How to recover QUICKLY from a race

One race down, two to go. 
We just completed the Whitewater Triathlon and one week later, we will participate in Gulf Coast 70.3. Six days later, we will race Xterra Oak Mountain. 

Today we slept in and around 9am, we went for an easy ride. We left the house on our road bikes without a specific route in mind. We explored some different roads and made our way back to the house after around 2.5 hours. I ran an easy 38 minutes off the bike, listening to a podcast. 

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed the recovery after an endurance event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to your recovery time after an endurance event, some of the mistakes that athletes make when recovering from an endurance event and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after an endurance event.

Why is race recovery important? 

When training for an event, you welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then you need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations. After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health (physically and mentally), so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Your body and mind go through a lot - physically, mentally, emotionally - to help you get to a race. Knowing how to properly recover from a race is a way of rewarding your body for all that hard work. But race recovery doesn't mean doing nothing and eating anything.

Many athletes make the mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Additionally, you may find that the more you race, the more experience you bring to the next race, allowing you to take smarter risks and dig a little deeper. Taking too long of a break between races may cause you to lose what you gained in previous training/racing. But if you rush back into structured training too soon, you may be at risk injury, sickness or becoming stale, tired and fatigued.

Factors affecting your race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. While it's good to have a plan for recovery after your race, listening to your body is key. Even within one season, your recovery may differ race to race - some races require a longer recovery time than others (physically and/or mentally).

• Distance of the event
• Athlete experience/fitness level/resiliency 
• Finishing time (time on the course)
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout 
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and rehydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Be mindful of the muscle, tendon, bone, joint, heart, organ and brain stress that occurs during an endurance event. Regardless of how your race went, respect your individual recovery process. 

Common mistakes made by athletes in the 72 hours post race
The 72 hours after an endurance event are crucial optimizing recovery. Poor sleep, dehydration, muscle and liver glycogen depletion, mental exhaustion and extreme muscle soreness/tissue damage along with any travel stressors will all affect recovery. Bouncing back too soon may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season. However, doing nothing may be just as bad as doing too much for active recovery can help speed up the recovery process. 

Avoid the following post race: 

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation 
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 48 hours post race
• Not eating in the 12 hours post race
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived 
• Being too sedentary in the week after your race. 
• Rushinng back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.)
• Rushing back into intense training because you feel you need to prove something at your next race.
• Rushing back into training because you are worried about gaining weight.
• Rushing back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training
• You hate resting/recovery
• Training because your plan says so and ignoring signs that your body is too fragile/tired/weak/exhausted/sore to follow the structured workouts

Recovery tips
Here are a few suggestions to help you recover from a long distance event.

1. Give yourself two full days to fully rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and drink with a purpose to promote recovery. Not eating/drinking for 12 hours after a race is not good!
2. Avoid driving or flying in 4-8 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time.
3. Avoid getting a massage in the 24 hours post race. Focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 3+ days post race.
4. Skip the pills and focus on wholesome anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly foods like pineapple, fish, ginger and yogurt.
5. Wear compression post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow, especially when driving/flying.
6. Use a safe,muscle relaxing cream (ex. we use Mg12) or Epson salt baths for tight/sore muscles after a race.
7. Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race.
8. Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as possible. It's suggested not to return back into structured training (or setting an alarm for an earl morning workout) until you can get a consistent 8 hours of good sleep.
9. Give yourself 2-3 days of no structured training and have fun moving your body with low-impact, non-weight bearing activity when it feels right. Avoid setting an early alarm for workouts or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover.
10. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short (ex. 15-40 minutes) and to lower the intensity when you return back to running. Every athlete is different so I will not make a recommendation when to begin running again post race so be mindful that most athletes can't heal damage tissues/muscles through running.
11. Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there could be deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Be careful with intensity in the 3-7 days post race.
12. If you can't keep good form during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk sickness or injury.
13. Have fun in the days after your race. While you may not need a complete break from training,  enjoy non-structured, lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time in your day, as you slowly ease back into structured training before your next race. 

How to recover from a long-distance event

Being sore, exhausted and a little run-down after an endurance event is normal. That post-race soreness is your reward from the effort that was needed to get from the start to the finish - you earned the hobble in your wobble. 

