How to Recover

I’ve found that it’s not usually difficult at all to get serious athletes to train hard. In fact, most could probably train a bit easier and be more race-fit and faster as a result. At the extreme end, I’ve talked with a few overtrained athletes over the years, from age groupers to pros (age-group athletes, by the way, are more likely to overtrain, I believe). The overtrained athletes I’ve talked with seemed to have several common characteristics: a great deal of talent, a long history of successful training, a high tolerance for training stress/workload, a strong work ethic, a great desire to succeed (or not fail), they were self-coached and had little else in their life but their sport.

 

Of course, depending on how you define it, all successful athletes overtrain. Sometimes it’s referred to as overreaching, but this is still just an early stage of overtraining. The difference between overreaching and overtraining is how long it takes to recover. With overreaching you are ready to go after, at most, about two days of rest and/or active recovery. When overtrained after a few days—or even a few weeks—you are still tired. There are a host of other possible symptoms you can read about in my Training Bible books. The bottom line is that when you are overtrained (it’s sometimes referred to as the “overtraining syndrome” to differentiate it from the early, overreaching stages) your race season or at least a huge chunk of it is over.

 

All good athletes are overreached from time to time. Quite frequently, in fact. But few people can achieve an overtraining syndrome. It takes the characteristics mentioned above along with the capacity to ignore the body when it is crying out for rest.

 

Training as if you are eventually going to become overtrained is necessary for success. The process of becoming fit requires that you stress the body to a level for which it is not currently adapted. You can’t do this only once. High fitness requires that you do it repeatedly for some period of time. When you eventually stop adding stress and recover is the key to avoiding overtraining.

 

Recovery should be built into every day, every week, every month and every year. For some this is the hard part. This is where they fail on the path to high fitness. Let’s look at the starting point for recovery: What you do after a stressful workout.

 

First, what is a stressful workout? In my books I refer to these as “breakthrough” (BT) workouts. If you use the workout menu at www.TrainingPeaks.com you’ll find many workouts with “BT:” preceding the workout description. Essentially, this is a hard workout, one that will require more than 24 hours to recover from. During that 24+ hours you’ll be doing easy, active-recovery workouts or completely resting. Most athletes can generally manage two to four BT sessions in seven days with active recovery or rest days between them. It’s also possible to string two or more BT workouts back to back on consecutive days, but by so doing you increase the risk of eventually becoming overtrained if some serious rest is not included. (I might also add that this increases the rate at which you become fit. This is the risk-reward concept of training which I’ve written about before.)

 

Quick recovery after a BT workout is one of the keys to success in endurance sport. The sooner you are recovered the sooner you can do another BT workout. The more BT workouts you can do in a given period of time the more fit you become. The more fit you are the faster you race. So the key is quick recovery.

 

What can you do to recover fast after a BT session? The following is what I tell the athletes I coach to do and in the order they should do them. Not everyone can do each of the following after every hard workout because things like a career and other responsibilities get in the way. Just do the best job you can realizing that some days it will be easier to plug more of these in than on other days.

 

1. Take in carbs within 30 minutes of finishing a BT workout. Most prefer this in a liquid form. It could be anything that is rich in sugar. This is not a time to be overly concerned with what is or isn’t “healthy.” Possibilities are commercial recovery drinks, a blender homebrew you make, or even a soft drink. Take in whatever appeals to you that is carbohydrate-rich and high glycemic. Depending on body size, your experience and how hard the workout was you’ll probably need between 200 and 500 calories. It could even be more. You’ll know when you’ve had enough. I always like to see the athletes I coach include fruit or fruit juice at this time since hard workouts increase body acidity which delays recovery (not necessarily lactic acid which is a topic for another post). Fruits and veggies are the only foods that reduce acidity in the body. It may also be a good idea to eat some protein. About 10 grams (40 kcal) is probably adequate. There’s quite a bit of research which seems to support this. Commercial recovery drinks usually include protein. But it could be a powder you add to your homebrew. Or perhaps you just eat a couple of boiled eggs or leftovers in the fridge. Protein and carbs at this time don’t have to be expensive, exotic or designed by a “scientist.”

 

2. As soon as possible after the workout elevate your legs. For example, lay on the floor with your feet and legs on a chair or against the wall. This will take the load off of your heart and encourage the redistribution of fluids that have pooled in your legs. A few minutes of this is usually enough.

 

3. Take a nap. This is one that most people can’t fit in. Most pro athletes seem to nap regularly. But then they don’t usually have to rush off to work or a child’s soccer game. Thirty to sixty minutes is probably enough to help speed recovery.

