The journey to a long distance race goal usually includes some shorter races along the way. That might be a half marathon on your way to a marathon, or sprint and Olympic distance triathlons on your way to a half or full course race.
Your program hopefully includes some recovery after that race – for a couple of reasons. First – your body needs it. Second – your brain needs it!
Over the course of a season our races need to be categorized to prevent injury or burn out. The ‘A’ races are the ones you want to focus to be on performance to reach a specific goal, and your training will build you up to peak for it. The ‘B’ races are planned as markers along the way to benchmark your fitness, pace, skills, nutrition and/or mental strength. The ‘C’ races are considered training races to practice specific skills or to get a read on your maximum HR, for example. Giving 100% in each race might be a recipe for burn out if recovery isn’t well managed.
So how does recovery fit into the picture when your season includes a series of races that are weeks apart? And what does recovery look like?
As with training, it depends on several factors, including your fitness and experience, age, lifestyle, history with injuries and your unique physiology. Most importantly it takes into account listening to your own body instead of following the next steps in a pre-determined program. Inexperienced or self-coached athletes can fall prey to ‘shoulding’ on themselves easily, and may feel pressure to continue on their program in spite of needing recovery time.
Step One – Immediately after racing…keep moving. Rehydrate with whatever liquid appeals – water, electrolytes, milk, soft drink… your cravings will tell you what you need most. However, within 20 minutes, take in something with protein and carbs, then honour your body’s signals that you need to eat again. And again. Sometimes a series of smaller meals will appeal instead of a huge meal, at least until your body settles down.
Step Two – Scan for injury. There is a difference between muscles that have worked hard and an injury, and it may take a day or so to truly distinguish one from the other, depending on the severity. Icing either way can bring down the inflammation response for either situation. A traumatic injury will be more immediately apparent and requires medical treatment. Overuse injuries can be less obvious and hard to distinguish from post-race aches.
Step Three – Epsom salt bath, compression socks, elevation and lots of rehydration – in addition to a few good sleeps, should help repair most of the discomfort following a race. Some light foam rolling and stretching the next day will help soften the tissues that are carrying fatigue and soreness. Getting out for a walk keeps things loose without creating further trauma. Treat blisters or chafing gently and allow them a few days to begin healing.
Step Four – Allow yourself time! This is the greatest challenge for athletes on a training program towards an ‘A’ race. Returning to hard training in the next day or two after a race should feel difficult, and probably means you need more recovery time. Forcing yourself to get out for a run or jumping right into a fast paced bike session can mean prolonged soreness or aggravate an overused muscle or tendon into becoming something more pronounced. Instead – allow yourself to go easy for your first workout back. A really slow jog or easy spin on the bike won’t undo the training you have already put in.
Step Five – Accept that you may feel sluggish or unmotivated in your next few workouts. Pay attention to good nutrition and hydration. Keep up the foam rolling and stretching to work out any adhesions and knots. Depending on how hard you raced, and how long you raced, the recovery period may be only a few days to a week. You’ll start to feel the motivation return as your body is ready to train harder again.