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed up recovery after an endurance triathlon event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to recovery time after an endurance event. Although everyone is different, here are some of the mistakes that athletes make post race and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after a long-distance triathlon event.

Why is recovery important?

In training for an event, we welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then we need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations.

After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health and mind, so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Many athletes make the mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Take too long of a break and you lose what you gained in previous training but come back to soon, and you remain stale, tired and fatigued with little ability to take fitness to that next level.

Factors affecting race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. Even within one season, recovery time for one athlete may differ race to race, as some races require a longer recovery time than others.

• Distance of the event
• Prior experience in the sport
• Finishing time
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout (ex. downhill running, extreme heat or cold)
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and re-hydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Although you can not control every factor listed above, it's important to consider that your post race recovery doesn't simply include what you do (or don't do) in the 24-72 hours after a race. In addition to the muscle, tendon, bone and joint stress on the body during an endurance event, there is great stress on the heart, organs, central nervous system and brain. Therefore, recovery after an endurance event isn't something that is determined by a feeling, nor should it be assumed that just because you had a good/bad race that you will return to 100% health in x-days so that you can get back into training again.

Common post-race mistakes

The 48-72 hours after an endurance event are critical for optimizing recovery. Seeing that poor sleep, poor hydration and nutrition, extreme muscle soreness and travel will all impede recovery, athletes should be aware of the consequences of returning back to training too quickly. However, doing nothing is not helpful for recovery. Considering that racing is a great stress on the human body, returning back to training too soon, without optimal recovery, may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season.

Here are some common mistakes made by athletes post-race:

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation.
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 24 hours post race.
• Eating "too" healthy in the 24 hours post race.
• Eating "too" unhealthy in the 24 hours post race.
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived.
• Resuming "normal" training, despite form being affected by soreness and niggles.
• Being too sedentary in the 3-4 days post race.
• Returning back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.).
• Returning back into intense training because a race exceeded your expectations and you are itching to get back into training for the next race.
• Returning back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training.
• You hate resting/recovery.
• Following a fixed training plan and not listening to your body post race.

Even if you feel ok the day after a race, you can't fully recover in the 48 hours after an endurance event as glycogen needs to be resynthesized, hydration status needs to normalize, tissues, muscles and fibers need to heal and sleep patterns must return to normal before any type of training (for physical adaptations) is initiated. However, moving blood can certainly help to expedite the recovery process. 

Here are a few suggestions to help you recover from your long-distance event:

• Give yourself 4-6 hours to rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and rehydrate with water and electrolytes. Not eating/drinking for 6-8 hours after a race will only delay recovery and may compromise your health. 
  
  
• Continue to focus on good refueling and rehydration methods for the next 48 hours with permission to indulge as you wish, within reason. By this time, you should be slowly returning to your normal eating habits, emphasizing real, wholesome food options.
  
  
• Try to avoid jumping right into the car or on an airplane in the 4 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest and light movement before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time, so that you have an opportunity to move your body. If you do have to travel soon after the race, be sure to get up and move around to help with blood flow (and wear compression).
  
  
• Avoid getting a massage in the 48 hours post race. Rehydrate yourself and focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 4+ days post race.
  
  
• Consume anti-inflammatory foods, like pineapple, celery, fish and leafy greens in the 48 hours post race.  Avoid taking any anti-inflammatories or pain relieving pills.
  
  
• Wear compression (or compression boots) post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow.
  
  
• Use a safe and muscle relaxing cream (ex. Mg12) on any tight/sore muscles after a race.
  
  
• Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the 6-8 hours before bedtime.
  
  
• Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as you can. Do not allow yourself to return back into structured training until you can get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep without waking up throughout the night.
  
  
• To expedite the recovery process, it's advised to do something non-weight bearing and very light on the body in the 24 hours after a race. Instead of sedentary recovery (laying around), try to move blood with light swimming and bike riding.
  
  
• Give yourself up to 72 hours of no structured training. Instead, exercise as it comes natural to you. When you have the time, go for a swim or spin but avoid setting an alarm or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover.
  
  
• Consider minimizing running for at least 48-72 hours. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short and frequent (ex. 15-40 minutes every other day) while including walk breaks.
  