 

4. Drink fluids to completely satisfy thirst the remainder of the day (there is no ‘schedule’ or precise amount you must drink). Water is the No. 1 choice. Sports drinks are okay immediately post-workout but as the day wears on these increasingly become poor choices for fluids. Your cells don’t need to bathed in sugar and sodium for hour after hour.

 

5. In the next meal after the BT workout include dietary starch. The best options here are potato, sweet potato and yam. But it’s also okay to eat some grains (bread, bagels, cereal, corn, rice, etc). I prefer vegetables to grains at this time as vegs are richer in micronutrients than grains. After that meal return to eating primarily veggies, fruits and lean protein while reducing your starch intake. This, again, is because starches are less rich in vitamins and minerals. My concern at this time is long-range recovery. Micronutrients are needed for that. If you’ve done a good job of taking in sugar immediately post-workout and adequate starch in the first post-workout meal then you shouldn’t need a lot more starch or sugar now.

 

6. The most important form of recovery comes in sleep the night after your BT session. This is when adaptation takes place and you become more fit. It’s best to sleep until you awake naturally—not to an alarm clock. That often means going to bed early. Again, a lot of people simply can’t fit an early bedtime into their lifestyles due to so many other commitments. But realize that this is the one which will give you the greatest return on investment.

 

While this is what I advise those I coach to do in order to recover quickly from a BT workout, we usually wind up modifying things to better fit their unique situations. This often has to do with the time of day they do certain types of workouts. For example, when doing two sessions in a day (see my blog on this topic here) they may need to be arranged so that the one which will be the easier to recover after, in terms of lifestyle conflicts, is the harder one.

Comments

[Gav]

Hi Joe,

Good post as always, very informative, but can I ask a question. You advised - "The sooner you are recovered the sooner you can do another BT workout. The more BT workouts you can do in a given period of time the more fit you become. The more fit you are the faster you race" - Why use periodization, why not just do a BT workout, recover and do another, all year round. Providing you recover well enough couldn't you get fit doing this method of training only?

FYI Im currently using periodization and it has worked previously but im always looking for other ways to train - I think I like training hard and struggle with base periods!

[Joe Friel]

Hi Gav--Good question but I think you may be a bit confused on what a BT workout is. You seem to be thinking that it is high intensity or race-specific. That isn't necessarily the case. A much longer than usual workout done at a low intensity is also a BT. Or a long mod-intensity workout on a hilly terrain could also be a BT. It's anything that stresses you regardless of what the cause of the stress was. BTs occur throughout the year. All that varies with periodization is that the nature of the BT workout changes. Good luck with your training!

[Mike Saif]

Joe, I like to eat raw nuts, especially almonds (very good for alkaline), cashews and pistachios. Are these good to get protein from? Also, I tend to have some chocolate milk and a fistful of cashews and raisins right after a ride as this gives carbs and protein. Is it a good mix and is it getting the protein from the right type? Thanks.

[Feerlessfood]

Joe,
Thanks for posting this, it is very helpful and recovery is something I have been failing to do ideally (hence your first paragraphs about overtraining).

When you say recovery, does that include not only how your body gets stronger and adapts for the next workout, but can it include how sore your muscles will be the next day? If eat and recover properly, will my legs be less sore? Thanks again!

[Mike Russell]

As always, great post. My body screams for a nap after a BT and my wife always complains that without one, I am a grump.

Great post.

[Jose Perez]

hi Joe,
Thank you very much for your blog, is a inspiration and a source of good information for me a popular sport entusiast from spain.
Only to appreciate your work and again thak you

Jose

[Joe Friel]

Fearlessfood--Thanks for your comment. Recovery, esp sleep, may help to mitigate soreness the next day by a small amount. But that's just my guess. I've never seen any studies on this s related to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

[Joe Friel]

Mike S--The research I've read shows that only about 10g or protein is needed after a stressful workout, but I'm sure that would vary quite a bit with body size and how stressful, plus, perhaps, how much diet in diet generally. Nuts and milk post-workout would _probably_ give you enough.

[Cynthia]

I'm curious what you think about Mauro DiPasquale's advice to restrict carbs after workouts to prolong the anabolic window. The premise is that keeping glycogen low elevates insulin sensitivity for hours or even days, shifts the resting (and active) metabolism toward fat burning, and helps with the anabolic phase of muscle repair as well, as long as adequate protein is provided. See http://metabolicdiet.com/pdfs/articles/Post_Exercise_Carbohydrates.pdf Granted, he's focused more on bodybuilding, but the science is still relevant. Glycogen reserves will not be replenished as fast, but this would seem to help with training fat burning anyway. Keeping postworkout carbs lower would seem to be helpful for body composition issues as well as periods of training where weight training/strength building are prominent. I have found that I might not be able to train as intensely, but I wonder if the other benefits might be useful in the long run, or at certain periods of the training year.

