How to recovery from 100 miles

100 Miler Recovery

Rest – rest & sleep seems the obvious one, but you may find it difficult to switch off even though you feel mentally & physically exhausted. The body will ache in parts previously unknown and you will find yourself kept awake by the most annoying pain in your third toe or very isolated area in your lower glute which seems to be in party pulsing mode! I find it better if needed to get up in the night stretch, have a hot drink & snack and then go back to bed, sleeps does come in waves and napping during the first 2/3 days of recovery may be required. Never underestimate the power of rest in your recovery.

Food – so you burn on average 10-12, 000 calories on a 100 miler – you are of course eating and replacing some of that calorie burn during the race, but you will always end up with a calorie deficit. Personally, I struggle to eat for about 4 hours after I stop, I always have a mad craving for a cup of tea, but beyond that I would struggle to digest anything - despite good meaning people trying to force feed me. I think perhaps the body just needs to calm down & reset for a few hours, as all energy has been going towards keeping the big muscles working to keep you moving, the digestive system is perhaps struggling to perform – therefore a few hours to reset the body digestive & adrenal systems are required. After a few hours, I am usually starving – but tend to eat little & often, being vegan most of my food is perhaps less calorific, so little & often helps build back in the calories without making me feel sick – I usually find I am eating more for about a week, the first few days I tend to crave more fats - generally if you can listen to your body needs and go with it, bearing in mind you need really good nutritious food to repair damaged muscle, so good protein sources too!

Weight – so you burn 10-12,000 calories but feel like you have swallowed a whale for a few days – running a 100 miler is clearly not a weight loss strategy. Water retention & swelling - it’s a glamour sport for sure – this is perfectly normal – water retention can sometimes be down to low sodium in the blood, also the damaged muscle cells will swell & hold more water – onset of DOMS. You can also sometimes get pooling in the hands – again generally fluid will pool towards the extremities of the body & I think with the hands if you have walked with the hands hanging gravity plays a part in pooling – in the races where I have used poles this has not been an issue. I am generally about 5lb heavier for about ¾ days – you do find you will be on the loo a lot & the body just gradually returns to normal, again get in tune with your body listen to its needs, if you think something is not right get it checked out.

Mentality - it’s very important to debrief yourself, it’s a great idea to write down your feelings & thoughts in the days following your 100miler. Capture the highs & lows the things you get right & the things you need to improve upon for the next one (after about 5 days the “never again” resolve is usually shaken!). You have been through an amazing journey most people can do the physically training required but not many can develop the mental strength to commit right to the very end, it’s really important that you capture your feelings so you can utilise into your next race.

Return to Training – I usually have a complete week off following a 100, it’s really important to ensure you are fully rested and ready to return to training – training on tired muscle will just result in injury! My first week of training usually consists of speed walking 5 miles per day, parkrun on Saturday – then a run on the Sunday 10k tops, in this second week I will also re - introduce strength training but not necessarily HIITs (High Intensity Interval Training) my strength work will focus on upper body & core – still allowing legs a break. There after I go with how my body is feeling mixing in speed walking & running, the 100 miler recovery is usually 6 weeks, and this seems to be holding true in my experience this year.

And, finally – wear the shirt/buckle with pride you have earned the bragging rights !!

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