  
• Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there is deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Generally speaking, most athletes will not make any additional fitness advancements in the days soon after a race so be patient before you begin to train again for physiological gains. Additionally, an elite or trained athlete who takes more risks on race day may experience more mental and physical damage if recovery is not taken seriously. 
  
  
• Accept that age, previous fitness and racing execution will affect your recovery. Don't compare your recovery to another athlete, focus only on yourself.
  
  
• If you can't keep good form or focus during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form or a central nervous system that is still depressed from the previous event is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk further damage or injury.
  
  
• Have fun in the 5-7 days after your race. There will be a time to push hard again. Enjoy the lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time, as you slowly ease back into structured training.
  
  

Recovery from a long-distance race

Being sore, exhausted and a little run-down after an endurance event is normal. And to be honest, I think many athletes enjoy the feeling that comes with racing in an endurance event as that post-race feeling signifies the effort that was needed to get from the start to the finish. You earned it!

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed up recovery after an endurance triathlon event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to recovery time after an endurance event, some of the mistakes that athletes make when recovering from an endurance event and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after a long-distance triathlon event.

Why is recovery important?

In training for an event, we welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then we need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations.

After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health and mind, so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Many athletes make the mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Take too long of a break and you lose what you gained in previous training but come back to soon, and you remain stale, tired and fatigued with little ability to take fitness to that next level.

Factors affecting race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. Even within one season, recovery time for one athlete may differ race to race, as some races require a longer recovery time than others.

Factors affecting race recovery include:

• Distance of the event
• Prior experience in the sport
• Finishing time
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout (ex. downhill running, extreme heat or cold)
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and re-hydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Although you can not control every factor listed above, it's important to consider that your post race recovery doesn't simply include what you do (or don't do) in the 24-72 hours after a race. In addition to the muscle, tendon, bone and joint stress on the body during an endurance event, there is great stress on the heart, organs and brain. Therefore, recovery after an endurance event should not be taken lightly, nor should it be assumed that just because you complete a race that you will return to 100% health in x-days so that you can get back into training again.

Common mistakes made by athletes post-race

The 48-72 hours after an endurance event are critical for optimizing recovery. Seeing that poor sleep, poor hydration and nutrition, extreme muscle soreness and travel will all impede recovery, athletes should be aware of the consequences of returning back to training too quickly. However, doing nothing is not helpful for recovery. Considering that racing is a great stress on the human body, returning back to training too soon, without optimal recovery, may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season.

Here are some common mistakes made by athletes post-race: 

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" healthy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" unhealthy in the 24 hours post race
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived
• Resuming "normal" training, despite form being affected by soreness and niggles
• Being too sedentary in the 3-4 days post race
• Returning back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.)
• Returning back into intense training because a race exceeded your expectations and you are itching to get back into training for the next race
• Returning back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training
• You hate resting/recovery
• Following a fixed training plan and not listening to your body post race.

Get your body back into good health after a long-distance triathlon

You can't 100% recover in the 48 hours after an endurance event as glycogen needs to be resynthesized, hydration status needs to normalize, tissues, muscles and fibers need to heal and sleep patterns must return to normal before any type of training (for physical adaptations) is initiated. However, moving blood can certainly help to expedite the recovery process. Here are a few suggestions to help you recover from your long-distance triathlon.

