickly and how fully you return to training. It also determines whether the next race is built on a solid base, or on a body that never quite got the chance to repair.
Trail Note · 01
What just happened inside your body
A big race is a significant physiological event. Muscle damage is extensive and structural. Glycogen stores are partially or fully depleted. Your immune system has been under measurable suppression, particularly in the 24 to 72 hours after the event: sometimes called the "open window" of infection risk. For women specifically, the hormonal picture matters. Oestrogen and progesterone respond to extreme effort and caloric stress, and a major race can trigger a noticeable hormonal dip in the days that follow, affecting mood, sleep quality, motivation and appetite.
Trail Note · 02
The return-to-running mistake most women make
The most common post-race mistake is returning to running far too early. Women who finish a race on Saturday and are on the trails Tuesday are not ahead of schedule. They are setting themselves up for a longer recovery and a higher injury risk. Your aerobic fitness may recover in days. Your muscles, tendons, connective tissue and bones take far longer. A useful general guide: one easy day of recovery for every race kilometre completed before returning to normal training.
The return-to-run rule of thumb
One easy recovery day per race kilometre before returning to training load.
A 42km marathon: at least 6 weeks of easy, progressive return.
A 50km trail race: at least 7-8 weeks before pushing training intensity.
Trail Note · 03
Days one to three: permission to do very little
The first three days after a race are for rest, food and sleep. Give yourself full permission to be still. On race day evening: eat a full, real meal with protein, carbohydrate and vegetables within 30 to 60 minutes of finishing. On days one and two: walk short distances if you feel compelled to move, 15 to 20 minutes of very gentle walking helps with circulation. But do not run. Sleep as much as you can. Accept help if people offer it.
Trail Note · 04
The emotional low that nobody warns you about
Post-race blues are real, they are common, and they are not a sign that something is wrong with you. In the days following a significant event that you have trained months for, an emotional flatness can descend that is genuinely surprising. Neurochemically, the sustained dopamine and serotonin elevation of training has dropped away suddenly. The hormonal dip that follows prolonged effort can amplify this. Naming it: "I am having a post-race low, this is normal physiology", is genuinely helpful.
"The flatness after a big race is not a sign that the race was not worth it. It is a sign that it mattered."
Post-race low is a known and well-documented phenomenon among endurance athletes. It is not weakness. It is the predictable emotional aftermath of months of focused effort reaching its conclusion.
Trail Note · 05
A simple day-by-day framework
Race day and days 1-3
Eat immediately after the race. Prioritise sleep. No running, no intensity. Walk only if you want to. Allow soreness to peak on day two or three, it is normal.
Days 4-7
Active recovery only. Walking, easy swimming, gentle mobility. Prioritise protein intake and anti-inflammatory food. Let mood settle. Resist the urge to sign up for the next race.
Weeks 2-3
Short easy runs reintroduce from week two. Light strength work. No pace targets, no intervals. Begin thinking about what you actually want to do next: not from obligation, but from genuine excitement.
Her Trails coaching cue
Treat sleep like training. Nine hours in the first few nights post-race is not laziness. It is the most evidence-backed recovery tool available to you, and it is free. Protect it.
rest well, rebuild slowly
Written by the Her Trails coaching team
Trail Notes are evidence-informed coaching journals written for women who train, race and run on trails.
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