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What is recovery?

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What is recovery? Empty What is recovery?

Post  charles Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:21 pm

What do you consider recovery and why?

Is recovery the entire period between your last run and your next run? Is recovery a 45 minute window after you finish a run? Does recovery necessarily include nutrition? Does a body need to recover after EVER run? Is recovery as simple as rest? Is recovery a "stand alone" training principle or is it tied in some way to training (the run itself) and nutrition. If so how and why?

Just some thoughts floating through my head. Would like to get your ideas on this topic.
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Post  Mrs. Schuey Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:35 pm

This is a great question, Charles and I'm glad you asked. I would like others' input on this as well...Thanks for posting Charles!
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Post  mul21 Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:37 pm

That's a very good question and you hit on a bunch of different things that go into it.

First, recovery from a hard run has a couple of different aspects to it. The first is nutrition. After a long/hard run, I get a slim fast or chocolate milk down as soon as I finish and the drink some Gatorade. I know other people use a few different things for this purpose, but that's what I do and it's important, especially when you start logging higher mileage. Second is the actual recovery. If it's a 20 miler and you find yourself sore on a regular basis from them, an ice bath will work wonders. A tray or two of ice cubes in cold water, sit in it for 15 minutes and you're good to go.

Make sure you're getting plenty of sleep and you're eating well in general. I definitely notice when I'm not getting enough carbs when I'm running lots of miles. I feel sluggish if I've eaten too much protein or fat and lack the necessary carbs.

Last, recovery runs come into play. I'm typically running these 30-40 seconds slower than my long runs and to steal from Dave-O, they really shouldn't be more than an hour. Most of us mere mortals will top out at 6 miles on a recovery run for that reason. I'm sure others will add to this, but it's a few of the high points to be aware of.
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Post  Schuey Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:47 pm

Recovery for me is anything that is not stressing my body anymore then what it has already been stressed.

It could be going out for a run slower then the last day, it could be taking a day off. The bottom line is that I want my body to be able absorb what the training effect that I'm trying to gain from past workouts. So if I just did a very hard LT workout the next day I might decide to do another tough workout and then on the third day run very slow or take a day off so that my body can take in the benefits of the hard workouts.

How do I express this more. There was a time I would take a day off on planned day of the week for recovery. I no longer do that my planned off days became recovery runs or jogs. Now a lot of my planned recovery runs have become easy runs. Due to were I'm at in my own running I now allow my body to decide when and what type of recovery I need. If I feel like I need a complete day off I take it for recovery, if I feel that I need a really slow run then I do that for recovery. If I feel that after doing hard workouts that I can handle an easy run to recover from my workouts then I do it.

I guess the bottom line is that Recovery could have a different meaning and approach to different runners. I feel there is a baseline to what they are and as one runs more the term "Recovery" can change with the runner.

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Post  Tim M Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:54 pm

To make it confusing, recovery is a pretty generic term used for a variety of different meanings.

After any hard workout (running, weight-lifting, etc), your body needs to rebuild itself. The stress of exercising tears down the muscle fibers and they need to repair themselves to become stronger. So a post-workout recovery would be nutritional to give the body what it needs to repair. Many companies sell products for this and some studies have shown low-fat chocolate milk to be just as effective. The body will gain the most benefit if the nutrients are replaced within 30 minutes of the workout.

For running, the longer the run or the harder the workout, the more time your body typically needs to repair itself. Many training approaches would call for a recovery run. If you are doing doubles, it would be later in the day. If not, the next day. The idea of the recovery run is to run slow to move the muscles, but not hard enough to add further damage. The movement helps flush out the muscles and speed the repair process. Runners with lower mileage tend to take the following day off as rest, but the idea is still the same. Allow the body time to repair from the stress.
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Post  Martin VW Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:53 pm

In the way that you asked the question, "recovery" is anything you do or don't do from one run that stresses your running muscles to the next.

That 45 minute window you refer to (I've been told 30 minutes but that's splitting hairs) is the period of time during which your muscles are in hyper replenishment mode. Protein and simple carbs in a 4:1 ratio (as in Boost or Slim Fast or chocolate milk) will rebuild glycogen stores faster than outside that window. You should, I'm told, actually delay the intake of complex carbs until afte that 30 minute window so it doens't get in the way of the replenishment process.
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Post  Schuey Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:01 pm

Martin VW wrote:In the way that you asked the question, "recovery" is anything you do or don't do from one run that stresses your running muscles to the next.

