Post Run Routines

What to do after a long run?

If you do something often enough you form habits and the routine takes over. When that happens you cease to pay full attention and you just get on with doing what you always do. For that reason habits are very useful – they allow you to do things efficiently, but sometimes they get in the way of appreciating what you are doing.
One of the reasons I run is to help me look at things more clearly – blow away some of the fog that is always drifting around my mind. When you stop there is a chance, jus a chance, that you might have some moments of mental clarity. However after a long run things can be a little tricky if you have gone a bit too far and taken a bit too much out of yourself you might end feeling hazy. Post run recovery then becomes important for both body and mind.

The first thing I always do (apart from taking off the trainers, towelling away some of the sweat and swapping my t shirt for a fleece) is to get some food. I have read that eating within an hour of exercise is important for replenishing your glycogen and improving recover but that eating sooner is better. (There is a good brief summary about post run eating here and an article here that quotes Troy Flanagan, head of sports science for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association: "When our athletes reach the finish line, they're trained to go right to the feed bag. They can take sports drink, a milk, or yoghurt drink, the feed bag is right on the hill. They will eat straight away."). My usually choice is a bowl of nutty muesli with a chopped up banana and a big mug of tea. Never does tea taste quite so delicious as it does after a run.

I like to consume this meal (more accurately my second breakfast) quite slowly and deliberately – relaxing. Music is important. I am not too bothered about listening to music when I run, sometimes I do, mostly I don’t, but after the run it helps set the mood. There are a number of albums that sound particularly post-run (almost anything from the ECM label works). They have to be slightly contemplative and have holes to give your mind scope to wander. This week I listened to The Blue Nile and thought about productivity as they are a group who have managed to produce a grand total of four albums in a career stretching back to 1984. Perfect music for a slow runner I thought.

After that it is time for a tepid shower. The thing I resist is having a warm bath – although it is tempting, after exercise I know they make me feel very dopey. After that I will make a decision about stretching. If my legs feel too beat-up I will not stretch, as I have an intuition (as far as I know it is not supported by any research) that if the muscle fibres are too frayed stretching might do more harm than good. Stretching can always been done later in a separate session.

Anyway that is what I tend to do after a run. I am sure all of us do things slightly differently as, like everything in running, it is a matter of experimenting until we find something that works. I am sure I will try other things in future - I might even try mince pies.

Photothon 25: Under the shade of trees

Another broken rule! Not the furthest point but the end (and of course the beginning).

It was a hot day and the only place to run was in the woods, under a canopy of trees. There was a such a difference in temperature between the open areas and woodland that I don't think I could have run very far without that cover of leaves.

I took some photos at the furthest point and could have used them but the defining moment of today's run happened at the end, when it was over and I was doing my stretches. I am a believer in stretches after a run. Whenever I have had injuries they have usually been caused by tight calves so I spend a deal of time easing out my calves. I also have tight hamstrings and they need stretching, which I usually do by lying on my back and pulling back on a straightened leg.

I was doing this near a tree and, as is my usual practice, had my eyes closed when I held the stretch. However for some reason I opened them and looked up at the cover of trees with the sun filtering through and the blue sky beyond outlined in an intricate pattern. An enormous feeling of peace swept over me. In the distance I could hear children playing. A couple of girls were trying to work their hula hoops and some boys were building a den out of fallen branches. In another area there was laughter from a group of mums and their children having a picnic. The place was at ease with itself and I was looking up, up, up into the heavens.

Admittedly it was not all perfect balance and harmony – I did have one leg waving about in the air, rather uncomfortably – but it was a moment to enjoy. If running can bring on such moods,even if only occasionally, then it is worth all the sweaty effort.