Accelerating Work Out Recovery

By Ken Mierke

Overtraining is generally the result of a buildup of workout and life stresses with insufficient recovery, not from a single workout being too hard. Overtraining really should be called �under-resting�. Every good coach searches continually for the right balance of volume, intensity, and rest. Rest needs to be an active process, taking full advantage of every opportunity to get the athlete's body, and their mind, ready for the next hard workout.

Recovery is really the athlete's greatest resource. If an athlete can train harder and longer, and absorb and adapt optimally to the workouts, he/she will become faster. Therefore, we should teach our athletes to take every reasonable step to accelerate recovery.

Recovery is more than just taking a day off from training; it is giving the body every resource it needs to adapt to the stimulation of previous workouts. Taking every step to maximize workout recovery is a critical part of training.

Early Season Preparation

Athletes with a strong aerobic base will recover more quickly from workouts than those lacking in this area. This is, for athletes competing in relatively short events, one of the primary benefits of base training. Twenty-plus hour training weeks don't make an athlete faster in a two-hour race as much as they enable him/her to absorb more of the training that does increase that speed.

A solid base of strength training increases the athlete's ability to train hard and recover as well. After serious strength training an athlete will suffer less micro-trauma in the muscles and connective tissues and will therefore be ready to train hard sooner.

Pre-Workout Preparation

Pre-workout preparation affects how an athlete recovers from training. Getting to group workouts early enough to allow adequate warm-up and making sure that they are well hydrated and well fueled gives them the best chance of optimal recovery.

Nutrition

Nutrition plays a HUGE role in workout recovery. Consuming adequate protein throughout the day (protein ingested in one large sitting is not absorbed well) provides a pool of amino acids to keep the muscles and connective tissues continually rebuilding from the last workout.

A meal immediately after each hard or long workout that combines protein and carbohydrate in about a 1:4 ratio ensures optimal glycogen replacement and rebuilding damaged tissues. Hydrating immediately after a workout is important as well. Some athletes weigh themselves after hard or long workouts and consume 16 oz of water for every pound lost.

Stress Management

Psychological stress has very real physiological manifestations and may impair workout recovery. While many of the sources of stress in an athlete's life may be beyond their control, they can take steps to minimize this. I remember Joe recommended getting dental work taken care of in the off-season to minimize the risk of interference with training. Each athlete should analyze the stressors in their life and take steps to minimize sources whenever possible.

Active Recovery

We all know that sometimes a light workout can promote recovery more than a day completely off. The goal is to exercise at an intensity that is enough to stimulate circulation and trigger certain endocrine responses, but lightly enough to avoid demanding more recovery from the recovery workout.

I use active recovery workouts with my athletes, but I think we need to be very careful here. Even disciplined athletes will tend to go overboard. I believe that �recovery run� is an oxymoron for many athletes and cycling in hilly terrain can make it impossible to really keep intensity as low as is necessary. I often will have an athlete stay on an indoor trainer for active recovery workouts and I have even recommended a brisk walk to a nationally ranked athlete. Know your athletes and take great care with the �chomping at the bit� types.

Rest

Even a day of complete rest needs to be planned out. It is more than just not working out. On rest & recover days, the athlete needs to avoid any strenuous activity. I joke with one of my athletes that he has to rent a cart if he plays golf on rest & recover days because walking nine holes is too strenuous � but he knows that I am only half joking. Eddie B used to say �Never walk when you can stand or stand when you can sit�. Every bit of energy that can be saved will make a difference.

The old principle of hard/easy is not necessarily the best method. Alternating blocks of hard days and easy days is often more effective. This is an area that is difficult to offer specific advice on because each athlete seems to respond well to different patterns of work and recovery.

Afternoon naps can improve recovery to an amazing degree. I have found that 45 minutes is optimal. Longer naps don't seem to be more beneficial and may interfere with night-time sleep. For the same reason, avoid having the athlete's take evening naps. This may not be realistic for most of our athletes who work forty, fifty, or sixty hour weeks, but I think most professional athletes should get in the habit of napping almost every day.

Just getting to bed a few minutes early really will have an impact. When my athletes head into a build period, I generally suggest that they try to get an extra 20 to 30 minutes of sleep per night. Though this will not have a huge acute impact, over time the chronic benefit will be enormous.

Massage & Chiropractic

Massage may accelerate recovery dramatically. A professional massage before a heavy weekend of training or during an easy week can facilitate recovery. Self massage is definitely not the same as a professional massage, but can facilitate recovery, especially in the quadriceps. Glutes, hamstrings, and low back muscles can be self-massaged effectively using bodyweight and a tennis ball, rolling pin, or other object to focus pressure.

Chiropractic care can definitely accelerate recovery. My experience is that finding a chiropractor who is an endurance athlete and works primarily with endurance athletes is vital. I have had several terrible experiences before I met my current chiropractor who mountain bikes and races triathlon (and is also a client).

Miscellaneous

Research shows that ice baths facilitate enhanced recovery. I have used a cold swimming pool myself and with several clients, but never an ice bath. Any of you have experience with this?

For true techno-geeks, a hyperbaric chamber is a phenomenal tool. Though it is an expensive investment, I have had amazing results with mine. The increased pressure inside the chamber increases the oxygen levels in the blood and improves recovery. I loaned mine to the Trek team for a 24-hour race (4-member relay) when I was coaching one of their riders and they all reported that using it between laps helped later in the race. One of my world-ranked pro athletes uses the chamber 3 - 4 times per week and I frequently loan it to cyclists heading to stage races.

Even under ideal conditions, a hard-training athlete will feel tired and broken down at times. The key is that recovery is basically complete by the next breakthrough workout. Developing methods of monitoring recovery is important. Performance (speed or wattage) is the best indicator. If the athlete is too tired to perform the way they normally are able to in workouts, recovery is incomplete and adjustments are in order. An aerobic time trial which involves performing at a predetermined heart rate (using the same heart rate each time, I usually pick a mid zone 2 HR) and seeing how much speed or power is produced at that hear rate may also be useful.

How the athlete feels subjectively is important too. With watt meters, heart rate monitors, and all of the gadgets available, this sometimes gets ignored. Make sure that the athlete performs a simple self-assessment every morning. This takes just a few seconds of squeezing and relaxing the muscles and making a mental not of how they feel.

Resting heart rate is a useful measure if recovery, as well as the difference between sitting and standing heart rate. Just make sure that if you have the athlete track these objective measures, emphasize that subjective feelings are important to. Whenever possible speak to the athlete about recovery. Often an objective outside opinion is important and valuable and it is our job to constantly keep this at the forefront of their thoughts.

Ken Mierke
Head Coach, Fitness Concepts
Director of Training, Joe Friel's Ultrafit
Author, Training for Triathlon Running
www.Fitness-Concepts.com