How to Cool Down after a Cyclocross Race

Video Transcript

"MICKEY DENONCOURT: After you finish the race, you don't want to just curl up into a ball and die even thought that's kind of how it feels like when you're done. You want to make sure that you get a nice, warm jacket, something to cover your legs back on. You want to get something to drink and hopefully something with some sugar in it to get your blood sugar back going, and then you want to go spend a nice, easy gear on the road or whatever for a little bit to start to feel a little bit better. There's a couple of stretches that you can do after a cross race that are really, really nice for helping with the pain of how hard you're going. You want to stretch out this area. You want to stretch out your--you want to stretch that down here, a little bit of stretching out your hamstrings as well. Those are all things that get really tight in a cross race. The best time to stretch isn't before an event, it's after, because you're already loose and limber and stuff like that, and sort of helps not only just make you feel less sore the next day. It helps get all the waste products and everything that have built up over the course of the race out there. And if you that, you cool down. You eat some food and you stretch after the race. It's going to make the drive home a lot more pleasant, and it's going to mean the sooner you can get back to training in the upcoming week."