Hey guys, welcome back to Snack Cast. So we’re on the tail end of our little road race segment. You just crossed the finish line. If it’s your first time crossing you are going to be euphoric. I think you’re going to be ecstatic. Euphoric, because obviously, you trained for this. You finished hopefully, right? You crossed the finish line. It’s exciting. Are there people throwing confetti? Yeah, and a lot of music? They typically hand you your metal if there is one or a t-shirt or wherever it might be. Post your time. You often have friends and family there. It’s a big to do.
And if nothing else, it’s over. That like, oh my gosh, I can sit down. 5K’s that those aren’t bad. But 10k’s and halves can be hard for quite a few people. Oh, no doubt. I just think you see fewer people collapse. Your half marathon distances are where you really see people like, I wasn’t expecting this. I wasn’t expecting the pain. So you get done with the half right? Do you want to tell your story?
So I did the one half and probably will never do another unless Kevin makes me or does some kind of company ritual or something. But no, it was very unusual. I was telling one of the guys actually Jerry and Juan that they had the salt station and I didn’t get it. I didn’t know what it was for. But it was literally packets of iodized salt. But my brain and my body were so over it, I don’t want to say was depleted. But it was like, I don’t want to keep doing this. I come across this bowl of salt packets. And I’m like, Yeah, I’m gonna eat that. I don’t even know why but I’m gonna eat that. And I throw it in my mouth. And I’m like, Ah, it’s like it’s a whole salt packet. Right? It’s, I guess for the heavy sweaters and people lose the sodium. But that is part of a longer road race, dealing I think with the mental aspect, I don’t want to say demons. It’s not that they’re breaking points, but when you do hit the finish line. It is euphoric. It is like all of a sudden, I own that course. 40 minutes earlier. You were like, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. You were pulling in Apollo Creed. There ain’t gonna be no rematch. Rematch. Yeah, you celebrate. You get your chocolate milk. You get your beer, you get your banana. Well, that’s a whole other post-race thing. Right? Some people swear by chocolate milk. And MC Ultra did a whole campaign, targeting runners in their ads.
Is there an ideal? Is it just what you enjoy? I was gonna say it’s additional value. If you do want to get transferred replenishment. You do want to get your salts back in your system probably fairly quickly. You got to understand that you’ve done some damage, especially in the longer events, you’ve done damage to your muscles and you need to get those supplements back in. You need to normalize the body fairly quickly. So I wouldn’t encourage going on a bender after you just did a half marathon or marathon. Now, some people may swear by that too. All right. But have a few beers, and a Gatorade, get your rest, and get your bath. Specifically, would you recommend maybe some Pool time or a small walk? Yeah, people now do a lot of cryotherapy. People do ice baths afterward as well. If it’s your first half your feet are going to swell. They are going to be painful.
So tell us a story real quick, unrelated to medicine. You had a buddy that did the Appalachian Trail? Yeah, over several months. A major accomplishment but didn’t his feet grow two sizes? Yeah, yeah. So you’re pounding you forget how many times your feet in a half marathon have hit the ground. I wish I would have done the research on that but it is 1000s and 1000s of steps. Yeah. And that is what is it? 40 pounds of pressure per foot, you know, boom, boom, boom, depending on the person, right? If you trained, your body is somewhat prepared for it. But like we’ve mentioned before, most training plans will get you to that 80% of that total distance. That’s correct. And that last 20% that’s on you. I would do all the right things. I am a big proponent of ice after something like that. Even in the half marathon distance, put your feet in an ice bucket for 30 minutes. The swelling will go down a little bit. It is painful. But I will tell you, my wife, after her first half, she hit the bathtub when we got home. She’s like, I’ll never do that again. Then literally, two days later she was ready to sign up for another.
The next? I’ll be honest with you, I joke a lot about never doing another one. That’s not true. I probably would. It is an accomplishment. And quite frankly, very few people actually ever do it. You become I don’t know, an alumnus. Right. Yeah. No one can ever take it away. It’s like a college degree. At the water cooler, you can say, I did a half marathon. I’m an expert in the field. I’ll do a podcast on it. And if you ever get that, YOU did a half marathon question. You’re allowed to legally hit them. Yes, you are. That’s in the Bible.
That wraps up post-race. Grab a little chocolate milk, Gatorade, or a beer, whatever you choose. Definitely, ice if you see any swelling. And really, just enjoy the moment. I would also say after-movement is probably pretty important. You’re gonna take a day off. Everything’s gonna hurt. Then the next day, go do a small walk or jog to help with the lactic acid buildup. Stretch it out.
I think that’s it for today. We ran a little long. It was a fun conversation. Questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, or if you’d really like to meet the real one Machado. Email us at Snackcast@yes.fit.Keep moving.