http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A18697-2004Mar23&notFound=true
washingtonpost.com
Dr. Jim Loehr

Legendary sports psychologistJim Loehr has trained some of the world’s greatest athletes, including tennis stars Andre Agassi and Martina Navratilova, and guided them to championships. But his ideal high achiever was the late Fred Rogers.

“Fred Rogers understood that the greatest gift he could give kids was his unconditional, best energy every single time he met with them,” Loehr said to a chuckling audience at the Psychotherapy Networker symposium. Dr. Jim Loehr, senior partner at LGE Performance Systems, was online Wednesday, March 24 at 10 a.m. ET, to discuss using sports psychology to help patients succeed in life.

Each spring Psychotherapy Networker Symposium draws in thousands of mental health professionals to Washington. This year’s event drew some 3,000 people in the helping professions, representing a bewildering range: social workers, sex therapists, psychologists, African singers, neurobiologists, single-partner marriage therapists, grief specialists, truth-tellers, elite performance coaches, diet specialists, hypnotherapists and at least one self-proclaimed shaman. What are the current and various personal development and therapeutic practices?

Editor’s Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

http://www.planetfieldhockey.com/PFH/Item-View-69-58
planetfieldhockey.com
Dr. Saul Miller

At the elite level preparation for winning field hockey focuses on the physical aspects of the game. Drills are designed to improve conditioning and physical skills like stick handling, passing, shooting and marking the opposition. Mental skills like focus and emotional control are relatively neglected. When people do get around to talking about the mental game it is usually in terms of qualities like pride, character, and confidence, with little awareness of what they can actually do to develop these qualities.

The way I see it, the mind is like a television set. If you don?t like the program you are tuned into on your mental t.v., if you don?t like how you feel , or if what you?re thinking doesn?t give you power, then it?s time to change the channel. My job is twofold: 1) it is assisting athletes to improve their ability to change channels, and 2) helping them to develop better quality programs to tune into on their mental t.v., which predisposes them to act with more focus and greater control.

Let me show you a mental drill to enhance focus and control. It begins with your breathing. Take a few minutes to relax in a comfortable setting and start to observe the rhythm of your breath. Simply watch the breath flow in ….and flow out. Don?t rush the breath. After a few minutes focus more on the ?inbreath? and the idea of drawing in “energy.” Be aware that there is energy all around you and with each breath you are drawing some in. Actually feel yourself pulling in the breath. Now think you are directing your energy out into your body, through your shoulders into your hands, down through your hips into your legs and feet, and up the spinal column into your head and eyes. As you relax, breathe smoothly, and feel energy flowing out into your hands and feet, and up into your eyes.

In this state of ease and relaxation imagine yourself in a game situation. Imagine the scene in slow motion (three quarter speed.) Visualize yourself on offence doing exactly what you want to be doing. When your team has the ball imagine yourself running into space, receiving a pass, handling the ball with control, making good crisp passes “on the stick” and shooting with quickness and accuracy. Imagine yourself playing effective defence: head up, stick on the turf, marking your man, playing your angles, anticipating the play, reacting quickly with speed and balance, “like a big cat.”

Improving your physical game is similar to improving your physical skills in that repetition builds strength. It takes practice. By practicing your breathing and relaxation skills, defining what you want to do on offence and defence, and then imagining yourself executing well, you will strengthen the mental traces of high performance and actually increase the probability well and the quality of your play. Remember, the mind is like a t.v., it is your t.v. and you control the switch. So take a breath, see yourself making the play, and do it.
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Dr. Saul Miller, “the man who makes things happen,” is a world renowned sports psychologist who has assisted the Canadian Men?s National Program

http://degreedirectory.org/articles/What_is_Sports_Psychology.html
degreedirectory.org

Sports Psychology is concerned both with helping individuals obtain maximum benefits from sports and physical activity and in helping athletes enhance their performance. A variety of techniques are practiced in Sports Psychology and are applied to professional and non-professional athletes as well as non-athletes. Read on to find out more about the practice of Sports Psychology.
What is Sports Psychology?

