Have you ever done a post-race reflection?
Here’s an idea, first, do a pre-event visualization and think about what your hopeful outcomes were.
For the post-race questionnaire, think about what were the actual outcomes.
I give my clients both a pre-race visualization and a post-race questionnaire.
Below, you will read about why you should do this, read my Burning River 100 post-race questionnaire, and be able to consider these seven questions for your own event.
Why you should do a post-race questionnaire
Sitting down and thoughtfully going through your race can improve our physical and mental approaches for next time.
It may reveal what worked, what didn’t work, and what you might want to change.
Consider what you had control over, what you didn’t have control over, and how could you have done things differently.
Try to not focus on only the “bad” and the “fails” and beat yourself up over them. Move forward.
Note that these happened and what your learned from them. Figure out how you can apply what you learned to a future event.
Take note of the things that went well and the things that you did right. How can you continue to practice the things that you did right?
A post-race questionnaire will highly benefit your mindset and mental health.
Writing down answers or journaling about your race will allow your brain to process what happened.
Journaling, in general, is good for our mental health. It will strengthen our growth mindset. Reinforcing growth and helping us to become better problem-solvers.
My Burning River 100 post-race questionnaire
What was your race goal if everything went according to plan?
If you had a backup plan, what was it?
What was the outcome?
Goal “A” was to have a sub 24 hr race (if everything went “perfectly”). I was also just hoping for a faster race, 25-27 hrs, and placing in my AG. I ended up coming in 4th for AG, so no award.
If things went into survival mode, which they did because of my feet (weather related, trench foot), then the “B” goal was to finish. I finished in the Golden Hour. 29:23:16.
What was the event like?
Hot, cold, wet, windy?
Crowded?
Poorly organized?
The event itself was incredible. It’s a popular one.
At the 4 AM start, we had rain and a crazy lightning show. Storms beat everything up over the next few hours.
It might have even blown over a few trees because there were 2 or 3 we had to go over. It was very wet. Due to flooding, the course needed to be rerouted.
After the storms passed, the sun came out in the afternoon and it got hot. It’s usually a hot race.
On the bike path, there was a little bit of shade. Post 50 mile mark, I used my ice bandana to get through the hottest section.
At night, I felt a little cold, but not too cold if I stayed moving. I put on a long sleeve shirt.
How do you feel about the results?
This may include time, your placing, and how you performed regardless of those numerical results.
How do you FEEL about your physical and mental performance?
I’m happy with my performance. There will always be things that don’t go well. I’m happy with how I ran. My muscles felt good.
My nutrition and hydration was good. I had enough energy to blow through the finish. Stephen took a great 1 minute video of me finishing. I was moving really well, despite feet, knee, and ankle pain.
What area of the event could have been executed better?
Sleep, lodging, travel, intra-race nutrition, pacing, crew, mental strategy, better course scouting, etc?
Please expand upon your answer.
Foot care during the race, though I’m not sure if it would have helped. Maybe changing out of wet socks and shoes sooner?
Maybe changing socks and shoes 3 times?
There was really no good place to do this. I didn’t have crew access at every aid station (this wasn’t really an issue), the weather and trail was wet, and there were 3 stream crossings with shin deep water.
Starting out with trail shoes instead of road shoes would have saved me from falling 4 times in the mud. I recovered fast from all of the falls.
The weather was unexpected, so road shoes seemed like they would work for a not very technical trail. Only 1 of the falls was bad. Bleeding. I got up, hobbled it off, and then started running again.
Sleep – I slept 0 minutes the night before because I was feeling excited. Our room also smelled like pot and then like someone tried to cover it up with cologne. I almost felt like I was getting a contact high, lol.
In your training, what do you think could have done better to improve physical and mental performance on this day?
I felt well prepared. Stephen worried that I wasn’t going to finish the race because my feet were so wrecked and I was crawling along for part of the second half.
But during the last 4 miles of road, I did the ultra shuffle and passed people.
