How do you recover after a meet?

My next meet is an other short local meet. I expect to be there 3 to 4 hours and I will try the following. - stay well hydrated with water during the meet - warm up and down after events (hopefully the outdoor pool is open for warm up/down) - cool down ~500yds if the outdoor pool is open - Endurox immediately after my last event - pack something to eat (peanut butter sandwich maybe) to tide me over until I can get some real food - eat a healthly meal washed down with water - hit the gym a little later for 1-2k yoga swim + hot tub - workout Sunday First, I feel much better right now than I usually do after a meet. This is a recap comparing what I said I would do, to what I actually did. - Stayed hydrated: 96oz during the meet - 500yd crowded warm up before meet - no warm up cool down during the meet. There was one 5 minute break during the meet that wasn't helpful to me. - Didn't stay to see if we cool cool down after the meet - PureSport immediately after last event mixed with 30oz of water - 16 oz of gatorade ~10 minutes after last event - forgot to pack something to eat for after the meet - 30 minute drive home - ate boneless skinless chicken *** with BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes - drank another 16 oz of water with lunch - 2 ibuprofen - get to the gym about 1 hour after the meet - swim 900 ez until I get kicked out because they are hosting a meet - drank another 30oz of water while at the gym - no hot tub - back home to shower and dry clothes finally - chocolate cookies, glass of whole milk - 2 ibuprofen - Emergen-C (like zip fizz, vitamin c+b complex drink mix) That was about 3 hours ago and I am still fully functional. I don't think warm up and cool down affect how I feel out of the water. I am positive that I will feel better tomorrow when I get in the water because of that 900 yards I was able to get in at the gym today. Swimming ez after the meet was pain free today. If you add up all the liquid I drank today, it was a lot. So one key to me feeling well post meet is lots of liquid, plus restoring the lost electrolytes right after the meet. Previously, I have always drank lots of water, but I think the puresport and gatorade most meet allowed me to retain the water instead of... pissing it all away :) Eating quickly after the meet was a plus, because I am usually starving by the time I actually eat after a meet, but I am not so sure this was a deciding factor on how I feel. The b-complex I think helped with a headache, but it might have just been that I needed more ibuprofen. Hopefully my copious details will help anyone else who is trying to avoid the post meet zombie effect. Thanks for the suggestions from everyone, and I would love to hear from anyone who is experimenting with their post meet recovery routine.

My next meet is an other short local meet. I expect to be there 3 to 4 hours and I will try the following. - stay well hydrated with water during the meet - warm up and down after events (hopefully the outdoor pool is open for warm up/down) - cool down ~500yds if the outdoor pool is open - Endurox immediately after my last event - pack something to eat (peanut butter sandwich maybe) to tide me over until I can get some real food - eat a healthly meal washed down with water - hit the gym a little later for 1-2k yoga swim + hot tub - workout Sunday First, I feel much better right now than I usually do after a meet. This is a recap comparing what I said I would do, to what I actually did. - Stayed hydrated: 96oz during the meet - 500yd crowded warm up before meet - no warm up cool down during the meet. There was one 5 minute break during the meet that wasn't helpful to me. - Didn't stay to see if we cool cool down after the meet - PureSport immediately after last event mixed with 30oz of water - 16 oz of gatorade ~10 minutes after last event - forgot to pack something to eat for after the meet - 30 minute drive home - ate boneless skinless chicken *** with BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes - drank another 16 oz of water with lunch - 2 ibuprofen - get to the gym about 1 hour after the meet - swim 900 ez until I get kicked out because they are hosting a meet - drank another 30oz of water while at the gym - no hot tub - back home to shower and dry clothes finally - chocolate cookies, glass of whole milk - 2 ibuprofen - Emergen-C (like zip fizz, vitamin c+b complex drink mix) That was about 3 hours ago and I am still fully functional. I don't think warm up and cool down affect how I feel out of the water. I am positive that I will feel better tomorrow when I get in the water because of that 900 yards I was able to get in at the gym today. Swimming ez after the meet was pain free today. If you add up all the liquid I drank today, it was a lot. So one key to me feeling well post meet is lots of liquid, plus restoring the lost electrolytes right after the meet. Previously, I have always drank lots of water, but I think the puresport and gatorade most meet allowed me to retain the water instead of... pissing it all away :) Eating quickly after the meet was a plus, because I am usually starving by the time I actually eat after a meet, but I am not so sure this was a deciding factor on how I feel. The b-complex I think helped with a headache, but it might have just been that I needed more ibuprofen. Hopefully my copious details will help anyone else who is trying to avoid the post meet zombie effect. Thanks for the suggestions from everyone, and I would love to hear from anyone who is experimenting with their post meet recovery routine.