Photo Credit: Jodi Caplan Photography

I got third place in my first race this weekend which felt awesome. About 2 hours after really hard workouts and race efforts,  I get these crushing headaches that dont go away for about 24 hours. I drink a TON of coconut water, gatorade, and plain water and eat healthy.  My body felt fine the next day, not sore, just those headaches are killer. I think it must be a blood pressure thing – mine runs low… Any thoughts?

Name withheld, Massachusetts

First things first. Headaches of any sort may be a symptom of a significant intracranial disorder. Before you go any further  you should check with your doctor and make 100% certain you have no underlying issue including a serious vascular or brain abnormality.

If your doctor gives you the OK you can come back to our answer. Headaches after strenuous exercise and maximal efforts are actually pretty common. In the cycling world this has been called a  “time trial headache” as they are common after maximal efforts such as time trials. Cyclists are not the only ones. Other endurance athletes including runners and triathletes reports headaches after maximal efforts.

Ruling out dehydration is your first order of business. If you can be 100% your are not dehydrated you really don’t have a second order of business other than to deal with them. Nobody really knows that causes them. Some have theorized that it is due to dilation of the blood vessels in your brain during your hard efforts but as far as we know this is only a theory.

In our experience these headaches are self limiting in the short term but you can expect them after maximal efforts.  We have even heard of them getting worse as you gain fitness, gain strength, and learn to make yourself suffer  and dig deeper than you have in the past.

Before we leave you, we encourage you to read the first paragraph in this answer again.  Check with your doctor and make sure you don’t have an underlying brain abnormality? Please do. We are not physicians and we are not giving you medical advice other than that you need to see your doctor.

Roch