• Give yourself 4-6 hours to rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and rehydrate with water and electrolytes. Not eating/drinking for 6-8 hours after a race is not good!
• Continue to focus on good refueling and rehydration methods for the next 48 hours with permission to indulge as you wish, within reason. By this time, you should be slowly returning to your normal eating habits, emphasizing real, wholesome food options.
• Don't sit in the car or get on an airplane in the 4-8 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest and light movement before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time, so that you have an opportunity to move your body.
• Avoid getting a massage in the 48 hours post race. Rehydrate yourself and focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 4+ days post race.
• Consume anti-inflammatory foods, like pineapple, fish and leafy greens in the 48 hours post race.
• Wear compression (or compression boots) post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow.
• Use a safe and muscle relaxing cream (ex. we use Mg12) on any tight/sore muscles after a race. Avoid taking any anti-inflammatories in the 48 hours post race.
• Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the 6-8 hours before bedtime.
• Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as you can. Do not allow yourself to return back into structured training until you can get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep without waking up throughout the night.
• To hurry the recovery process, it's advised to do something non weight bearing and very light on the body in the 24 hours after a race (if you can spin on your bike for 15 minutes in the hour after finishing a race, that would be recommended). Instead of recovering by being sedentary, try to move blood through swimming and bike riding.
• Give yourself 3 days to not follow a training plan but instead, exercise as it comes natural to you. When you have the time, go for a swim or spin but avoid setting an alarm or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover.
• Consider avoiding running for at least 48-72 hours. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short (ex. 15-60 minutes) while including walk breaks and running every other or 3rd day for the next 5-7 days (ex. if your race is on Sunday, your first run should be no earlier than Wednesday or Thursday and then for the next 5-7 days, you should be running 15-60 minutes every other day or every 3 days).
• Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there is deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Generally speaking, you will not make any additional training adaptations for at least a week and for the less trained/fit, it may take at least 2 weeks to fully recover so that you can begin to train for physiological gains. On the flip side, an elite or trained athlete who is on the verge of overtraining or is racing very intensely, may require 2 weeks to feel fully "healed" after a race.
• Accept that age, previous fitness and racing execution will affect your recovery. Don't compare your recovery to another athlete, focus only on yourself.
• If you can't keep good form during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk further damage or injury.
• Have fun in the 5-7 days after your race. There will be a time to push hard again. Enjoy the lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time, as you slowly ease back into structured training.

How to bounce back from a long-distance race

In just a few weeks, Karel and I will be traveling to St George to race IM 70.3 St. George for the 2nd year in a row. Unlike IM 70.3 FL, this race will be slower in time as it comes with a lot of terrain and weather challenges. We enjoy challenging and beautiful courses and this one doesn't disappoint. 

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed the recovery after an endurance triathlon event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to your recovery time after an endurance event, some of the mistakes that athletes make when recovering from an endurance event and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after an endurance event.

Why is recovery important? 

In training for an event, we welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then we need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations. After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health (physically and mentally), so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Many athletes make the  mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Additionally, you may find that the more you race, the more experience you bring to the next race, allowing you to take smarter risks and dig a little deeper. Take too long of a break between races and you lose what you gained in previous training/racing. But rush back into training and racing too soon and you be risk injury, sickness or becoming stale, tired and fatigued.

Factors affecting your race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. While it's good to have a plan for recovery after your race, doing too much (or not enough) may compromise your recovery. Even within one season, recovery time for one athlete may differ race to race, whereas some races require a longer recovery time than others.

• Distance of the event
• Athlete experience/fitness level/resiliency 
• Finishing time (time on the course)
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout 
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and rehydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Be mindful of the muscle, tendon, bone, joint, heart, organ and brain stress during an endurance event. Regardless of how well or not well your race went, respect your individual recovery process. 

Common mistakes made by athletes post-race
The 72 hours after an endurance event are crucial optimizing recovery. Poor sleep, dehydration, muscle and liver glycogen depletion, mental exhaustion and extreme muscle soreness/tissue damage along with any travel stressors will all affect recovery. Bouncing back too soon may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season. However, doing nothing may be just as bad as doing too much for active recovery can help speed up the recovery process. 

Avoid the following post race: 

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation 
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 48 hours post race
• Not eating in the 12 hours post race
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived 
• Being too sedentary in the week after your race. 
• Rushinng back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.)
• Rushing back into intense training because you feel you need to prove something at your next race.
• Rushing back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training
• You hate resting/recovery
• Training because your plan says so and ignoring signs that your body is too fragile to follow the structured workouts

Recovery tipsHere are a few suggestions to help you recover from a long distance event.