That 45 minute window you refer to (I've been told 30 minutes but that's splitting hairs) is the period of time during which your muscles are in hyper replenishment mode. Protein and simple carbs in a 4:1 ratio (as in Boost or Slim Fast or chocolate milk) will rebuild glycogen stores faster than outside that window. You should, I'm told, actually delay the intake of complex carbs until afte that 30 minute window so it doens't get in the way of the replenishment process.

Yep I've been told about that, I have read that, but I have never followed it. lol! Maybe I should and see if I see any benefits from it. I have also read that it could be up to a 2 hour window but the sooner the better. Sometimes I have a hard time taking in food so soon after a run or race.
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Post  John Kilpatrick Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:20 pm

I have no idea Shocked

Actually, I try to take one day off (learned that from Hal's training plan), but never really incorporated "recovery runs" into my training. If that is tried and true, I may start to...

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Post  fostever Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:25 pm

Schuey wrote:
Martin VW wrote:In the way that you asked the question, "recovery" is anything you do or don't do from one run that stresses your running muscles to the next.

That 45 minute window you refer to (I've been told 30 minutes but that's splitting hairs) is the period of time during which your muscles are in hyper replenishment mode. Protein and simple carbs in a 4:1 ratio (as in Boost or Slim Fast or chocolate milk) will rebuild glycogen stores faster than outside that window. You should, I'm told, actually delay the intake of complex carbs until afte that 30 minute window so it doens't get in the way of the replenishment process.

Yep I've been told about that, I have read that, but I have never followed it. lol! Maybe I should and see if I see any benefits from it. I have also read that it could be up to a 2 hour window but the sooner the better. Sometimes I have a hard time taking in food so soon after a run or race.
I was wondering if you even drank water after we finished. I thought you had some sort of natural camelback! lol!
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Post  Mike MacLellan Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:36 pm

I think Schuey's definition summed up the concept of "recovery" pretty well: it's everything that happens in between the periods of stress placed on our bodies through exercise. This includes nutrition, rest/sleep, and even exercise that is light enough to not stress our aerobic/muscular systems to any "significant" degree.

With regards to runs, I consider anything in which I never once push the pace (yes, I'm running, moving my feet forward, but I'm putting absolutely no conscious work into it) and cap the run at 1hr to be a recovery run. This is probably better described as an "easy" run by most people, a little too much to be considered full recovery, but a no-work, 1hr run really does very little to tax my body at this point.

I would rank sleep slightly above nutrition with regards to importance. Case in point: my brother (I know, I talk about the guy a lot; what can I say, he's a role model) has been competitively cycling for a couple years. Until very recently, he's cared very, very little about his nutrition off the bike. He'd finish a 3 hour ride and eat a huge salad. Then he'd spoon frosting out of the jar for dinner after a day of classes. He tends to go to bed by 9:30-10 every day.

He's been performing consistently well in races since he started riding. Now, he's recently started to incorporate better food choices - particularly in that crucial half hour after a ride - into his training, and he's seeing even greater improvements. But he's also riding more and following a more rigid training plan.

Maybe we're looking at something more like a triangle, with training, rest, and nutrition on the points...?

Apologies for rambling on, here. I blame the coffee.
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Post  mul21 Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:37 pm

John Kilpatrick wrote:I have no idea Shocked

Actually, I try to take one day off (learned that from Hal's training plan), but never really incorporated "recovery runs" into my training. If that is tried and true, I may start to...

It definitely is! Doing recovery runs at a slower pace will allow your hard days to be hard like they're supposed to be and provide the intended benefits. Now, I'm not sure exactly how that will work for you while training for tris, but the concept should still be applied. I've been able to increase my mileage and intensity by throwing in 2-3 runs a week that are super easy and not taxing on the body in the least.
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Post  stephenbarryfreedman Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:42 pm

For me it is a slow run that i have the day after a long run--often 3-4 miles and always at least 1-2 min slower than the long run. For some reason it helps aching and stiff muscles just to turn over my legs, perhaps it just gets the blood circulating and helps recovery mechanisms.
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Post  Martin VW Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:06 pm

mul21 wrote:
John Kilpatrick wrote:I have no idea Shocked

Actually, I try to take one day off (learned that from Hal's training plan), but never really incorporated "recovery runs" into my training. If that is tried and true, I may start to...

