Recovery article part two Since the first article I have been asked why is recovery and recovery strategies of importance? And I try to discuss the second recovery microcycle.
Since the first article I have been asked why is recovery and recovery strategies of importance?
Without going into the detail of the training theory of super compensation, as it would take way too long. In the simple version, we train and overload the body with the training stimulus which leads to fatigue and the ensuing compensation or recovery brings our basic fitness level back to a high base level (in a very small nutshell). Inadequate recovery strategies will mean that you’re not prepared to train at the next session or less training can be achieved and will instead deepen your fatigue. Fatigue comes in different forms, including central, peripheral neural, hormonal and psychological and all these factors affect the runner post marathon. It is difficult to measure and balance the athlete’s recovery with all these factors. Sometimes this is a coaches goal, to excessively fatigue the athlete when using a very controlled over reaching phase in a training plan but generally if an athlete continues on this path it is possible to end up in an over trained or injured state and this leads to a lack of performance and even effects on your general health. So by assisting recovery we can accelerate our fitness gains and possibly improve our performances and hopefully prevent burnout.
It is also worth bearing in mind that while fatigue comes in different forms, that the psychological effect of an endurance event is often overlooked. Some methods of recovery and even some methods of injury prevention have not yet had adequate scientific study done yet for some athletes the perception is enough. This is clearly seen in a well know wrist band company which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took action after an independent review panel found that their (band company) claims were misleading and breached the therapeutic goods advertising code. Yet the same company has quite a few testimonials from users who use and endorse the product (claiming it helps their sporting efforts). (Gizmodo 2011; Wales 2011) We are all individuals and have varying mental and physical factors affecting our recovery, so if it works for you and it is a safe practice, I would personally be loath to change it.
Studies done on recovery post marathons and Ultra marathons have thrown up a wide range of recovery times. One of the most useful for our purposes is a small study of 8 elite marathoners which studied the fatigue post marathon. The study by Petersen et al (Petersen, Hansen et al. 2007) concluded that the worsening of the muscle mechanics post marathon was primarily due to central rather than peripheral fatigue. This study by Petersen et al showed that the mechanical muscle function was impaired for five days post marathon. While this study was small, it used elite marathoners as opposed to untrained students making it applicable to the faster marathoners. This study also did not study any of the recovery methods used (Passive recovery, Active recovery, Cold water immersion etc.). A study from Australia using (funnily enough) eight elite swimmers looked into two recovery methods, Contrast water immersion and Hyperoxic gas inspiration. There were three measured outcomes, they used a 200m swim time trial, a blood test (interleukin 6) and asked the athletes how they felt. The main outcome was that both recovery method groups felt better post workout than the control group, there were no significant differences using the blood test or time trial as a measure, leading to the conclusion that the athlete’s perception of recovery being of significant note when using recovery methods or at least positively influencing the athlete’s mental recovery. (Peeling, Fulton et al. 2012)
Nutrition is one of the most underutilised recovery methods at age group or recreational athlete level. It is important for an athlete to understand the necessary carbohydrate, fluid and protein replacement for their bodyweight and activity. Also imperative is the need to understand the volume and timing of the nutrition required. Correct nutrition is critical for adequate recovery and any athlete involved in major endurance challenges or in high performance cannot afford to neglect this aspect of their training. Unfortunately this is a highly specialised field and I will leave the details to the experts.
The psycho-social factors affecting the athlete should also be managed post event or race. This means the individual’s preferences are important. Post event some athletes are in a positive frame of mind while others prefer to listen to music away from others. In the previous article we discussed the initial attack on recovery post endurance event or training, now I wish to look at what happens after ‘race day’. So you have followed your plan post-race, and you are now waking up the morning after, having had a good night’s sleep. What happens now? Well depending on what you have done, let’s use a marathon as an example; your body is still dealing with the effects of the race.