1. Give yourself two full days to fully rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and drink with a purpose to promote recovery. Not eating/drinking for 12 hours after a race is not good!
2. Avoid driving or flying in 4-8 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time.
3. Avoid getting a massage in the 48 hours post race. Focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 3+ days post race.
4. Skip the pills and focus on anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly foods like pineapple, fish, ginger and yogurt.
5. Wear compression post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow, especially when driving/flying.
6. Use a safe,muscle relaxing cream (ex. we use Mg12) on any tight/sore muscles after a race.
7. Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race.
8. Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as you can. Do not allow yourself to return back into structured training (or setting an alarm to workout) until you can get a consistent 8 hours of sleep without waking up throughout the night.
9. Give yourself 2-3 days of no structured training and have fun moving your body with low-impact, non-weight bearing activity when it feels right.Avoid setting an alarm or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover.
10. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short (ex. 15-40 minutes) and to lower the intensity when you return back to running. Every athlete is different so I will not make a recommendation when to begin running again post race but typically you should allow a few days to heal damage tissues/muscles.
11. Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there could be deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Be careful with intensity in the 3-7 days post race.
12. If you can't keep good form during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk sickness or injury.
13. Have fun in the week after your race. While you may not need a complete break from training,  enjoy non-structured, lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time in your day, as you slowly ease back into structured training before your next race. 

Feeling flat post race - embrace the recovery

It felt so good to be back on my tri bike for a structured training session with Karel on Saturday. It took a full week for my legs to feel full again after the Lake Logan half Ironman as I was left with a "flat" feeling in my legs for several days post race.

Here's how my week of training went after the race:

Sunday - AM 90 min EZ road bike spin on the Swamp Rabbit Trail w/ my friend Meredith
Monday - PM 90 min EZ road bike spin on the Swamp Rabbit Trail w/ Karel
Tues - AM 3000 yard interval swim w/ Karel, PM 30 min outside EZ run with Karel
Wed - Day off (private camper in town)
Thurs - AM 90 min skill focused ride on tri bike (private camper in town)
Friday - AM 40 min treadmill run
Sat - AM 3.5 hour ride w/ a 20 min strong effort at 2 hours followed by a 30 min treadmill run w/ a 20 sec surge every 5 minutes.
Sun - AM 11 mile long run w/ a 6-mile interval run on the track. Late afternoon 2800 yard interval swim.

With my big season race approaching in just 4 weeks, it was critically important that I was respectful of my body during the recovery of this race. Although my muscles felt recovered by Wednesday, I was sleeping great, eating well and my motivation was high to get back into training, come Thursday, I could tell that my legs were still empty. They just didn't have that "pop" that I was hoping for.
Because the recovery from this half Ironman was a bit longer than what I have experienced in the past, I contributed it to my big training load at Lake Placid and then going into Lake Logan a bit fatigued. Although this was all planned, the unknown was how long it would take me to recover from the half Ironman. 

After a race, most athletes are eager to get back into training because the endorphins are flowing and the excitement of racing brings a lot of motivation to work on weaknesses and improve strengths. While this can be viewed as a positive, it is important to respect the recovery process as feeling "flat" is one of the worst scenarios to push through if you are seeking performance gains. Because most athletes will be able to tell when muscle soreness has subsided (you no longer feel the ache in certain body parts), it is important to be mindful of the "flat" feeling that is often ignored after you ease back into training. Because it's natural to have waves of high and low energy when you are progressing through your development, we must embrace that you will be low in energy following a race but the goal of recovery is to regain the energy that was used during your race so that you can continue to build fitness going into your next race. If you ask your body to push through the "flat" feeling soon after a race and it's likely that you will dig yourself a deep hole that will be tough to get out of - in other words, you may end up overtraining, getting injured or feeling stale and burnt-out for the rest of your season. 

Here are some of my tips to help you embrace the recovery phase and to be overcome the flat feeling post race:

1. Don't rush back into training by being strict with your training. While it's important to exercise to help with blood flow, don't put too much pressure on yourself that you have to be diligent with checking off your workouts. Adjust workouts so that they assist with recovery.
2. Don't worry about losing fitness by not rushing back into training. You'll gain fitness when you let your body properly recovery so that you can push hard again.
3. Don't be hard on your body. Avoid the tendency to rush back into training because you worry about gaining weight or because you feel "fat". At the same time, don't restrict food just because you are not training as hard/long. Respect your body during recovery by focusing on a balanced diet to help with recovery.
4. Prioritize sleep to help with recovery. While you may be use to sleeping 6-7 hours per night, your body may need 9-10 hours to help your body heal from the damage that occurred on race day. Don't sacrifice sleep for an early morning "recovery" workout.
5. Resist the temptation to train in a group setting as this may cause you to push harder than you should during the recovery process.
6. Continue to use sport nutrition during your workouts, as well as fueling before/after your workouts as this will help protect your immune system.
7. Don't isolate yourself from things that make you happy, like friends, family, pets and your children. Get outside and surround yourself with people who make you feel happy, healthy, alive and energetic.
8. Focus on a feeling, not a metric. While you can use power, speed and heart rate to give you some awareness of what your body can do in the moment, you will know when your body can or can't push through a given effort. Certainly, if form is compromised, don't push through fatigue.
9. Address other contributing factors that may be affecting your post race "flat" feeling, like hormones, poor sleep, poor appetite, life/work stress or a difficult race experience.