It definitely is! Doing recovery runs at a slower pace will allow your hard days to be hard like they're supposed to be and provide the intended benefits. Now, I'm not sure exactly how that will work for you while training for tris, but the concept should still be applied. I've been able to increase my mileage and intensity by throwing in 2-3 runs a week that are super easy and not taxing on the body in the least.

Brad Hudson and Greg McMillan would disagree with you. This is the cornerstone of the "quantity vs quality" debate - one that we can't ever answer - about the amount of running economy added by recovery runs versus days off / cross training for recovery.

Brad Hudson says in Run Faster that older runners (I'll leave it ot you to decide what that means) benefit from fewer miles because the elasticity of our muscles diminishes over time.

Greg McMillan talks very little - from what I've seen - about the role of recovery miles. He has absolutely pushed quality over quantity in everything I've received or read. I would say he would favor our each doing whatever we need to do to get ready to do the next workout at 100% of intended effort. Adding miles isn't a necessary part of that equation.

And I wonder if a ratio of "training miles" to "recovery miles" can actually get upside down. If, for example, you could manage a 6 mile GA run instead of a 12 miles in the form of a double recovery run (5 and 7?) and still nail your key workouts, might you be better off from a training perspective? What about an 8 mile GA run and an off day versus two "double recovery run" days?

In short, I'm not convinced that 75 miles with 25 recovery miles is appreciably better than 55 miles with zero recover miles.

Let the debate ensue. Smile
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Post  mul21 Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:14 pm

For those of us at an endurance deficit (like me) I think those added miles are a huge bonus. Now, whether my improvement over the last year or so has been due to just consistent running, higher intensity, or more miles I don't know. But I think the aerobic benefits and the extra time spent on your feet is important for the marathon distance in particular. VW, you've had a far different experience in terms of quality vs. quantity than I have, but from my background in running, I knew endurance was the issue for me.
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Post  Mike MacLellan Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:14 pm

My contribution to the debate - keep in mind, I'm 24 and a relatively new runner with a bit of previous endurance experience in the form of road biking:

Of the 150.75 hours I trained for my 2nd marathon, 7.33 were slower than 9:40 pace, 36.5 were recovery (8:40-9:40), 38.5 were LSD (8:10-8:40), and 33.2 were easy (7:40-8:10). That means at least 70-75% of my time running was between MP+30 and MP+150.

So, for young bucks with no running background, I'll give a +1 for quantity. This doesn't mean quality wasn't important, and it did become progressively more important as I neared my peak weeks, but the focus was primarily on building and sustaining high mileage.
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Post  Dave-O Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:23 pm

[quote="Martin VW"][quote="mul21"]
John Kilpatrick wrote:I have no idea Shocked

In short, I'm not convinced that 75 miles with 25 recovery miles is appreciably better than 55 miles with zero recover miles.

Let the debate ensue. Smile

You're not convinced because you've never done 75 miles in a week and thus have no real life experience to compare it to. Its one thing to argue it in the abstract; its another to do it and experience the improvements.
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Post  Dave-O Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:25 pm

Mike MacLellan wrote:
So, for young bucks with no running background, I'll give a +1 for quantity. This doesn't mean quality wasn't important, and it did become progressively more important as I neared my peak weeks, but the focus was primarily on building and sustaining high mileage.

Counterpoint: Between the age of 23 and 27, I improved my marathon time from 3:28 to 2:34 while routinely logging less than 10% of my mileage at or faster than marathon pace.
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Post  mul21 Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:26 pm

Dave-O wrote:
Mike MacLellan wrote:
So, for young bucks with no running background, I'll give a +1 for quantity. This doesn't mean quality wasn't important, and it did become progressively more important as I neared my peak weeks, but the focus was primarily on building and sustaining high mileage.

Counterpoint: Between the age of 23 and 27, I improved my marathon time from 3:28 to 2:34 while routinely logging less than 10% of my mileage at or faster than marathon pace.

That's not a counterpoint, you agreed with him. I'd think a lawyer would know that! lol!
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Post  Michele "1L" Keane Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:28 pm

[quote="Dave-O"][quote="Martin VW"]
mul21 wrote:
John Kilpatrick wrote:I have no idea Shocked

In short, I'm not convinced that 75 miles with 25 recovery miles is appreciably better than 55 miles with zero recover miles.

