“You can only train as well as you recover.” A simple lesson taught to me by one of my first coaches in triathlon, but one that nicely encapsulates the importance of getting this fine balancing act right.
As athletes we are inclined towards pushing boundaries, testing limits. It’s an important trait because without that drive we aren’t challenged, and without challenging ourselves we don’t improve. It needs to be kept in check though. If it’s piled up too high or too quickly we can’t adapt to whatever stimulus we’re giving the body in a positive way. Left unchecked for long enough and we start to see things like; injury, illness, excessive fatigue, inconsistency and negative mental state.
So how do we get this balance right and walk the line without crossing over it? To start with we need to understand what we’re trying to achieve with recovery. Essentially recovery is an exercise in stress management.
Training applies a physical stress to the body and forces it to adapt becoming fitter and stronger at dealing with that stress. This is often quantified by training apps and trackers as “TSS” (training stress score), and compounded over time to give you a “Fitness Score”. Whilst this is a fair enough method of tracking the physical stress your current training is having, considered on its own it produces a somewhat incomplete overall picture of the athlete.
The body only knows stress, it can struggle to distinguish the source. Ever been sad or overwhelmed and felt absolutely exhausted physically? Just one example of a non-linear stress response. Internally the body’s response to stress is neural and hormonal, these responses can be very similar even when caused by very different “stressful situations”. When we get this over-lap is when these non-linear responses start to happen. A sympathetic nervous system response is a good example of this. At the start line of a race your body will release a surge of adrenaline in anticipation of the immense physical stress it’s about to undergo. Heart Rate will increase, you feel more alert and aware of things around you. If you were to deliver a presentation or speech at work there’s no impending physical stress, but you’d likely feel the same way. Internally the body is having the same response despite the fact the external stress is very different.
In reality there’s a certain level of “overall stress” the body can handle. As a result we need to consider all sources of stress; emotional, physical, mental, financial, etc. If you’re going through a really stressful period at work your capacity to withstand vast amounts of physical stress from training may be reduced. Obstinately pushing through adding the physical stress regardless will most likely come back and bite you. However if some of the focus is switched towards activities and training that reduce mental stress you can maximise your ability to train and increase your ability to handle and ultimately overcome those other stresses.
So how do we prioritise our actions around recovery effectively?
We start by looking at actions that have a big swing effect on overall stress, i.e. if we’re getting them right they will significantly reduce stress, whereas if we’re getting them wrong they are going to increase it. Once we have these elements under control then work our way into the more specific physical relief tools.
Start with sleep and nutrition. Whilst I could write a whole blog on the importance of each of these, I’ll keep it very simple for the purposes of this post.
In simple terms it’s been scientifically proven that getting enough good quality sleep will increase not only athletic performance, but also improves both physical health and mental wellbeing. We should all be getting at least 7-9hrs sleep every night, and the more you train the more you’ll need to recover.
When we think about nutrition it’s all about creating good habits; eat to some form of structure, eat a balanced diet that includes a little bit of everything, avoid big swings in calorie consumption, and try to minimise the amount of processed foods you’re eating.
Bad sleep patterns and poor nutrition habits will increase the stress your body is under, and can have an incredibly detrimental effect on your ability to perform and train consistently. So get these right first.
Once we have the sleep and nutrition under control we can start to look at the application of lighter recovery sessions or even complete rest days into the training programme. If you’ve got a good coach this may not be something you particularly need to think about. They should be prescribing lighter sessions, rest days and recovery blocks into your training plan to manage your stress appropriately. If you aren’t currently coached it’s probably an area that you’ll need to focus on.
Some simple things I’d consider. Assign “Key” Sessions. If we want to be consistent over time, not every single session can be the be all and end all. Specifically select 40-60% of your weekly training to apply the most intensity of thought and physical effort to. Listen to your body. If you’re; irritable, starting to feel run down, or struggling to sleep, these are good signs you’re over-reaching and need some lighter sessions or a rest day.
When we have all that right we start to look at specific tools and aids to reduce the physical stress from training. A good place to start is with daily stretching and foam rolling, both are highly effective as well as being very time and cost efficient. Beyond that we can look at things like supplementation. Supplementation will be specific to individual needs and if you are concerned a blood test to see what your body requires is a good idea. It is common for endurance athletes to require supplementation of; iron + vit. C and vit. D to be helpful when training at high volumes. Additional therapies beyond that range from CBD oils, and fatigue reducing creams and sprays, through regular sports massage, cold water or cryotherapy sessions, and onto the personal recovery systems such as Percussion Massage Guns, TENS systems, and Compression Boots.
Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of mental recovery practices such as yoga, meditation, reading, social activities whether that be a group ride/run or time out with friends and family, or whatever else calms you mentally.
Recovery is often viewed as taking a day off once in a while or simple use of a magic recovery aid. Whilst those things can be important elements in removing the physical stress caused by endurance training, it should really be seen as any action we can take to reduce our overall stress.
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