Although pushing through fatigue can help boost performance, it's important to be strategic with the timing of when you train when tired. Understanding that a race will deplete your energy levels and will compromise your muscular and cardio system, not to mention the added stress on your hormones and bones as you are asking your body to give its best, the goal of training is to improve your fitness so that you can perform on race day. Embrace the recovery and respect your body so that you can stay healthy and well, as you train hard, throughout the season. 

Recovering from a half ironman distance triathlon

After Ironman 70.3 Florida, Karel and I were pretty sore. Like usual, we tossed and turned all night after the race and woke up exhausted. On Monday after the race, our almost 10-hour drive was rough. By Wednesday, we started to feel a little bit more normal and by the weekend, we felt mostly recovered. Oddly enough, we both felt like we recovered really quickly after the event, despite the normal post-race insomnia and soreness.

Being sore, exhausted and a little run-down after an endurance event is normal. And to be honest, I think many athletes enjoy the feeling that comes with racing in an endurance event as that post-race feeling signifies the effort that was needed to get from the start to the finish. It's kinda like you earned that feeling and you are proud of it. Thinking back to my very first half ironman 11 years ago, the feeling was unlike anything I had ever felt before. As the years went on and I had more half ironman distance triathlons under my belt, I could anticipate what my body would go through after a race. In other words, I became much more comfortable with understanding my body after an endurance triathlon event.

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed up recovery after an endurance triathlon event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to recovery time after an endurance event, some of the mistakes that athletes make when recovering from an endurance event and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after an endurance event.

Why is recovery important? 

In training for an event, we welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then we need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations.

After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health and mind, so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Many athletes make the  mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Take too long of a break and you lose what you gained in previous training but come back to soon, and you remain stale, tired and fatigued with little ability to take fitness to that next level.

Factors affecting race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. For many athletes, a fixed training plan allows for no individualization that are relative to the factors affecting the athlete before, during and after the race. Even within one season, recovery time for one athlete may differ race to race, whereas some races require a longer recovery time than others.

Factors affecting race recovery include: 

• Distance of the event
• Athlete experience in the sport
• Finishing time
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout 
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and rehydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Although you can not control every factor listed above, it's important to consider that your post race recovery doesn't simply include what you do (or don't do) in the 24-72 hours after a race. Although completing an endurance event should bring you great satisfaction and confidence, prolonged activity (specifically in a race environment), plays a signficant role on your health and fitness status going into the race. And in addition to the muscle, tendon, bone and joint stress on the body during an endurance event, there is great stress on the heart, organs and brain. Therefore, recovery after an endurance event should not be taken lightly, nor should it be assumed that just because you complete a race that you will return to 100% health in x-days so that you can get back into training again. 

Common mistakes made by athletes post-race
The 48-72 hours after an endurance event, like a half ironman, are critical for optimizing recovery. Seeing that poor sleep, poor hydration and nutrition, extreme muscle soreness and travel will all impede recovery, athletes should be aware of the consequences of returning back to training too quickly. Considering that racing is a great stress on the human body, returning back to training too soon, without optimal recovery, may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season. 

Here are some common mistakes made by athletes post-race:

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation 
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" healthy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" unhealthy in the 24 hours post race
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived 
• Resuming "normal" training, despite form being affected by soreness and niggles
• Being too sedentary in the 3-4 days post race
• Returning back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.)
• Returning back into intense training because a race exceeded your expectations and you are itching to get back into training for the next race
• Returning back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training
• You hate resting/recovery
• Following a fixed training plan and not listening to your body post race. 