Let the debate ensue. Smile

You're not convinced because you've never done 75 miles in a week and thus have no real life experience to compare it to. Its one thing to argue it in the abstract; its another to do it and experience the improvements.

I'll also state that there is definite validity in the age factor. I did 75-80 mile weeks when I was in my late 20s/early 30s with a mix of quality - speed, tempo runs, LT runs, and recovery runs. I had little issues with recovery and was hardly ever injured.

When I hit my early to mid 40s, things began to change. I can't seem to sustain the higher mileage without falling off the abyss. I take a lot longer to recover, and I believe I still benefit from the workout mixture with more honest rest and cross training thrown in. Just my 2 cents here, but I'm almost a quarter of a century older than Dave-O and than Mike M. It would be interesting to see what the other maters runners have to say.

Now, I'm not totally convinced that if I just "run more", I won't have decent results, but when I tried that approach (for me), I lost my speed both in training and racing.
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Post  Schuey Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:32 pm

Well again I think it is different for different people and I also think it is different at different times of training.

There was a time when I did more quality over quantity and I improved and ran some great races. Then came a time were I felt that I had reached my max by doing that type of training at that given mileage of 50 miles a week. That is fun that my mileage was close to what VW tossed out there.

So I realized that I had to make a change in my training and had to do something different if I wanted to improve as a runner. So I decided to do what Dave-O had been doing for a while and that was more volume. The only twist to this was that I knew that if I was going to up my volume something had to give and that give for me was quality. I made the choice to run more at the cost of building up my mileage and see what would happen.

So for Boston 09 and Chicago 08 I built my mileage up to a avg. of 80 miles per week and did little quality stuff. I wanted my body to get use to running more miles and didn't want to hurt myself like I have done in the past with doing to much quality. End result was that I ran two great race that year and one overall PR and a course PR.

Still after doing that I knew that I still had to change things up to yet again improve. I now knew for me that just doing quality or just doing quantity I was going to be limited to how much more I was going to improve.

My next move was to leave my mileage at 80 miles per week but add back in some of the quality. So then Chicago 09 ended up being another great race for me one more step to my bigger goal of going sub 3, not there yet but close I ran 3:04.

After I knew I still had to tweak my training still and yet again I upped my mileage and started doing a lot more weeks of 100 miles. Not only that I then knew my body was use to more mileage and could handle that so I add back in more quality stuff. For the result of the last three races has been great 2:55:xx, 2:53:xx and 2:49:16.

So what is my conclusion to this 1. That to improve in training you have to be able to adjust your training when need be. 2. You have to make sure you are allowing your body to recovery from the stress you are putting on it whether that means a day off, recovery run, easy run, food, etc.. You have to find what works for you and be open to try new things. 3. I believe at some time you have to balance your training between quality and quantity. Sure you can do more of one or the other but at some point the gains will stop and again you have to adapt to it. 4. The huge one that I learned is that you have to be CONSISTENT with your training as long as your putting in the training you should be able to improve from what you are doing although you don't want to overdo it and overtrain very fine line. I would have to say that volume has done wonders for my race times and not only that my stride. I feel as if I'm a stronger and better runner from doing more miles. To be able to be better and have a better stride one most practice it more.

As for me I feel that what I'm doing right now is still working and that I still have some room to improve by what I'm doing but I do know sometime in the future I will have to yet again adapt my training to fit my needs and body to be able to improve.


Last edited by Schuey on Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Dave-O Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:34 pm

mul21 wrote:
That's not a counterpoint, you agreed with him. I'd think a lawyer would know that! lol!

Dammit. This is where I need the facepalm emoticon.

or editing powers...
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Post  Mike MacLellan Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:35 pm

mul21 wrote:
Dave-O wrote:
Mike MacLellan wrote:
So, for young bucks with no running background, I'll give a +1 for quantity. This doesn't mean quality wasn't important, and it did become progressively more important as I neared my peak weeks, but the focus was primarily on building and sustaining high mileage.

Counterpoint: Between the age of 23 and 27, I improved my marathon time from 3:28 to 2:34 while routinely logging less than 10% of my mileage at or faster than marathon pace.

