Rest and Recovery

20 February 2020

17:24

Rest (or passive recovery) is a period of no exercise. It's a day off.

Recovery (or active recovery) means doing and easy session well below what you are capable off.

Morning Warnings

Morning warning are week indicators that suggest something isn't right.  They are most obvious when you awaken each day. Routinely monitoring a few of these indicators every morning will provide feedback on how well you are recovering.

You may have one warning even when things are going well. It0s the total weight of several warnings that tells you rest and recovery is needed.

 

 

This table lists a few of the morning warnings. Select a few and monitor them on a daily basis. One warning is probably not enough to warrant a rest and recovery day, unless it is extreme. Two or more warnings on awakening may be enough to decide to make it an easy day.

Quick Recovery

You my devote 2 to 3 hours a day for workouts, but the remaining hours in your day are all focused on recovery. There is an old adage among serious athletes: Never stand if you can lean, never lean if you can sit, and never sit if you can lie down.

 

 

Sleep

Sleep is your primary means of recovery from training stress. If your sleep is artificially shortened, you are potentially giving up some portion of your most important recovery method every day.

 

For a better sleep:

• A glass of tart cherry juice in the evening can help improve sleep.
• A high-protein meal right before bedtime reduces the changes of sleep interruptions.

 

To avoid:

• Alcohol has a rebound effect that can wake you later from an otherwise sound sleep.
• A late evening meal or a pre-bedtime snack may reduce sleep quality

 

 

Food

The nutrients in food provide the building blocks your body uses for rejuvenation after hard workouts. If you waste calories by eating low-nutrient food, your body will find it difficult to repair damaged muscles, restore the immune system, restructure bone and heal injuries.

 

What you eat must include:

• Macronutrients
• Protein
• Carbohydrates
• Fat
• Micronutrients
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Phytochemicals

 

The richness of your food determines how quickly and how fully you can recover from a hard workout. Processed food destroys micronutrients, the closer your food is from its natural state, and the less processed it is before it hits your plate, the better it is for you health.

 

The only reason to eat powders, bars, gels and other stuff marketed for athletes is convenience. A box of raisins or a piece of fruits can replace a pre-workout energy bar and will be denser in micronutrients.

 

You are better off buying your own food and preparing it yourself. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, animal products, berries, nuts and seeds are the most powerful way you can support your training goals and general health.

 

Recovery food after a day's training session:

• If you are a high-carb athlete:
• Fruits, especially bananas and raisins
• Fruit juice
• Potatoes, grain and pasta
• For a 77kg athlete: 76.5g - 144.6g of carbs per hour. Blend a banana and a glass of orange juice together to have a 56.7g of carbs smoothie
• If you are a low carb high fat athlete:
• Your post workout is not as critical, simply return to your normal foods to satisfy hunger and the replenishment of fats will occur naturally

 

Taking some protein after a very stressful workout, such as intervals or heavy-load weight lifting, is beneficial for rejuvenation and muscle building. Take in between 10 and 30 grams of protein every 3 to 4 hours following a hard workout. You will get some of that protein with your food, but immediately after your workout you can eat:

• Hard boiled egg (7g)
• Glass of milk (7g)
• 3 table spoons of peanut butter (14g)
• 85 cheddar (21g)

Taking proteins in a similar amount shortly before going to bed for the night also improves the body's capability for recovery and the repair of damaged muscles.

 

 

Fluids

Simple rule: If you are thirsty, drink. If you are not thirsty, don't drink

The only exception has to do with aging. The thirst sensation of elderly people is decreased.

 

If you get carried away drinking a lot of fluids even when you are not thirsty, you set yourself up for far greater problems, the most common of which is hyponatremia. That's the dilution of sodium stores in the blood that leads to poor performance, collapse and even death.

 

 

Active Recovery

For experienced athletes (more than 3 years), doing an easy workout later the same day may help speed recovery. If in doubt about what to do, total rest is the way to go

 

The session should be shorter than your average workout and the intensity should be zone 1.

 

The best type of recovery workout is swimming. And active-recovery swim is a good time to work on skills. If your legs are trashed from a hard ride or run, use a pully buoy.

 

The second best type of recovery workout is riding your bike on a relatively flat course or an indoor trainer.

 

Active recovery in running is not recommended. If you are not prone to injuries and really must do active recovery in running, then it's best to keep the run very short, very easy and on a soft surface such as grass, dirt or gravel.

