Road To Recovery

What is recovery?

By definition, recovery is a gradual healing or return to a natural state. As athletes, our natural state is one of rested readiness and capacity to handle training stress. Recovery, then, is a combination of carefully timed behaviors, strategies, and responses that allow us to heal from training stress in order to apply a higher level of stress.

Recovery is the one component of our training plans that we cannot predict yet it is also the one component that will make or break even the best training plans. The better and quicker you recover, the more you can benefit from your hard work. In fact, athletes do not necessarily get fitter from doing workouts, rather they get fitter during recovery from workouts.

The best athletes are capable of balancing high loads of work with adequate recovery. Adequate recovery is highly individualized and will differ depending on your fitness level, experience with sport, natural ability, and age. Regardless, the key to recovery properly is to provide your body with the opportunity to rest! Natascha Badmann is one elite athlete who seems to have mastered the purpose of recovery. She is known to have a large comfy chair in her Switzerland home for doing absolutely nothing at all. Sitting, sleeping, in other words – recovery.

But you don’t have to be an elite athlete to master recovery. Nor do you have to just lay around. While there is not quick route to recovery, there are a few helpful hints I have found along the way to improve recovery and get more from a training plan.

#1 – Sleep

Sleep is the cheapest, easiest and most reliable form of recovery. Yet it seems to be the one thing that we will skimp on when our lives get stressed. When you look at all of the hours you have in a day – daily living activities, families, jobs, and training it doesn’t leave much left. But chances are there is some way you can squeeze an extra 30 minutes of sleep on most days. Even a lunchtime nap can help you recharge. Make sleep a priority and your recovery will likely improve. Spending 30 less minutes answering e-mail, watching television, doing household chores – see if you can reorganize your week or save the small tasks each day that cut into sleep for a bigger chunk of time on the weekend.

#2 – Proper Nutrition

Like sleep, nutrition is one of the easiest ways to improve recovery. Our bodies were built for wholesome, quality nutrition. No need for fancy shakes or powders - your body recognizes natural food. A few ounces of lean chicken, whole wheat bread, a banana – these are foods that your body can easily recognize, process and use. Make the commitment to eat a diet rich with wholesome grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy, fresh vegetables and fruit with plenty of water to wash it down. Consistently following the 30 minute window after workouts to refuel is an easy way to speed yourself along the road to recovery. Consuming nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day will also leave you more energized for workouts and capable of recovering quicker from them.

#3 – Massage

Massage is a great way to work the toxins out of your muscles and provide a gentle stretch. However not everyone can afford massage. Instead, try using a foam roller or Trigger Point Therapy products to gently and moderately roll or stretch after workouts. Moderation is key – you can do damage with the foam roller, balls, or sticks if you keep rolling away at muscles that are injured or overly sore.

#4 – Supplemental Support

While our bodies benefit most by receiving vitamins and minerals from food – a daily multivitamin can help to top off any stores that are low. Per the recommendation of Keith and Ibby – friends and naturopathic doctors - I began taking a pre-natal vitamin this year not because I am pre-natal but because the prenatal vitamin would have higher supply of what I might be missing from all of the stress on my body. I also use Papain (from papaya) and Bromelain (from pineapple) as natural inflammatories (though taken with food they are digestive enzymes). I have also found Recover-Ease by Wicked Fast to be an integral part of my recovery plan. I take 4 – 8 capsules after hard workouts or races. Keith and Ibby suggested that over time the ingredients would likely make our bodies less susceptible to the damage from workout demands.

#5 – Put Your Feet Up

Both literally and figuratively. How many times have you done a hard workout then decided to plant your entire garden? Or spend the day walking around the shopping mall? What you do in your daily life is just as stressful and damaging as what you do in a workout. Especially after long or hard workouts – put your feet up! Relax! If possible, spend some time laying around and doing nothing at all – catch up on e-mail, read, watch tv. One of the hardest things for us as athletes (and overachievers) to realize is that this “lazy” down time is just as important as the hard workouts. It also helps to put your feet and legs against a wall for 15 – 20 minutes after a hard training day.

#6 – Plan Your Training

Following a purposeful and thoughtful training plan is another way to enhance recovery. Most athletes can handle two to three weeks of training that builds in duration, intensity or frequency before requiring a week to back off. Many athletes train haphazardly by weather, time or groups which often leads to doing too much for too long – leading to later fatigue, overtraining or injury. A periodized plan with meaningful cycles and planned rest weeks may help recover better overall. During a ‘rest’ week, it is important to reduce training volume and frequency to allow your body to heal. While you may include a few short bursts of intensity in workouts, other workouts are easy enough to promote active healing throughout the week. You should find yourself feeling energized, even ‘hungry’ for hard work after a proper rest week.

#7 – Active Recovery

Using active recovery workouts – by following your prescribed heart rate zones – may help your body recover quicker from training demands. Active recovery workouts are those performed at 50 – 60 percent of your maximum heart rate (or, Zone 1). While this sounds easy, it is here that many athletes fail. Resisting the urge to go hard to keep up with a group or ignoring slower paces/speeds on your training devised are difficult for some. However, letting go of the need to see a certain number or cover a certain distance will ensure your recovery workouts are easy enough to promote recovery rather than perform yet another workout to recovery from.

#8 – Ice

Ice bath is another great way to recover from hard training demands. Inflammation is the body’s response to tissue damage. Reducing inflammation may promote quicker recovery. Fill your bathtub with icy cold water. Be sure to wear a swimsuit, hat, gloves, warm shirt and submerge yourself in the tub for 10 – 15 minutes. As an alternative, icing sore body parts may also help. You can also try alternating with 10 – 15 minutes of heat and 10 – 15 minutes of cold.

Athletes often focus on the hard work required to improve. Yet what you do for recovery and ‘no work’ are just as important as the hardest of workout days. Take the time to properly plan for and perform recovery to benefit from the training you do, to stay healthy, productive and hopefully injury-free.