Get your body back into good health after a half ironman distance triathlon

As a general guideline, I don't believe that any athlete can fully recover in less than 72 hours after an endurance event as glycogen needs to be resynthesized, hydration status needs to normalize, tissues, muscles and fibers need to heal and sleep patterns must return to normal before any type of training (for physical adaptations) is initiated. However, moving blood can certainly help to expedite the recovery process. Here are a few suggestions to help you recover from a half ironman distance triathlon. 

• Give yourself 4-6 hours to rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and rehydrate with water and electrolytes. Not eating/drinking for 6-8 hours after a race is not good! 
• Continue to focus on good refueling and rehydration methods for the next 48 hours with permission to indulge as you wish, within reason. By this time, you should be slowly returning to your normal eating habits, emphasizing real, wholesome food options.
• Don't sit in the car or get on an airplane in the 4-8 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time, so that you have an opportunity to move your body. 
• Avoid getting a massage in the 48 hours post race. Rehydrate yourself and focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 3+ days post race. 
• Consume anti-inflammatory foods, like pineapple, fish and leafy greens in the 48 hours post race.
• Wear compression post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow. 
• Use a safe and muscle relaxing cream (ex. we use Mg12) on any tight/sore muscles after a race. Avoid taking any anti-inflammatories in the 48 hours post race. 
• Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the 6-8  hours before bedtime. 
• Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as you can. Do not allow yourself to return back into structured training until you can get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep without waking up throughout the night. 
• To hurry the recovery process, it's advised to do something non weight bearing and very light  on the body in the 24 hours after a race (if you can spin on your bike for 15 minutes in the hour after finishing a race, that would be recommended). Instead of recovering by being sedentary, try to move blood through swimming and bike riding. 
• Give yourself 3 days to not follow a training plan but instead, exercise as it comes natural to you. When you have the time, go for a swim or spin but avoid setting an alarm or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover. 
• Avoid running for at least 72 hours. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short (ex. 15-60 minutes) while including walk breaks and running every other or 3rd day for the next 5-7 days (ex. if your race is on Sunday, your first run should be no earlier than Wednesday or Thursday and then for the next 5-7 days, you should be running 15-60 minutes every other day or every 3 days). 
• Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there is deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Generally speaking, you will not make any additional training adaptations for at least a week and for the less trained/fit, it may take at least 2 weeks to fully recover so that you can begin to train for physiological gains. On the flip side, an elite or trained athlete who is on the verge of overtraining or is racing very intensely, may require 2 weeks to feel fully "healed" after a race. 
• Accept that age, previous fitness and racing execution will affect your recovery. Don't compare your recovery to another athlete, focus only on yourself. 
• If you can't keep good form during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk further damage or injury. 
• Have fun in the 5-7 days after your race. There will be a time to push hard again. Enjoy the lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time, as you slowly ease back into structured training. 

Recovery tips from race to race

Photographer Pat Hendrick

Last Saturday was my first triathlon of the season and first race since the 2013 Ironman World Championship in October.

If you are a Trimarni follower, you know that the foundation of our philosophy lies in training smarter to train harder in order to reach success faster. But we also believe that if you want to train hard, you have to recover harder.

Recovery can be challenging for many athletes after a race. Some athletes struggle to physiologically recover from the damage that has been done through racing whereas other athletes struggle mentally to respect the body with rest after a race.

It's very difficult to predict how an athlete will recover from a race because there are so many factors that come into play. Even for myself, I find myself recovering differently from every race, every season.

What can affect your recovery after a race?

-Health and fitness status going into a race
-Weather and terrain of a race
-Race priority
-Stress/nerves/anxiety
-Race distance/intensity
-Diet/hydration status before a race
-Fueling strategy during a race
-Pacing strategy during a race
-Timing of the next race

It's likely that you have a few A or high priority races planned on your racing schedule this year and perhaps a few tune-up and/or lower priority races.

For Karel and myself, we have 3 top priority races this year.

In 4 weeks - St Croix 70.3 - A race (Karel and Marni)
4 weeks after St Croix 70.3 - Raleigh 70.3 (Karel only)
8 weeks after St Croix 70.3 - Ironman Austria (Karel and Marni) - A race
2 week mid-season break/visit Karel's family in Czech Republic
10 weeks after Ironman Austria (22 weeks from this weekend) - Ironman Wisconsin (Karel and Marni) - A race. Goal is to reach our season peak at this race and race the best we can and try to race our competition in order to 2015 Kona qualify.


