Im running the 800 and 3200 double today at my conference meet for team points. There is 15 minutes or so after the 800 what should I do after to recover faster and be ready for the 3200. Should I jog for a couple minutes or should I just try and catch my breath. Any help is much appreciated.
I used to run anchor on the 3200 relay, 1600, 800, and 3200 every meet from dual meets to bigger meets. What helped me was gatorade and 1 pound Hershey's chocolate bar. I normally eat/drank these items throughout the meet. It may not be the best idea, but it worked for me.
Stay on your feet after the race. Forget about the 800. Maybe take your spikes off, jog a little, get something to drink, visualize how you want to start the 3200, get the spikes back on, run couple of short strides, get to the line. Forget about the 800. Think positively -- you've trained for this.
Don't worry about the double too much, in fact it might actually help you in some cases. I know a lot of my Prs in high school were run on the back end of a double with anywhere from 15-45 minutes between races.
Just relax, get something to drink, and don't panic. Assuming you've trained for things like this, you will recover just fine in 15 minutes.
The 3200 is the perfect event to double back. You can just relax for a couple laps while you still feel like crap. Then by the 3rd lap you'll probably start to feel pretty good until lap 6, then you just hold on.
only doubling? wrote:
I used to run anchor on the 3200 relay, 1600, 800, and 3200 every meet from dual meets to bigger meets. What helped me was gatorade and 1 pound Hershey's chocolate bar. I normally eat/drank these items throughout the meet. It may not be the best idea, but it worked for me.
I love Letsrun for advice like this.
Definitely stay on your feet and jog. I used to do that double in high school a lot and it's much easier with 15-20 minutes between than a couple hours, in my experience, as long as you stay loose and can quickly shift your focus to your next race.
Good luck.
The fastest way to recover after ANY event is to stay on your feet and keep moving. Watch the horses in the Kentucky Derby closely after the race: they do not stop moving for 15 MINUTES after the race concludes. If they want to interview the jockey, either they do the interview from a side-by-side horse, or the jockey gets off and a hot-walker takes over to keep the horse moving.
Sean Nunn
Raytown MO
Do not drink gatorade or eat anything in that 15 minutes. It will cause your blood sugar to spike quickly then plummet as your body releases insulin c***er the blood sugar spike. This insulin reaction is what causes you to feel sluggish after a meal. Best bet is drink water and keep moving around with some walking and light jogging.
Good luck!
Snapple fanatic wrote:
Do not drink gatorade or eat anything in that 15 minutes. It will cause your blood sugar to spike quickly then plummet as your body releases insulin c***er the blood sugar spike. This insulin reaction is what causes you to feel sluggish after a meal. Best bet is drink water and keep moving around with some walking and light jogging.
Good luck!
i respectfully disagree. you need gatorade to replace lost electrolytes. the most important thing is to stay hydrated. you know your body - don't drink too much of it - just make sure you aren't depleted.
certainly don't eat anything.
walk, jog, maybe stretch a little. think of it this way: you are doing a workout, and you have FIFTEEN MINUTES recovery. that is an insane amount of recovery. you'll be completely rested! (obviously you won't, but it helps to think this way)
i won't lie to you, the only race i have ever dropped out of in my life was a 3200 which was five minutes after an all out 800. and believe me, i have had some bad ones over the past 9 years or so. this was the only one where i physically couldn't go on. i don't know what it was.
this is a tough double regardless. anyone telling you otherwise either didn't race both distances (i.e. they were not running all out) or they have never attempted it before.
Forget it man, you're gonna be toast after that 800. I've always run like shit when I ran the 800-3200 double. Then I had to do the 4x4.
I would advise quitting the team after the 800 (which my teammate actually did once...lol)
Thanks for the help guys everyone was very helpful. I ended up running a pr in the 800 of 1:59 and got 2nd then after I took my spikes off jogged for a couple minutes then got some water. Then I ran 10:02 winning easily so I was happy i recovered fast. I love letsrun.com it is very helpful.