Burn out post Ironman

[Marbles]

Consider that you could have pushed into an over trained state and need a low key recovery. Though even if it is just mental, dropping the training load markedly for a month or two will make it harder to find excuses not to do it.

Try to change your focus, the race is not the goal, it is just one more tool to help you meet your goals.

I once got to listen to Sir Herald Kroto, a Noble Prize winner, he said "a Noble Prize is everything, until you have one, then it is nothing."

Basically, achievement is not fulfilling, it is the doing tht brings fulfillment. Too many time we expect to feel complete by the achievement, but my experience has been that after a few days it really means nothing. Plus, I don't care who I or anyone else was, I care who they are.

I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like the achievement was expected to be more meaningful than it has been.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Get back to the fundamentals and with time it will self correct.

How are you doing with the below?
- Relationships: friends - family - God (a simple prayer asking for help goes a long way in my experience)
- Rest: - Sleep - Hormones? - Training modification
- Nutrition - you know what you're doing wrong
- Work - anything you could do better?

Serious question but how would you even know your hormones were off without some sort of an actual test?

 

[Gwchem]

Serious question but how would you even know your hormones were off without some sort of an actual test?

You do exactly that. Find a good PCP or endocrinologist who runs a full panel for you. That's how I found out my thyroid stopped working.

 

[WanderingFarmer]

Lots of directions to consider in this thread, but I’ll add a couple.

In one of John Carpenters books ( Either, Once a Runner or Again To Carthage, I forget) There’s a bit of advice from a former Olympian to an aspiring runner to “Live like a clock”.

I’ve found it useful to work through those post-event lows by staying with a training regimen, often with a changed focus and always with a reduced intensity. Wake up, train, keep going with my day. After an Ironman, you might consider some focused strength training and ease into it for a few weeks. Your event is over but you don’t have to completely check out.

You might enjoy those books if you haven’t read them, classics in sports fiction.

Another thing to consider, the toll of an event like that is much deeper than many people realize and in my case ( and my family who has all done extreme endurance stuff) there’s a period of mental and emotional recovery well. I’ve done enough stuff that’s in the “stupid long” category where I know that I’m going to feel some deep emotional lows on the 2nd and 3rd day afterwards, and even much longer if there was a long and heavy training block leading into race day. You’re an individual, so it might be different for you, I’m just sharing an observation based on a combined 70ish years of experience in my immediate family.

If you’ve done an Ironman, it’s probably fair to assume you enjoy training somewhat. Don’t give that enjoyment up. Dial down the intensity, keep going, and live like a clock.

Good luck, and if it’s real bad, talk to the people who care about you.