Sports Psychology studies the influence of sports and activity on individuals. Sports Psychologists examine different benefits that can be gained from sports as well as how psychological factors affect sports performance. According to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, www.appliedsportpsych.org, the main goal of Sports Psychology is to help individuals attain both optimum performance and enjoyment from sports.
Uses for Sport Psychology

Sports Psychology might be used by coaches, professional athletes, professional trainers, personal trainers, Olympic athletes and psychologists for two main reasons. For athletes, Sports Psychology might be used to enhance the performance. For non-athletes, it might be used to gain psychological benefits that are believed to be related to sport and physical activity. Some examples of common Sports Psychology techniques and their uses include:

* Team Building: Coaches might use team building exercises to build cohesion among team members.
* Concentration Control: Helps individuals focus and maintain mental intensity.
* Anxiety Management: Breathing exercise, meditation or other techniques might be used to control stress.
* Mental Practice or Visualization: Individuals use their senses to create or re-create experiences in order to mentally prepare for an event.

Careers in Sports Psychology

Careers in the field of Sports Psychology include academic positions, clinical Sports Psychology or applied Sports Psychology. Academic careers focus on teaching and research. Clinical Sports Psychologists have training in counseling and apply principles of Sports Psychology to help individuals deal with specific issues.

Applied Sports Psychologists typically work with athletes using Sports Psychology techniques to enhance training and performance.

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-13-2006-108666.asp
buzzle.com

Marcus Trescothick is receiving psychological treatment from a private healthcare company to ensure he is fit for the Ashes; Steve McClaren has enlisted the help of sports psychologist Bill Beswick for England’s Euro 2008 qualifying campaign; and Sir Clive Woodward’s motivational skills have been signed up by the British Olympic Association as part of the medal push for London 2012.

As the headlines demonstrate, business for Britain’s sports psychologists is booming as never before. At one end of the spectrum, specialist services are available to help stressed sports stars deal with marriage break-ups, drug or alcohol dependency or gambling addiction. At the other, a range of performance-enhancement courses and techniques are becoming an increasingly routine element of athletes’ training regimes, administered by trained psychologists or self-styled gurus.

“Sports psychology is now rated as the most important prerequisite to medalling. It is a change that has taken place over the last five years,” said Ian Maynard, professor of sports psychology and director of the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University. There are more than 250 accredited sports psychologists in the UK, and more of them are starting lucrative consultancies.

Trescothick is being treated for a stress related illness with Performance Healthcare, a niche company set up 15 months ago by David Raines, whose CV has included work with the Priory Hospital group and initiating the US government’s $1bn schools and hospitals reconstruction programme in Iraq as director of public buildings, health and education. Performance Healthcare is tailored exclusively to professional sports people and their families, offering psychological assessment and support, placing it at the clinical end of the estimated £10m-£15m a year sports psychology sector.

“There were an awful lot of people having problems; those struggling to cope with staying away from home for long periods, to idiot young men in football, at five-star hotels abroad, doing substance abuse, or shacked up with women of illrepute. We wanted to provide a customised service to meet the needs of professional sportsmen – people with a very high profile and the need for high confidentiality,” Raines said.

At the time of Performance Healthcare’s launch it was approached by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, an organization keen to improve its duty of care to players in a sport afflicted by an unusually high suicide rate. The result was the establishment of a 24-hour confidential helpline, which often leads to a face-toface consultation. Raines said issues raised have included marital problems, substance abuse and a player gambling hundreds of thousands of pounds. “There is a phenomenal demand. There is a stigma attached to psychological problems. No one wants to talk about it.”

Richard Bevan, group chief executive of the PCA, said Performance Healthcare’s handling of the Trescothick case had been “immensely impressive”. “They reacted with an extraordinary sense of urgency,” Bevan said. “I have nothing but praise for them. Lots of people have suffered in the same way as Marcus, but not a lot of them are in the public eye and they don’t open the batting for England.” The PCA also runs a performance lifestyle programme with six regional advisers aimed at helping cricketers with problems during their career and easing life after cricket.

