How To Recover After A Race: A Beginner’s Guide

Car racing has created a great hype in the field of sports especially to those who are love challenge. Like running athletes, the aim of this sport is to set the fastest time in a set of number of laps or time limit. And there are a lot of different categories of car racing –from kart racing, drag racing, sports car racing, and to the most expensive racing, the formula racing.

Each category of the automobile racing has also different kinds of drivers who prepare and train months, even years, before the competitions. During their preparations, they don’t just have to consider their physical conditions but also the car’s maintenance and the accessories to use and wear during the race. All car race enthusiasts want to win the race and would do everything to get the golden trophy. So once they are on track, their main goal is to get the prize, safely in one piece.

It is very common to get nervous before the race, but race car drivers have a very strong will to finish the course in front of them. Once competition gets over, whether it is a win or lose, it is another story. Racers have to recover from the competition that just happened. And here is a beginner’s guide for amateur racers to recover from the recent competition that they went through.

after a race

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  • Celebrate!

Yes, you have won that golden prize you wanted! Then it’s time to celebrate. Do not take it away from yourself to enjoy the moment with all your fans, all those who sponsored to get you in that track, and smile in front of the cameras!

Give back to your supporters what they deserve, your gratitude and a promise that you will continue to do your best in the next races. Even when you lost the race, you can still celebrate by thanking the same people who gave their best to make your goal happen. It’s not yet the end of the day when you lose the race, prepare for the next races and do the next guidelines to recover from the recent race.

  • Cool down.

Car racers are humans just like all the running athletes. What you do after finishing a race determines just how quickly you can get back in the regular training and for the next competition.

After shaking hands of all your fans, sponsors, team members, and being interviewed by sportscasters, make sure that you are able to cool down yourself. If the car itself needs to cool down, and so do you.

Be sure that you get to let your body cool down ready for the next training that you will do for another race.

  • Eat appropriate food.

If you are a racer, you know how important it is to keep your body healthy. And most of the car racers before in the generation today gives importance in getting back the right nutrients to their body that have been used for all the trainings, stress, and the main race. After the race, eat solid and easy to digest food and avoid eating food and drinks that are high in fructose like soft drinks.

The SRT Motorsport develops a meal plan created by a group in Belgium that specializes in training the car race drivers for endurance for the next races. Gone were the days that racers will just eat a few hot dogs and drinking sodas given after the races. They should be able to watch out their weight before and after the race so they can have better idea on how much they gain and loss each competition.

Some car racers would go to several victory parties where alcoholic drinks and high in cholesterol food are served. Be sure to consume just the right amount and know your limit.

  • Get proper rest.

Many car racers are not able to give their bodies enough rest due to fatigue and stress that is caused by different things like physical burn out, emotional anxiety, trauma, time difference and other more.

Whether you raced just for half an hour or for many lapses, you have to get sleep for 8 to 10 hours to get back your strength and let your muscles rest. It is not just after the race but before the race. Training your body to sleep before and after the race is a must so as to keep yourself prepared for the next coming competitions.

  • Hydrate.

It is important to hydrate yourself before, during, and after the race. It is recommended that drivers drink at least 1.3 liters of water every hour they drive be it in the training or in the day of the competition.

The racers are main objective after the race is to return to their body to pre-race levels of their hydration.

  • Check your car. 

Once you have done the things to recover for yourself, then it’s time for you to check your car. Feel everything about your car. Check on how much damage did it get from the previous competition. Let your professional team look at each part of the auto. This will give an opportunity to make the car race far better than how it used to before.

after a race

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  • Press rewind and watch.

Well, obviously there are so many videos taken in each of your competitions. Take a time to look at each race that you have joined and observe how you can improve in different aspects of your car racing. Also, look at how the other car drivers did in the competition. Look at your strengths and weaknesses –this will allow for you to prepare for the next car races.

  • Seek guidance.

Ask for the inputs and wisely advises of those who coach you. Learn from what they say and take criticisms constructively. What they have become in the world of racing is because of their experiences. You will get great and wonderful ideas on how to become better in your next racing competition.

  • Train again. 

Once you have done all the things above or other more things to recover after the race, start training again and apply what you have learned from the wise advisers and coaches, do what you think you should have done the last race to have won, or get rid of the things that you have done that was not necessary from the last race.

Allot specific time and day for training on the race track as well as training both your body and mind for your next racing competition.

So the above mentioned guidelines are just some things you can do as a beginner to recover after the race. You can still include other things that fit your kind of personality and lifestyle.

Always remember the famous line, “Do what you love, and love what you do,” because when you love what you are doing, you will never think that you are doing this just for earning amounts of cash to finance your needs but it is a passion that you want for the rest of your life. And you want to not just be an amateur race car driver, you want to be that car racer that lived a long life and gave all that he has to become better and better in what he is doing.

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