Recovery is perhaps the most difficult thing for someone after the big event. Whether it’s your first 5K or your second unofficial Goofy Challenge there is a mixed bag of emotions that come with crossing the finish line.  Joy, relief, determination, excitement, the feeling that you WON’T be doing THAT again anytime soon, and the realization 24 hours later that you can’t wait to do it again…and better this time.

Besides recovering emotionally there is of course the physical component. There are some things you can do immediately post race to help your body recover “faster”.  I put the word faster in quotes because time to recovery is relative to the individual and is a complicated equation.

Here are just a few things that effect time to recovery.

• Age
• Training Time for the Event (did you train for it or foolishly jump in over your head? …like me)
• Previous training…