Post Race Blues

After a big race, a lot of people get the post race blues. They trained so hard for so long and now that race is over.  So what are they going to do now?

Because Boston was 2 weeks ago, I went through the same thing.  My problem was not that my big race was over, but more so what happened in Boston.  Because I have a race scheduled for pretty much every month from April through August, I don't think I'm allowing myself to get the post race blues because of race issues.   Immediately after the race I threw myself into working out again.  I was in the pool 2 days after Boston, and on the bike 3 days later.  Since then I've picked up my workouts and am all in for Triathlon season.  I'm swimming about 4 times a week, biking 4 times a week with different workouts every time and trying to step up my game in that department.  The only thing I really haven't done so much is run.  But that's normal and I don't think my fitness level is going to decrease that much by not going out and running more than 6 miles at a time within the past.  Since I've been throwing myself into a new regime of training, it's all brand new to me so the blues haven't set in.

Where I'm getting the post race blues is that I feel guilty about finishing and I got to experience everything that so many people did not.  I got to experience running down Boylston Street with the screaming fans, crossing the finish line, getting a medal and heat sheet, and then meeting up with the wife.  Clearly there were thousands of other people who got to experience the same thing as me, but there were also thousands of people who didn't get that chance and experienced far worse.

Why was I so lucky?  How come I got out there way before anything happened? There are so many questions that can be asked that will never be answered.  But they are all going through my mind.

So the first week after the race, as much as I was training there was still this thought in the back of my mind.  It was definitely surreal. I just felt like "why am I training"?

I think I'm over that now as I have definitely fully entrenched myself in my training and have enjoyed it (well, except for the pain), but it was this weird feeling that I couldn't shake until now.

I hope no one else has some post race blues.