QT: Make the Time to Do a Post-Race Debrief

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Don’t look now, but it’s getting to be that time of year again.

No, not that time of year.

Well, it is getting to be that time of year, but that’s not what I’m talking about today.

For a lot of runners, goal races have come and gone and it’s time to do a little post-race debrief.

Wait, What?

You mean to tell me you’re not familiar with a post-race debrief?

Ok, I’ll break it down for you.

Admittedly, this may be one of the most overlooked pieces of the puzzle for a lot of runners.

Myself included.

We spend so much time planning and prepping and visualizing and making sure we leave no stone unturned in the build-up to the race. But once we cross the finish line?

In actual fact? There is almost always something to see here.

And usually, it’s more than just a little something.

So this post-race debrief is all about objectively looking back at the entire process and identifying what went well and where things could be improved upon, in hopes that the next race will go even better.

Where to Begin?

The first thing, maybe the most important thing, in a post-race debrief is removing the emotion from the equation.

And if that means you delay the debrief by a week or two? That’s fine.

But the last thing that you want to have happen is to have the emotions of the result, positive or negative, impact your debrief session.

Once you’re able to remove the emotion from the equation, then you can really dig into the post-race debrief.

The Pieces of the Puzzle

Is there a set formula that you need to follow when doing a post-race debrief?

You can start at the beginning of training and work toward the race.

You can start from the race and work backward.

Or you can bounce around a little bit.

Just make sure you look at the whole picture by the time it’s all said and done.

Overview:

How would you say things went overall?

Were you consistent with your training? Did you set the right goals? Did you enjoy the process? How was race day?

You’re not trying to be too granular here.

Simply take a look at the big picture and see what stands out to you.

Planning:

How much thought and planning went into this race?

This may seem trivial, but I think a lot of runners overlook the early stage decision making process.

Like, why did you sign up for the race to begin with? What led you to settle on the specific goal? Or why didn’t you have a clearly identified goal?

It’s never too early in the process to get strategic. And if you’re not at least aware of some of the early planning decisions, you could be setting yourself up for failure.

Training:

This part is fairly self-explanatory.

How was the build-up to the race? Were you able to balance life with the time demands of training, especially the long runs? What changes might you make in the future?

Race Day:

Another part of the post-race debrief that tends to be straightforward is the race itself.

How was the race? Did you have a strategy going into the race? Were you able to execute the strategy?

What race-day changes do you want to make next time? And what worked well, that you’d like to repeat?

Recovery:

The recovery process after a race is vital, and something that too many runners can’t be bothered to take seriously.

As you go through your debrief, really analyze how you recovered.

How much time were you off? Did you make it to Pain-Free + 3? What helped make the recovery go a little quicker? What could you do better next time?

Process Driven

The biggest key during the post-race debrief is to remember that the results of the race don’t matter.

To be clear, I’m not saying they don’t matter at all.

But the debrief is about refining your process more than anything else.

And the fact of the matter is, you can do everything right leading up to the race and still have a terrible result.

Similarly, the buildup can be a dumpster fire, and somehow the race goes absolutely perfectly.

So when you’re going through this post-race debrief, don’t let the result of the race distract you from assessing the entire process.

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Taking the time to do a post-race debrief can be invaluable for your growth as a runner. #runchat Share on X

What Does Your Post-Race Debrief Process Look Like?

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