 

 

Other Recovery Aids

There are many other recovery aids (alternating hot and cold water immersion, listening to music, elevating the legs, using a foam roller, massage and stretching), each with there adherents and detractors. Research studies disagree on their effectiveness. And in any case, the recovery benefits, if any at all, are small compared with those of sleep and food.

 

Two recovery aids involving compression have attracted wide attention recently.

 

Compression Garments

Compression garments have been around for a long time, used as medical devices intended to aid blood flow in people with conditions such as varicose veins, thrombosis or embolism

 

There may be something beneficial in using compression garments in the hours immediately following a workout to assist recovery.

 

Pneumatic Compression Devices

Pneumatic compression devices are basically more powerful versions of compression garments and are meant to be used after a stressful workout to speed recovery.

 

Commonly used compression devices are NormaTec, Recovery Boots and RevitaPump. They are rather pricey, so most commonly used at recovery stations in health clubs or shops.

 

 

Planned Recovery

The most important lesson in this chapter is that:

Your body adapts to hard workouts through rest and recovery

 

The biggest mistake you can make is to continue to train through what was planned to be a rest-and-recovery week.

 

 

Rest-and-Recovery Weeks

Rest-and-Recovery weeks are rarely 7 days long. Most advanced triathletes can recover and be read in 3 - 5 days.

 

The duration of the rest-and-recovery week depends on your experience, current fitness and how hard the preceding weeks of training were. You may decide to make it only 3 days long as the previous 2 -3 weeks of training were not that hard, or you can make it 5 days if you are really fatigued.

 

 

This table shows an example of a 5 days long rest-and-recovery week. It can be adapted to a 3 or 4 days recovery week.

• If you frequently do 3 workouts a day, then do no more than 2 a day in a rest and recovery week.
• If you frequently do 2 workouts a day, then do no more than 1 a day in a rest and recovery week.
• If you only do 1 workout a day, then do no more than 1 a day in a rest and recovery week and make be sure to take at least 1 day off from training altogether.

 

The number of days devoted to quality training may vary from period to period depending on how long you decide to make your rest-and-recovery breaks. E.g. If you train in 4 weeks periods (28 days) and do a 5 days rest and recovery week, then your total time for focused training is 28 - 5 = 23 days.

 

 

Rest and Test

The last 2 days or so of the rest-and-recover week are dedicated to tests. You can decide how many sports you decide to test. You can test all three sports, test only one or two or even decide not to test at all and get back to serious training. See the test protocols in the appendix as to which abilities to test for each sport.

 

Recovery on Demand

When the morning warnings indicate you've reached your limit, you simply assume that you need a break. This can happen any time and is not based on a planned schedule.

 

Knowing when to take a break is a skill. So if you are not good at this and don't have close contact with a coach, it's better you pre-plan your rest-and-recovery weeks.

Race-Week Rest and Recovery

Before a race you must take some rest to be in form. Such a taper typically lasts between 1 to 3 weeks.

• The more important the race, the more likely your taper should be long.
• The mort fit you are, the longer the taper may be.
• The longer the race, the longer the taper.
• Races late in the season may benefit from longer taper that those earlier in the year.

Tape length also varies depending on the sport. Running demands a longer taper than cycling and cycling demands a longer taper than swimming.

 

A bare bones, minimum taper is about 2 to 3 days, that's what you do before a B-priority race. But for an A-priority race, you need a longer taper. It might consist of 2 to 3 weeks of stair-stepped training reduction, especially reduction of workout duration.

 

The table below provides guidance on how to organize a taper during the peak period that ends a week before the race.

 

 

The table below suggest how you may train in the last week before the race.

 

° BT indicates a breakthrough workout. These are 90-second intervals with 3-minute recoveries done at race intensity, but at least zone 3 for pace or power. The non-breakthrough workouts are here for rest, recovery or skill maintenance and are done in zones 1 and 2. All breakthrough workouts gradually decrease the number of intervals as the week progresses. The suggested number of 90-second intervals per sport on each day is shown in parentheses.

Transition-Period Rest and Recovery

The transition is a period of greatly reduced physical activity. After an early or mid-season A-race, the transition usually lasts between 3 to 7 days. The transition after the last A-race of the season should take 2 to 6 weeks.

 

The purpose is to rest your body and refresh your mind. It is not a time to become a couch potato, some low-key workouts along with occasional days off are good for maintaining a bit of aerobic fitness.

 

It is the time of the year when it's best not to have a plan. Decide each day what you will do for exercise, if anything at all. Exercise doesn't have to be running, swimming or cycling. You might do any other sport or activity (e.g. Hiking), but don't be totally inactive.