and infection after the race. You may also be feeling disorientated – or even depressed – in the come-down after achieving such a significant running goal.Unfortunately, there’s no formula for calculating how long your body will take to recover – this will vary

Start racing faster"To improve your time, you're going to need to run faster throughout the race, not just at the finish. Many racers start too slowly and then end up running too quickly

You and race day: it's a date...Racing is terrific fun - and we're here to help you get you to race day in perfect form - whether it's your first race or your 50th! This index rounds up many of our best archived articles.The ones marked