Stephen noted that people were walking it in and that I looked better than some people who were doing the 50 miler.
What part(s) of training do you think helped this event, the most?
The mixed effort runs and long runs. Strength work. It’s really everything that has to come together.
What event or events are next?
Baker Trail Ultrachallenge 50 Miler. I hope that my big toe nail hangs in there until after the race.
I don’t think I’m doing Oil Creek 100 this year, it will be too much on my body. Maybe I can find another 50 miler, or maybe I’ll just rest and fully focus on family and business.
Questionnaire from:
My Burning River 100 Race Report 2023
I hope that you found this article helpful and that you will utilize this questionnaire.
If you found it helpful, subscribe to my blog because I have more content for your race performance coming your way!
All of my content is for informational purposes only.
Related content
Visualize How Your Race Training Fits Into Your Week For Success
My General Plan for Finishing Burning River 100 (2023)
Mood Boosting Self-Care and Healthy Habits
Reasons Why I Run: Digging deep
If you are interested in working together on stepping up your mindset and mental wellness around racing and life, reach out to me.
I’d love to hear about your goals.
We will look at problem areas or where you’d like to see improvement, set a realistic goal, and then put those steps in place.
– I work with ultrarunners all over the United States who want to dial in their race mentality, mental strategies, and overall improve their mental wellness.
— My coaching services are fully on the mental side (I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Counseling, and well over a decade of experience working in the mental health field. Coaching is a non-clinical service).
Here’s what we can work on
- Improve day-to-day mental wellbeing.
- Build better habits.
- Incorporate mindfulness
- Learn emotion regulation strategies.
- Set challenging, yet attainable goals.
- Discuss motivation
- Address body image thoughts or concerns.
- Talk about you! Who are you, besides a runner or athlete? – parent, sibling,
- entrepreneur, community member… What else do you do, and how does it impact training for races or vice versa?
- Coping with injury and setbacks.
- Juggling priorities and time management.
- Are you actively trying to find a mental health professional? I can assist!
- Are you searching for a running coach? I can provide pointers on how to go about finding someone who’s a good fit and what questions to ask the coach when interviewing them for fit.
- Mental strategies and mindset for racing.
- Training and race day visualization.
- General worries and race day stressors.
- What might you do if you encounter a problem during a race.
- Building trust with yourself.
- Improving self-care, self-esteem, and self-compassion.
- Knowing when to push yourself and when to be kinder to yourself.
- Why’s and meaning behind what you do. Passion. Using that as support and drive.
- On top of talking, I do provide resources and homework.
I hope that this paints a picture of the good stuff that we can work on together.
Contact me if you have questions or want to schedule.
Give dry a try
This year, consider replacing some of your alcoholic beer with some non-alcoholic options.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that reducing alcohol in my life has improved my sleep. I used to drink a beer at the end of the day a few nights per week to unwind.
Check out what research says about how alcohol hurts our brains when we sleep:
“Alcohol has a profound impact on sleep, with effects dependent on acute versus chronic use and dependence.
While alcohol is initially sedating, this effect disappears after a few hours, resulting in a fragmented and disturbed sleep in the second half of the night.”
“Sustained use of alcohol in chronic alcoholism is associated with major sleep problems. Ongoing sleep and circadian disruption are features of alcohol drinking binges.”
“For those who are homeless, there are almost insurmountable obstacles to obtaining appropriately restorative sleep.
When abstinent, sleep issues persist, with insomnia and vivid dreams being common complaints, which can be a factor leading to relapse.”
Read the full research here. Alcohol and the Sleeping Brain.
Give dry a try and see if you notice any differences in your sleep.
Research citation:
Colrain IM, Nicholas CL, Baker FC. Alcohol and the sleeping brain. Handb Clin Neurol. 2014;125:415-31. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-62619-6.00024-0. PMID: 25307588; PMCID: PMC5821259.
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I’m aiming high, thank you for your support.
Shannon