Microcycle 2: Resting period
This microcycle or phase lasts from the day after the marathon until you have no muscle soreness or injury. This could take anything from a few days to a few weeks. All depending on your state, post event as well as your ability to recover or even the type of injury you picked up and need to treat. So here we are at race day plus one and we still have no idea what our body is capable of, at this point you should not consider pushing it to breaking point to find out. You should continue with rehydrating and eating a nutritious diet based on aiding your body recover rather than your usual day to day diet. This means eating foods that aid the muscles to rebuild (amino acids) and help the body to repair (antioxidants) as well as treating the effects of a hard session (anti-inflammatory foods).
Allow yourself more time to sleep as well. We discussed briefly the effects of sleep on recovery in the last article but sleep should not be understated. Introduce a nap into your daily routine for the next few days until your body has started to recover as evidenced by how you feel (less lethargic). Sleep has recuperative and restorative effects which may benefit recovery from sport especially the immune and endocrine systems and as a result sleep deprivation can affect the recovery process and your adaptation to training (Reilly and Edwards 2007). Chronically painful conditions are frequently associated with sleep disturbances and it would lead on that a lack of sleep increases the pain sensitivity (Kundermann, Krieg et al. 2004; Bennett, Jones et al. 2007; Smith, Edwards et al. 2007).
Some people advocate using compression clothing for recovery but I think you will find most athletes will have dispensed with this by day three post event. There are a number of athletes who dispense with the compression clothing at night because they feel it disturbs their sleep, by elevating their temperature or making them feel uncomfortable. A more productive use of your time, instead of struggling into your compression tights at night is to review your race. Did the race go well? If you picked up minor injuries, how could they be prevented next time? And most important is, did you training plan work and if not can you fine tune it or will you have to build a new plan from scratch. What is your next race? Knowing what worked and didn’t work in terms of your recovery strategies can be very helpful.
So what activities can you do? Well I would recommend a swim or a gentle walk in the first few days post event. The swim will have the advantage of being non weight bearing as well as the hydrostatic pressure from the water aiding the venous (blood) circulation. Some light stretching with a massage booked for 48 to 72 hours post event. Crane et al in a recent study came to the conclusion that massage had no effect on muscle metabolites (Waste products) but that,
“When administered to skeletal muscle that has been acutely damaged through exercise, massage therapy appears to be clinically beneficial by reducing inflammation and promoting mitochondrial biogenesis.” (Crane, Ogborn et al. 2012)
Again, I wish to point out that this study used a small number of samples and Crane et al detected only minor changes in the production of five proteins. If you are seeing someone for massage, ask about their training and qualifications, no professional will ever skip the chance to take about their training and the effort they put into it.
I would not recommend any medium to high impact activity in the initial part of this microcycle. If you are feel well and no ill effects of the event then maybe you should start with cross training or cycling before you return to running. If you really need your running fix then I would suggest aqua jogging in your local pool. If your pool does not provide aqua jogging belts, then I suggest you buy your own at a local sports store (triathlon stores seem to have them in stock more frequently). Some light spinning on a bike or a very easy core workout might be worth considering as long as all activity is kept in the light recovery mode. Gentle walks should be preferred over intense yoga sessions. Again this depends on the athlete and how his or her body have coped with the effects of the race.
This microcycle ends when you reach a certain state, depending on the markers you have laid down in advance. There is no one definitive marker I wish to lay down but you should be free of any muscle soreness and free of injuries. Some injuries will not be clear immediately post event so if all other factors have been restored, then in discussion with your treating health professional, start cross training in a manner which will aid, not hinder your recovery. You should have rehydrated completely which is evidenced by your return to your pre-race bodyweight. If you are used to taking your resting heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature then these values should have returned to normal. In normal circumstances this lasts until 2 or 3 days post event, but it is not uncommon for it to last longer (two weeks for example) depending on a large number of factors such as age (both biological and training), type of event, injuries, nutrition and training to name a few.