Performance Healthcare is looking beyond cricket. Raines said: “It is a SME [small to medium-sized enterprise] that we are trying to grow solidly. If we went to an investor and pulled in £500,000, had a great marketing initiative and hit all the sports, perhaps we would grow more quickly. It is not paying the mortgage at the moment, but the overheads are very low. We are keen to develop relationships with all sports: rowing, boxing, rugby, football. Everyone accepts there is a need for this kind of service.”

Most sports psychology is concerned with the ability to manage and control anxiety and planning performance to peak at the optimum time. Keith Irving, who heads the psychology interest group for the British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences, said the organisation was working to introduce kite-marked standards, concerned by unqualified practitioners who offer sports psychology and give the practice a bad name.

“We are doing a lot of work to overcome the feeling in some quarters that it is all mumbo-jumbo,” Irving said. “The accreditation process gives a level of comfort and assurance that we can deliver what we say we deliver.”

The sector has benefited from the prosport London 2012 effect. As James Beale, a co-director of Total Performance Consulting, says, “People are taking sport more seriously – and as they do that they are coming to find us. Competitors are preparing more professionally and leaving nothing to chance.”

© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 9/13/2006

http://www.ehow.com/way_5218215_sport-psychology-tips.html
ehow.com
By Kim Vincent

Sports psychology is important to help athletes improve their performance. An athlete can be extremely gifted physically, but that doesn’t matter much without a strong mental constitution. Developing mental toughness can be accomplished with the use of sports psychology techniques.

Imagery
1. Positive imagery starts with developing the ideal situation for you as an athlete. An example would be throwing a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Being specific with what you want helps you create mental repetition that will lead to physical translation. You can do mental imagery as long as you have a few minutes to concentrate without interruption. A great technique is to visualize a favorite player who you have seen accomplish this. Imagine what they look like in a detailed mental picture. When using your own image in the athletic scenario requires that you add as many sensory components as possible. Try to feel the ball in your hand and the ground under your feet. Hear the crowd and taste the saltiness of the sweat dripping down your face. The more complete your mental image is, the more effective it will be.
Routines
2. Routines help reduce anxiety, and every player can develop a routine. Batters adjust wristbands, helmets, swipe the dirt in front of them and swing a certain amount of times. They do this deliberately and consciously to create a sense of normality. Tennis players take a deep breath, probe the strings on their racket and walk a certain pattern behind the court. They play out one or two likely scenarios such as, “if she serves to the forehand, return down the line, but to the backhand go cross court.” They have set the goal for the next event, they stop thinking and they allow all the practice to allow them to perform.
Convert the Bad
3. Athletes experience moments they wish they could take back. Throwing an interception, dropping a pop fly, missing an easy lay-up or putt. Great athletes are able to put bad events behind them. One effective method is to instantly replay the event with a different outcome. This is a derivative of imagery that is done in the heat of competition. It must be done quickly and before your routine. Replay the scenario with the desired outcome and then move right into your routine to relax and prepare for the next play. Great athletes don’t dwell on mistakes, but they do try to avoid making those same mistakes again.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sports-Psychology-and-Gymnastics—Young,-Female-Athletes-in-Distress&id=1775817
ezinearticles.com
By Jay Granat

Over the years, I have counseled many elite gymnasts. Recently, an Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics from Japan came to my offices to learn about my approaches to counseling top athletes. The gold medalist, who also has a bronze medal in the high bar came with approximately twenty therapists who also counsel and coach athletes.

Most of the gymnasts I have counseled have been females. And these frequently experience significant amounts of stress. The stress comes from a number of sources.