That's not a counterpoint, you agreed with him. I'd think a lawyer would know that! lol!

I was wondering if I was the only one who thought he was agreeing with me, Jim. Glad to know I wasn't. For clarification, only 18.5 of my hours were at/above MP for that cycle. That's just about 13-14% of my time, but translated into miles, it's probably slightly higher; maybe 15-16%?
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Post  Jerry Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:39 pm

[quote="Dave-O"][quote="Martin VW"]
mul21 wrote:
John Kilpatrick wrote:I have no idea Shocked

In short, I'm not convinced that 75 miles with 25 recovery miles is appreciably better than 55 miles with zero recover miles.

Let the debate ensue. Smile

You're not convinced because you've never done 75 miles in a week and thus have no real life experience to compare it to. Its one thing to argue it in the abstract; its another to do it and experience the improvements.

+1

That's why I still have my doubt on the double recovery run double recovery theory. Basketball

I've also learned from my experience when I ran relative low mileage early in my marathon career, there is no different types of run. I could go out for an easy run with pace range from MP to LSD in no time, no warmup whatsoever. Once the mileage went up to certain point, I realized I couldn't pull out a MP anytime I wanted and then I needed recovery run blah blah blah.

The experience is rather interesting. So I would not conclude anything, but just go try and figure out what is best for myself.
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Post  charles Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:57 pm

So to answer my own questions . . . share my own practices regarding recovery . . . cull what many above have said so well . . .

1. Immediately after a hard effort. Nutrient replacement/replenishment/refueling. In the summertime I use Hammer's Recoverite after every hard effort or any run of 10 miles or more. I will also occasionally take an ice bath after a 20 miler. I used to take a lot more ice baths than I do now - but I use about 4 bags of ice. It can be inconvenient and expensive. I will hose my legs down after a run a lot of times in the summer (like I'm a thoroughbred or something Rolling Eyes ).

Where I probably fall short is my post hard effort nutrition. On Sunday I like to have a few beers and the the wife and I like big Sunday breakfast - omelet, bacon, hash browns and beer. Then we always have a big Sunday night dinner. For some reason I always weigh more on Monday morning than any other day of the week!

Then there is stretching and rolling. Which I usually do in the afternoon after a hard effort.

2. Recovery between hard efforts. I usually run relatively hard on Friday and then run long on Sunday. In order to recover between efforts I need to pay attention to nutrient replacement/refueling. But as mentioned and discussed above I also do a recovery run. Just an easy run that starts very slow, 10:00 pace is not unusual in the summer time and I just run easy until my muscles start to loosen up and I can get in an easy running grove - down to about 8:30 pace. I tend to stretch immediately after recovery runs for about 10 minutes.

Double recovery - I do a lot of recovery/easy runs. I will run twice on Mondays sometimes and a lot of times twice on Tuesday. Just easy running loosing up the legs and getting accumulating volume.

I believe the nest way to alleviate soreness is an easy run or two or three.

3. Recovery between hard efforts. This takes into account nutrition/refueling and easy running days to clear the system and loosen the legs. As we age, people take more time between quality efforts in order to recovery for the quality workout.

I am inconsistent in my hard efforts. But the elites say recovery is all about recovering for your next quality workout. Elites and most other runners say it is the quality workouts where you make the most gain. I as a mid pack, almost a local age group competitor believe that I am better off getting in volume rather than quality workouts. There are others on these boards, as stated above, who believe differently. But if I recover from a weekend long run and do a hard track workout on Tuesday and can't get in my mid week long run I think I am losing - not #winning! But I like to run long and my focus is on the marathon. I would train differently if I were an age group competitive 5K runner. But anyway - I think recovery is important from one long run, race, track workout to the next.

4. Sleep. Sleep is very important because it is when you are asleep that your body does most of its regeneration. I try and get as much sleep as possible. But as an early (4 am) riser I may only get six hours of sleep a night - so I try and take naps. It is great working for myself!

5. Step back weeks. I think step back weeks are very important. Although I have never tried a Hal program - I do believe in his philosophy of including step back weeks. I think it is important to let the body recover and reap the benefits of your training in order to take the next step forward.

SO my question was motivated by Dave-O's tag line about stress, recover, improve. And I think that recovery is an integrated part of every training program.
charles
charles
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