In the next article we shall discuss the next recovery microcycle, the return to easy running.
Since the first article I have been asked why is recovery and recovery strategies of importance?
Without going into the detail of the training theory of super compensation, as it would take way too long. In the simple version, we train and overload the body with the training stimulus which leads to fatigue and the ensuing compensation or recovery brings our basic fitness level back to a high base level (in a very small nutshell). Inadequate recovery strategies will mean that you’re not prepared to train at the next session or less training can be achieved and will instead deepen your fatigue. Fatigue comes in different forms, including central, peripheral neural, hormonal and psychological and all these factors affect the runner post marathon. It is difficult to measure and balance the athlete’s recovery with all these factors. Sometimes this is a coaches goal, to excessively fatigue the athlete when using a very controlled over reaching phase in a training plan but generally if an athlete continues on this path it is possible to end up in an over trained or injured state and this leads to a lack of performance and even effects on your general health. So by assisting recovery we can accelerate our fitness gains and possibly improve our performances and hopefully prevent burnout.
It is also worth bearing in mind that while fatigue comes in different forms, that the psychological effect of an endurance event is often overlooked. Some methods of recovery and even some methods of injury prevention have not yet had adequate scientific study done yet for some athletes the perception is enough. This is clearly seen in a well know wrist band company which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took action after an independent review panel found that their (band company) claims were misleading and breached the therapeutic goods advertising code. Yet the same company has quite a few testimonials from users who use and endorse the product (claiming it helps their sporting efforts). (Gizmodo 2011; Wales 2011) We are all individuals and have varying mental and physical factors affecting our recovery, so if it works for you and it is a safe practice, I would personally be loath to change it.
Studies done on recovery post marathons and Ultra marathons have thrown up a wide range of recovery times. One of the most useful for our purposes is a small study of 8 elite marathoners which studied the fatigue post marathon. The study by Petersen et al (Petersen, Hansen et al. 2007) concluded that the worsening of the muscle mechanics post marathon was primarily due to central rather than peripheral fatigue. This study by Petersen et al showed that the mechanical muscle function was impaired for five days post marathon. While this study was small, it used elite marathoners as opposed to untrained students making it applicable to the faster marathoners. This study also did not study any of the recovery methods used (Passive recovery, Active recovery, Cold water immersion etc.). A study from Australia using (funnily enough) eight elite swimmers looked into two recovery methods, Contrast water immersion and Hyperoxic gas inspiration. There were three measured outcomes, they used a 200m swim time trial, a blood test (interleukin 6) and asked the athletes how they felt. The main outcome was that both recovery method groups felt better post workout than the control group, there were no significant differences using the blood test or time trial as a measure, leading to the conclusion that the athlete’s perception of recovery being of significant note when using recovery methods or at least positively influencing the athlete’s mental recovery. (Peeling, Fulton et al. 2012)
Nutrition is one of the most underutilised recovery methods at age group or recreational athlete level. It is important for an athlete to understand the necessary carbohydrate, fluid and protein replacement for their bodyweight and activity. Also imperative is the need to understand the volume and timing of the nutrition required. Correct nutrition is critical for adequate recovery and any athlete involved in major endurance challenges or in high performance cannot afford to neglect this aspect of their training. Unfortunately this is a highly specialised field and I will leave the details to the experts.
The psycho-social factors affecting the athlete should also be managed post event or race. This means the individual’s preferences are important. Post event some athletes are in a positive frame of mind while others prefer to listen to music away from others. In the previous article we discussed the initial attack on recovery post endurance event or training, now I wish to look at what happens after ‘race day’. So you have followed your plan post-race, and you are now waking up the morning after, having had a good night’s sleep. What happens now? Well depending on what you have done, let’s use a marathon as an example; your body is still dealing with the effects of the race.
