Race Recovery

1. Eat and drink within 30mins after the race-preferably a high carbohydrate snack, fruit, lollies and a sports drink-wait for a few hours to eat a meal

2. Replenish your fluids over the next 24 hours, water is fine, just drink plenty of it. If you are weighing lighter the next morning on the scales, keep drinking, this usually means you are still low on fluids

3. Eat small meals frequently over the next few days to build your energy levels again, make sure it's healthy food, carbohydrates will replace energy lost and protein will help repair torn muscles, so go for meat and veg and cereals

4. Ice sore muscles-15-20mins of icing every hour for the rest of the day

5. Go for a walk that evening-this is a great way to stop muscles seizing up

6. Stretch for several days after the event-but,remember not to stretch a cold muscle, so warm up by cycling or walking, not running

7. Avoid long runs and speed work the week after the event (luckily we are doing cross country running this week, but take it easy)

8. Go back to shorter distances and start enjoying them before you increase your mileage again

9. Find another event to aim for to keep you motivated and training

10. Celebrate...have a celebratory meal and drink, you deserve it