First, many gymnasts get frightened after they have been injured while trying a new move or while pushing themselves during a competition. They present with symptoms that are very much like post traumatic stress disorder. Many gymnasts who I have counseled report concerns about significant and multiple injuries which can frighten them and impair their ability to perform to their potential.

Also, if they pressured to compete while they are injured, they can be at risk for an additional injury. You can’t do well in gymnastics if an injury or a fear of being injured in clouding your mind and your thinking.

Second, many female gymnasts report tremendous pressure to maintain a low body weight. Some engage in bulimic behavior to avoid being ridiculed by coaches and other athletes. And many gyms fail to educate kids about sound nutrition and healthy eating for athletes.

The obsession with weight is a problem within our general culture, but it appears to be exponentially worse in the world of gymnasts.

Third, a lot of girls who experience a growth spurt can no longer perform the way they did when they were smaller and lighter. This change can be quite upsetting to a gymnast who was finding the sport to be quite easy prior to their physical changes.

Fourth, some gyms and coaches have a rather militant approach to training gymnasts. This kind of philosophy or method is right for some children, but it is not suitable for all kids.

Fifth, some gyms are not careful enough in helping youngsters to avoid injuries.

Sixth, the conflicts between youngsters, coaches and parents are widespread and quite intense in this sport.

Seventh, many gyms neglect to provide adequate training in the mental aspects of competing in gymnastics.

Recently, a young gymnast called me. When she got on the phone, she marked, “Dr. Granat, I know your voice. We play one of your cd programs in the gym I train in all the time.” I was quite happy to hear that one of my programs was being used to help some gymnasts with the mental aspects of the game.”

Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and the founder of http://www.stayinthezone.com He has written several books and developed several programs to help people perform to their fullest potential at sports, at work and at school. Dr. Granat, a former university professor, has appeared in The New York Times, Good Morning America, AP, ESPN, Golf Digest, The BBC and The CBC. He can be reached at info@stayinthezone.com. His books include Zone Tennis and Get Into The Zone In Just One Minute. He is also the author of How To Get Into The Zone With Sport Psychology And Self-Hypnosis, How To Lower Your Golf Score With Sport Psychology And Self-Hypnosis, 101 Ways To Break Out Of A Hitting Slump and Bed Time Stories For Young Athletes. Golf Digest named Dr. Granat one of America’s Top Ten Mental Gurus. He was recently featured in a documentary film on long distance running. Dr. Granat writes a weekly column for three newspapers. His Stay In The Zone program has been used by athletes who compete in virtually every sport from around the world. [http://www.stayinthezone.com/get_stay.htm]

http://www.tennisserver.com/mental-equipment/me_7_95.html
tennisserver.com
Dr. John Murray

Let’s talk optimal performance. Whether you play or coach tennis professionally, or just slug it out on the weekends, there is a wealth of exciting news available for you from the world of sport psychology. Are you keeping up-to-date on the fascinating developments in this field? If not, you are depriving yourself of key tools that would raise your tennis expertise to the next level.

Sport psychology was defined by Singer in 1978 as “the science of psychology applied to sport.” Sport psychologists provide two major types of services: (1) performance enhancement strategies, and (2) counseling for a variety of issues affecting the athlete. Although not all tennis players have access to a qualified sport psychologist, much can be learned from the available research.

Psychology as a scientific discipline began in 1879, making it one of the youngest of all sciences. Sport psychology is younger still, with only 30 years of extensive research. In fact, it wasn’t until 1985 that the Division of Exercise and Sport Psychology was recognized as a subspecialty of the American Psychological Association. Although still in its infancy, this field already has much to offer. Many research findings have still not been communicated to the player and coach in an easily available format. Much knowledge is just waiting to be tapped! It is my opinion that the complete tennis player and coach of the 21st century will require all the benefits sport psychology has to offer to stay on top.

In this introductory article, I have briefly outlined several areas involved and services provided by the sport psychologist. Look for future articles to explore specific techniques to optimize your performance on the tennis court.

