Surviving the Post-Marathon Blues

Apparently the few weeks after a Marathon can be just as tough (if not tougher) than the week leading up to a Marathon (when your training plan tends to ease off and you start relaxing more). Because the race leaves you with "depleted fuel stores", "accumulated fluid in the muscles", "dehydration" and perhaps some "damaged muscle tissue" you can end up susceptible to injury and infection and feeling disorientated or even depressed after achieving such a significant running goal. Joyous. To me, this actually sounds like what some of my female have moaned about after giving birth.  (Hopefully this is the closest i'll ever get to that).  So what to do?  Bounce back on prozac?  Eat myself to death?  How does one conter-act this soul-sapping sense of apathy? Well i have to admit that apart from the definite muscle soreness, some weird things are going on. They are as follows: 1) Utterly, utterly knackered. Keeeer-nackered. 2) Going to bed at 21:30 3) Waking up before my alarm - even on a weekday... before 07:13... SHOCK! (This has NEVER happened before) 4) Eating everything. Everything. Don't come too close coz i might bite you. Unfortunatley, in typical James-Style, i'm eating all the wrong things. Doritos? Check! Cake? Check! Chocolate Chip Cookies? Check! Fish? Nope... Chicken? Nope... Wholewheat Pasta? Yeah, rightie... 5) Feel rather lost. a bit bemused and perplexed... what am i supposed to do now? Well that ever-informative magazine Runners World (yes, the one with the hotties on the cover every month) gives some good advice on getting over the physical and emotional pains of recovering from a Marathon.  Usual things: eat lots of protein and carbs, get lots of sleep and if you are going to exercise, make it gentle to ease the muscles back to life. More interesting is the advice on how to fight the post-marathon blues... Their Top 4 are "setting new running goals" at Number 1 (what... 27miles??), "joining a running club" at Number 2 (er, no. the advantage to long distance running is it's the one time in my life where i don't have to talk to anyone), and "experimenting with new exercises" at Number 3 (ha ha ha, yeah rightie). Fortunately advice Number 4 is much more me: 4. Redecorate or get married  Or book a trip to an exotic location. The point is to set an important non-running goal for after the marathon. This way, you'll have something to look forward to after you cross the finish line

Way-hay!! Hence planning a week cruising along the south of france in July with one of my mates, in a convertible car, Cary Grant & Grace Kelly-stylie (without the crash... although with Kate's driving, you never know). Runners World finishes on another remarkable piece of advice which i'm going to include because it makes me feel really good about what I achieved and certainly helps beating off the Post-Marathon Blues, so if anyone else is suffering, just focus on the following (and start booking your summer holiday) ONE LAST WORD Finally, be sure to congratulate yourself on your remarkable accomplishment. Only a tiny fraction of the population is fit enough to successfully complete a marathon - and with the right recovery, you'll be able to run many more in the future.