[Joe Friel]

Hi Cynthia--It's an interesting idea. I've read about doing that before. There was a Euro guy back in the early 90s who also proposed something like this. He scheduled meal times, type of foods, workout types and timing, and sleep to achieve similar ends. Don't recall his name now. Anyway, I think it just comes down to what your goals are. There are many ways to achieve various results. Good luck!

[Paul F]

Good points Cynthia,

I've read a bit a research that also suggests it's not necessary to replenish your carbs so quickly after a workout. In other words a half tank full of petrol will operate just as efficiently as a full tank of petrol and athletes run the risk of over consuming resulting in increased storage of fat.

Post workout recovery strategies should include periods of time where you are continuing to metabolise fat at higher than normal rates, if you consume carbs too soon you may in fact surpress you ability to keep this happening, due to insulin release, which could be an effective protocol to follow for someone wanting to improve their body composition perhaps??

Paul

[Hunterpronovost]

Joe,

Good post ( as usual )

What are your thoughts on including caffeine in an immediate post-exercise diet? I've seen recent research+evidence that suggests caffeine aids in speedy recovery and the antioxidants in tea and even coffee are very good.

Cheers
HP

[Joe Friel]

Hunter...--I've never seen anything on that. Do you have lit references?

[Hunterpronovost]

A quick search brought this up:

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/4715

I dont exactly remember where i read it. Probably in popular cycling websites and their coaches' columns.

From purely personal experience, I would have to agree. If I can't take a nap right after a hard workout, then a cup of coffee seems to help the next day.

[Jay]

Joe, my schedule only allows me to train about 300 hours a year. Given that I usually never train for more than 8 hours a week, is it still possible to get overtrained?

[Joe Friel]

Jay--Thanks for your comment. I'm sorry but I really can't answer your question. Seems simple enough but there is so much that would be neccasry to know. For all I know you are 98 years old and find it hard to walk around the block. Or perhaps you are 25 and have a VO2max of 78. There are simply too many 'it depends.' Even if you start providing me with bio data I'd still not know what the level of overtraining might be for you. There is no formula for this. When I coach someone it takes me weeks to figure these sorts of things out. Good luck!

[Peter Karlsson]

Joe,

Here's another noob question from me, hope you put up with my lack of knowledge. I'm thinking about recovery rides.

I guess I'm missing out on something here since everyone seems to do them. But; what good are them compared to no riding at all? Wouldn't that be even more of a recovery? I guess recovery rides are supposed to keep fitness from declining too fast, but during taper I've got the impression that the opposite is used to keep fitness from dropping too fast, but still not getting much stress; to cut volume and keep intensity: the absolute opposite of a recovery ride.

Also, recovery rides are quite similar to what people not training usually do on their bike, resulting in i guess, well, not much at all? That's fine if you want recovery, but again, if nothing is gained, isn't the alternative, complete rest, better time spent?

Trying to find possible reasons here. Maybe if you practice high-cadence during them, to gain economy? But again, isn't that what you do at sprints and intervals at high intensities?

Thinking about how to spend training hours wisely; if recovery rides are, for an example 1/3 of the total training time, and they contribute little above doing nothing at all, isn't that wasting 1/3 of total training time? Which seems like a huge waste of time.

But I guess I'm lost here, since everyone are doing them. Please enlighten a beginner, Joe.

Cheers /Peter

[Joe Friel]

Peter--Great question! This is a topic on my list of things to write about here. So I'll just touch a couple of points. More to follow at a later date.

Following a hard workout/s you need to do something to assist the body with recovery. For the novice the best things is doing nothing at all. For the advanced athlete doing a light workout helps to speed recovery (compared with doing nothing).

As I've said here before, frequency of training improves economy. Pedaling a bike (or running, swimming, etc) frequently, even if it's casually, improves one's ability to pedal a bike/run/swim/etc (compared with infrequently). If one does 3 hard workouts a week and takes 4 days off economy will suffer and it will show up in reduced performance eventually.

Sorry for the brevity. More later. Check back.

[F. Berinstein]

Hi Joe,

I'm fairly new to triathlon training, but not an unfit beginner. I've noticed as I advance in my training intensity, that I'm not sleeping as well as usual. I wake up at least once a night and have a hard time falling back asleep, which means i'm not feeling rested in the morning. I've always been a good sleeper, so not sure what's going on. Is this my body's way of adapting to intensity?
Many thanks,
FB

[Joe Friel]

F. Berinstein--Yes, it certainly could be due to training, esp if you do a workout late in the day. I used (early 1990s) swim with a masters group at 7pm. I can recall having a hard time going to sleep those evenings. Your body may also be adapting to the new stress of tri training.