Let’s look at a few domains where sport psychology plays an active role:

(1) Touring professionals and coaches
(2) National team programs
(3) Sport organizations
(4) Youth development programs
(5) Student players and coaches
(6) Families of athletes
(7) Players coping with injuries
(8) Recreational programs

Here are some typical services provided by the sport psychologist:

(1) Imagery training
(2) Arousal management/attentional focus
(3) Substance abuse management
(4) Eating disorders/weight management
(5) Relaxation training
(6) Motivational strategies
(7) Competitive pressure management
(8) Programs to cope with retirement from sport

http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/integrating-sports-psychology-pe-6998
teachingexpertise.com

Integrating sports psychology into the PE curriculum can increase motivation and improve performance, with benefits for students and the wider community. Lisa Symonds discusses and outlines ready-to-use motivation exercises

‘Not using sports psychology as a tool is like teaching geography without maps’
Mitch Lyons, basketball coach and founder of Get Psyched, a non-profit organisation working to promote better mental health in student athletes.

Sports psychology was once the preserve of professional athletes, but in recent years the number
of PE teachers and coaches employing sports psychology tools has risen dramatically, particularly in the United States. Their goal is not simply to improve performance but to produce confident, ambitious students with positive mental attitudes which boost their performance throughout the curriculum and can even benefit their families and communities.

What is sports psychology?

Sport psychology is the study of how people behave while undertaking sporting activity; professionally or otherwise. It seeks to understand how psychological factors affect an individual or team’s performance and to evolve skills-based strategies for improvement; whether it be overcoming injury or improving confidence in competition.

Research into school sport psychology is a fast-growing area and it is widely accepted that incorporating sports psychology skills and tools into the PE curriculum can help the physical, mental and emotional development of students.

The skills that professional sports psychologists teach athletes to help them reach peak performance include:

* goal-setting
* visualisation
* rituals
* ‘loving your sport’
* self-talk.

Adopting sports psychology skills to motivate students

Students motivated by sports psychology methods are not only healthier and happier, but their new-found passion for PE can also have an impact on several key areas of their lives. Areas where the benefits might be
felt include:

* Parents/guardians – a student with a fresh energy for a new sport or motivation to eat more healthily is likely to encourage their family to follow suit.
* Schoolwork – success and confidence in sport is known to impact positively on performance in other areas of the curriculum and on attendance and behaviour.
* Community – success in school sport may encourage a student to join a local club or team and volunteer to coach younger pupils.

Motivation exercises

SMART goal-setting
Sticking to an exercise regime or a commitment to a team or club can be difficult for students, especially those who easily become distracted. The SMART approach to goal-setting uses a simple but highly effective formula which is popular with athletes and coaches when setting both short-term and long-term goals.

Use the formula to set an individual student or team a goal that adheres to the following SMART principles:

* Specific
* Measurable
* Attainable
* Relevant
* Time-limited.

Visualisation or imagery
The visualisation of a former or dream victory is proven to increase motivation and confidence levels in athletes. In this mental rehearsal, which doubles as a visualisation technique, all the senses are used in order to heighten reality and intensity.

Take time out with students in a quiet room or hall to ‘visualise’. Ask students to lie on their backs, breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, and then talk them through the ‘victory’ step by step, asking them to hear the crowd cheering, smell the fresh grass, see themselves being awarded the regional trophy, and so on.

Rituals
Premiership footballers touch the top of the tunnel for good luck before running on to the pitch; rituals have always been an important part of sport. For many athletes, they can mean the difference between defeat or victory; their superstition leads them to believe without the ritual they will fail, so in completing the ritual, they feel empowered and prepared to win. Create a ritual for your team – this could be anything from a pre-match chant to a simple hand signal. Not only will it improve a sense of camaraderie, psychologically and unconsciously, it will empower performance.

Loving your sport
The concept that success is a by-product of loving what we do is a major theme in human psychology. However, when the equation is reversed – to produce the notion that success equates to happiness – humans begin to struggle. Application of this principle to sport gets good results: if somebody enjoys the activity they’re taking part in, they will embrace every part of it, from training to competing, and this pleasure will increase the chances of success.