Microcycle 2: Resting period
This microcycle or phase lasts from the day after the marathon until you have no muscle soreness or injury. This could take anything from a few days to a few weeks. All depending on your state, post event as well as your ability to recover or even the type of injury you picked up and need to treat. So here we are at race day plus one and we still have no idea what our body is capable of, at this point you should not consider pushing it to breaking point to find out. You should continue with rehydrating and eating a nutritious diet based on aiding your body recover rather than your usual day to day diet. This means eating foods that aid the muscles to rebuild (amino acids) and help the body to repair (antioxidants) as well as treating the effects of a hard session (anti-inflammatory foods).
Allow yourself more time to sleep as well. We discussed briefly the effects of sleep on recovery in the last article but sleep should not be understated. Introduce a nap into your daily routine for the next few days until your body has started to recover as evidenced by how you feel (less lethargic). Sleep has recuperative and restorative effects which may benefit recovery from sport especially the immune and endocrine systems and as a result sleep deprivation can affect the recovery process and your adaptation to training (Reilly and Edwards 2007). Chronically painful conditions are frequently associated with sleep disturbances and it would lead on that a lack of sleep increases the pain sensitivity (Kundermann, Krieg et al. 2004; Bennett, Jones et al. 2007; Smith, Edwards et al. 2007).
Some people advocate using compression clothing for recovery but I think you will find most athletes will have dispensed with this by day three post event. There are a number of athletes who dispense with the compression clothing at night because they feel it disturbs their sleep, by elevating their temperature or making them feel uncomfortable. A more productive use of your time, instead of struggling into your compression tights at night is to review your race. Did the race go well? If you picked up minor injuries, how could they be prevented next time? And most important is, did you training plan work and if not can you fine tune it or will you have to build a new plan from scratch. What is your next race? Knowing what worked and didn’t work in terms of your recovery strategies can be very helpful.
So what activities can you do? Well I would recommend a swim or a gentle walk in the first few days post event. The swim will have the advantage of being non weight bearing as well as the hydrostatic pressure from the water aiding the venous (blood) circulation. Some light stretching with a massage booked for 48 to 72 hours post event. Crane et al in a recent study came to the conclusion that massage had no effect on muscle metabolites (Waste products) but that,
“When administered to skeletal muscle that has been acutely damaged through exercise, massage therapy appears to be clinically beneficial by reducing inflammation and promoting mitochondrial biogenesis.” (Crane, Ogborn et al. 2012)
Again, I wish to point out that this study used a small number of samples and Crane et al detected only minor changes in the production of five proteins. If you are seeing someone for massage, ask about their training and qualifications, no professional will ever skip the chance to take about their training and the effort they put into it.
I would not recommend any medium to high impact activity in the initial part of this microcycle. If you are feel well and no ill effects of the event then maybe you should start with cross training or cycling before you return to running. If you really need your running fix then I would suggest aqua jogging in your local pool. If your pool does not provide aqua jogging belts, then I suggest you buy your own at a local sports store (triathlon stores seem to have them in stock more frequently). Some light spinning on a bike or a very easy core workout might be worth considering as long as all activity is kept in the light recovery mode. Gentle walks should be preferred over intense yoga sessions. Again this depends on the athlete and how his or her body have coped with the effects of the race.
This microcycle ends when you reach a certain state, depending on the markers you have laid down in advance. There is no one definitive marker I wish to lay down but you should be free of any muscle soreness and free of injuries. Some injuries will not be clear immediately post event so if all other factors have been restored, then in discussion with your treating health professional, start cross training in a manner which will aid, not hinder your recovery. You should have rehydrated completely which is evidenced by your return to your pre-race bodyweight. If you are used to taking your resting heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature then these values should have returned to normal. In normal circumstances this lasts until 2 or 3 days post event, but it is not uncommon for it to last longer (two weeks for example) depending on a large number of factors such as age (both biological and training), type of event, injuries, nutrition and training to name a few.
In the next article we shall discuss the next recovery microcycle, the return to easy running.
