There I was, in the middle of my run, just bee-bopping along and the thought occurred to me: triathlon season was coming to an end for me.
The best season of my triathlon career.
Over.
And, then it hit me.
The “it” being the post Ironman blues, or in my case, the post-best-triathlon-season-ever blues.
Since then, I’ve been feeling a little sad, agitated, bored, unmotivated, and annoyed. All at once.
Being the curious sort that I am, I wondered if there was an explanation for the post Ironman blues. I’ve had this feeling after almost every Ironman or “big” race I’ve ever done.
What gives? Are they “real”? Is there a psychological and/or physiological explanation for them?
So, I began to search. First, I started with a standard google search. This confirmed that what I was experiencing was hardly unique. Page after page of athletes’ blogs included titles about the post-Ironman blues, the post-marathon blues, the post-ultramarathon blues, the post-you-name-the-endurance-event-here blues.
Okay, so I’m not a freak. Well, not as it relates to the post racing blues, anyway.
While I enjoyed the camaraderie and feeling of connection I got from reading some of these blog entries, none that I read got to the root of my question: what causes this feeling?
I found an article on Triathlete.com written by Matt Fitzgerald which reported that some researchers have explained this post-race depression as a result of overtraining.
While that might be the case for some athletes, all of us can’t possibly by overtrained – especially given smart and safe taper and recovery periods. Also, for most of us, the blues don’t hit right away. We ride the high for a week or two – or three – and then they hit.
If overtraining were the explanation, I would expect to feel at least some symptoms prior to the race. That’s never been the case for me. I would also expect to feel other symptoms common for overtraining. Again, not really the case for me.
Feeling unsatisfied by the standard Google search, I hopped over to Google Scholar, which is where you can find links to peer-reviewed research.
Most of the studies I perused were about pre-competition performance and race-day performance. But, I had a theory that the loss of our regular endorphin “fix” might be at least partly to explain. So, I did a search for “endorphin withdrawal,” and found several studies that identified a connection between a reduction or cessation of running and increased symptoms related to depression. (For example: Psychological Effects of Running Loss on Consistent Runners.)
This makes sense – at least in part. But, I still felt there was more to the story.
Then, I found another study that provided a cognitive explanation (“Psychological well-being in Ironman triathletes,” by Schofield, Dickson, Smith & Mummery, presented at the 2001 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine).
This study hypothesized, and confirmed, a correlation between conditional goal setting and post-race psychological state. Conditional goal setting means that we link our happiness (or other positive emotion) to achieving a specific goal.
For example, I may have linked a bit of my emotional happiness to securing a Kona slot. Maybe just a bit. If you read my IMLP race report, you know that I was pretty much devastated by the result. Sample of 1 provides evidence to support this theory. (In the study, the authors sampled 223 athletes who completed Ironman New Zealand in 2001. So, they have a bit more compelling evidence to support their claims.)
But, this doesn’t do much to explain why we might experience the blues when we do achieve our goals or when we are happy with the outcome.
The study addresses this scenario. The authors explain that conditional goal setters will ride the high of their achievement for a bit, but their desire to set a new goal, which they then link to a positive emotional state, takes over.
Again, I felt my little sample of 1 helped to confirm this. After Ironman Louisville, I was elated! While I didn’t achieve the Kona slot, I did earn my first ever podium slot and the fastest marathon in my age group. Those two achievements made me pretty dang happy.
But, fast-forward a few weeks after the race, and my need to set a new goal, to push a new limit sets in. So, I found myself a little sad, a little listless, a little agitated, a little bored.
Within the endurance community, one of the most recommended “treatments” we give suggest for post-race blues is to sign up for another race. From the perspective of the conditional goal setting theory, this makes sense. A new race creates a new goal upon which we can set our sights, pin our happiness, and focus our will. While the study’s authors suggest that this is pathological and problematic, I think it sounds pretty normal for most of the endurance athletes I know.
I’ve administered several treatments at this point. I have a 50k trail race coming up on November 9th, and I am ridiculously excited to be make a return to ultra trail running. For 2014, the big “A” race is Ironman Coeur d’Alene. Beyond that, I’ve begun to think about distant 2015 goals (think long, think really long–more on that to come).
So, as long as I keep training and racing, I never have to be sad for too long.
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Do you experience post-race blues? What do you do for it? Do these explanations make sense based on your experience or do you think something else is at play?