Many unmotivated students, or those disenfranchised from sporting activity, feel they cannot and will not compete in traditional sports. The inclusion of non-traditional activities suggested by the students themselves – for example, dance or martial arts – will prove more attractive to the previously excluded student and their enjoyment is likely to be reflected in their performance.

Self-talk
Psychologists have established that every individual carries on an ongoing dialogue  with themselves (self-talk) of between 150 and 300 words a minute. This equates to around 51,000 thoughts a day. Whilst most self-talk is innocuous, sentiment can turn negative in athletes and mantras such as ‘I’ll never be as good a runner as him/her’ can become self-fulfilling.

To use self-talk to positive effect, ask students to sit upright in a comfortable chair. Ask them to close their eyes and take a few minutes to unwind, then to think of a positive mantra based on their current goals, for example, ‘I can score goals for the netball team’, and repeat it aloud five to 20 times.

This exercise will only take a short time. Suggest that students repeat the ritual whenever they can: at home, on the bus, or walking down the street.

Motivation at the movies

‘In the psychology of sport, motivation is everything’
Martin Perry – sports psychologist to Premiership clubs

Premiership managers and coaches frequently ask Martin Perry to suggest new ways they can motivate their teams, and they have even been known to ask him to suggest film clips to inspire players in a fresh, fun way before an important game. Try his recommendations, or look for appropriate scenes in other films that will be familiar to your students.

The Shawshank Redemption
Scene: While tarring the prison factory roof, inmate Andy Dufresene risks his life to show scary prison officer Hadleigh a way to save tax on his inheritance.

Sports psychology message: Inspiring a player to build confidence, overcome doubts and fears when preparing to face an intimidating or more experienced opponent.

Dead Poets Society
Scene: Mr Keating (Robin Williams) invites students to rip out the pompous introduction
in their textbook, Understanding Poetry.

Sports psychology message: Encourage a talented player to dare to be different and express themselves more.

Find out more

Book
School Sport Psychology: Perspectives, Programs and Procedures edited by Charles A Maher (Haworth Press, 2005)

Websites
Get Psyched: The site of the US non-profit organisation advocating  the use of sport psychology in schools.
Visit: www.getpsychedsports.org

Mind Tools
Excellent resources for sport psychology-based exercises and tasks
Visit: www.mindtools.com/page11.html

Association for Applied Sports Psychology
Visit: www.appliedsportpsych.org

http://www.exrx.net/Psychology/Paradigms.html
exrx.net

Martens has suggested a shift in paradigm in sport psychology research from quantitative to qualitative. The quantitative paradigm attempts to find common properties through the discovery of cause-effect relationships or correlations between independent and dependent variables. It is traditionally found in laboratory experiment methodology.

Orthodox science paradigm holds the following assumptions:

1. Cognitive processes are individualistic, static, and passive
2. Cognitive processes can be broken down into elements
3. The elements can be conceived and investigated in their pure form unaffected by other elements.

A high internal validity and objectivity can be achieve with the quantitative paradigm. Cause and effect relationships may be identified if a strict qualitative scientific methods are upheld. Although, biases effect most experiments and their interpretation despite the ideology of the scientific method (Martens 1987).

The quantitative method, as applied to psychological phenomenon, can take many decades to derive practical information. External validity generally suffers when strict scientific guidelines are implemented in the design of the study. In many cases strict scientific methodology is not practical. In which case, external validity may be improved, but again, cause and effect certainty will be sacrificed. The quantitative method is probably to limited for the study of human behavior since it does not allow us to understand the person as a whole. Psychology is not tangible like physiological phenomenon. Finally, statistical insignificance can camouflage practical significance (Martens 1987).

The qualitative paradigm has been described as objective observation. Within this paradigm, scientists work with clues that can be mean a variety of things to a scientist depending greatly on their experiences (Martens 1987).

The qualitative, or heuristic paradigm holds the following assumptions (Martens 1987):

1. Cognitive processes are social, developing, and active
2. Cognitive processes are whole that cannot be broken down into discrete elements
3. Cognitive processes can only be studied in their relationship to one another

The qualitative paradigm can allow a scientist greater freedom exercise intuition or rely on tacit knowledge in decision making and theory development. Qualitative research has typically higher external validity, generalizations can be made about more readily. The qualitative paradigm does not rely on reductionism allowing us to better understand the person. In addition, scientists can generally make sense of greater information than that is practical with qualitative methodology.

The qualitative methodology typically has lower internal validity, meaning that any number of extraneous variables may have effected experiment. Results may be altered simply because subject may have behaved or responded differently in different situations. The qualitative methodology may not be respected by some academias and may impair publishability in some journals.

http://fitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/postmarathon_sports_psychology
suite101.com
Brenda Ann Burke

Novice and veteran endurance event racers, from road runners to rowers to multisporters, have one thing in common: all are subject to “the blues” in the weeks following the big day. It’s important to be prepared for this possibility and to take measures, if necessary, to get back on track.
Causes and Symptoms of the “Blahs”

Bob Glover and Pete Schuder, in the New Competitive Runner’s Handbook (New York: Penguin 1988), compare postmarathon depression to postpartum depression. While not minimising the trauma of postpartum depression, there do seem to be some shared characteristics. The endurance racer has structured his or her life over a period of months towards the race, cutting back on social activities and devoting weekends to long-day training. Now, as Glover and Schuder observe, “your ‘baby’ has reached the finish line and your sought after goal…has been achieved, leaving you feeling empty”.

It may also be that, for reasons of weather or bad form or bad luck on the day, the event did not go as well as you had hoped, and you are now spending a lot of mental energy cursing circumstances or trying to figure out what happened.

Glover and Schuder warn that the post-endurance-event athlete is prone to fatigue and chronic dehydration, as well as injury and illness. “The body is weak, and the mind is undisciplined because the immediate goal has been achieved. A post-marathon runner is very vulnerable”. They quote running guru Joe Henderson on the three body systems that are now in need of recovery: muscular, chemical and psychological.

Even if you are an experienced competitor and have prepared and tapered carefully, the recovery period may take several weeks, longer if you are an older athlete.

A Recovery Plan

In The Balance Within (New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2000), Esther Sternberg describes the teachings of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: essentially, that “health lay in a balance”. Aspects of the balance included a healthy diet, pure water, and the support of friends and family. Sternberg observes that “essential too were the emotions, as well as soothing activities that calmed them”, such as sleep and music.

The trick to recovering from a strenuous endurance event is to get back to that mind-body balance before embarking on a buildup to another objective. This will involve addressing your muscular, chemical and psychological recovery.

Strategies for how to do this (drawn largely from Glover and Schuder) include:

1. Look after any injuries with techniques such as ice, self-massage, and gentle stretching. Seek treatment if necessary.

2. Train easily for a few weeks. If you have had a great race this may be difficult, as supporters will already be asking: “what’s next”? But veteran endurance athletes say that you are not ready to start training for your next big event until you have forgotten your last.

3. Sleep. Have early nights. Take naps.

4. Don’t throw your good nutrition habits out the window. Food affects mood, and your maximum effort on race day may have compromised your immune system, at least for the short term. You should eat as carefully after the event as before, and be sure to drink plenty of water.

5. Try to spend some time each day doing things you enjoy, such as activities with family and friends that may have been crowded out by your peak period training.

Through re-establishing mental and physical health, you will before long be able to take a rational look at what you have learned from the race, and really celebrate your achievement. Only then will you be ready to think about “what’s next”.

Read more at Suite101: Post-Marathon Sports Psychology: Tips for Beating After-Race Depression http://fitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/postmarathon_sports_psychology#ixzz0bHaL489d