As a coach, I try to be as involved as possible in the planning of my athletes racing season to ensure that the races are carefully thought out as to when they occur, what distances they are training for and any other variables that could affect their race day performance. It's incredibly easy to register for a race for all you need is a credit card and maybe the approval from your family or boss. But when it comes to logistics and timing of races, the stress can mount if an athlete is only considering the training investment needed for the upcoming race season.

Here is a blog post I did on planning your race season. 

When you consider the natural stress of training on the human body, just imagine the impact on the body, both physically and mentally on race day. At Trimarni, we try to  minimize racing "just to race" and to instead, give every race a priority as to the purpose of the race. Karel and I carefully think about the courses, dates, locations, competition and logistics of every race on our schedule. We knew that in order to peak properly for IMWI in September, we needed to lay out our entire season before it started (on Training Peaks - Annual Training Plan setting) to ensure that we periodized our training properly (got faster and stronger before we went longer), that we had adequate time to prepare for every race on our schedule, that our life would not conflict too much with our races and that we could afford the races that we choose and most importantly, we discussed the importance of making sure that we built in time from every race on our schedule so that we could properly recover from every race.

We really enjoy seeing our athletes save their best performance for race day and not leaving it all out on the "training" course when no one is watching. We instead want our athletes to make the investments when no one is watching and to minimize the withdrawals. In other words, we love when our athletes "cash out" when it counts on A-race, race day.

We want our athletes to consider the stress that it takes to prep for a race and also the stress that occurs during a race. Because we can not expect to peak at every race or chase a PR every time we stand at a starting line, it's important that if you are gearing up for a race (of any priority), you consider a few important tips as to how to properly recover from the race so that you can have the best season possible with your amazing body.

1) You can't train if you can't recover - Many times I hear athletes boast about how great they feel 2-3 days after a race and get back into training (especially intensity/volume) too soon. To ensure that your body is recovered enough after the race so that your "feel good" moment is not short-lived, I recommend to always give yourself a mandatory 7 days to recover from every race. What you do within those 7 days will vary from athlete to athlete and race to race but when it comes to rejuvinating, recovering and resting, don't rush this time. Seriously - you can't give yourself 7 days to recover from a race after you spent 3 or 4 or more months to prepare for your race?
Keep in mind that not only does the body gain fitness when it recovers from training but also with racing. And you can't gain more fitness if you aren't consistent with workouts. No matter how fast or slow you compete in a race, your body is going to experience damage. The more experience you have as an athlete, the better you (should) know your body and how it responds to racing stress. Think of the 7 days after a race as a time to avoid poor results in training just to go through the motions. My suggestion is to keep the training load light and flexible for the 3-7 days after a race. Active recovery without time goals (ideally an hour or less as you ease back into training) should be included in the 3-7 days after a race (ex. swimming, biking and further out from the race, form-focused running on a soft surface). I also recommend gadget free during this time. For the first two days after a race, restful sleep and getting your diet back to "normal" are more important than waking up at 5:30am the day after a race for a recovery swim.

2) Recovery tools - If you are willing to make an investment with your body to compete in a race, be sure to make another investment in recovery tools. I recommend a massage 2-3 days after a race and be sure to stay hydrated. Epson salt baths are encouraged as well as compression in the 3 days after a race. You have no  room for excuses if you have 110% Play Harder gear to wear after the race. Be sure to be mindful of how often you sit after a race. Although naps or extra sleep are encouraged, be careful of driving for long periods, sitting at work for a long time or any other times when you may find yourself trying to ignore aching joints, muscles and tendons from being sedentary. Remember, the body likes to move but at the same time, it doesn't have to break a sweat or have a high HR every time you move. I highly recommend stretching twice a day (the time is up to you) for the 3-4 days after a race (although you should be stretching anyways, on a daily basis). Be careful not to over foam roll, over stretch or over massage any hot spots but also be mindful of any "hot" areas that may need to be addressed prior to getting back into structured training.

3) Be patient - I hear this more in IM athletes after a race, but it's very easy to say that you "feel" recovered in the 5-7 days after a race but when in reality, there could be/ is still damage in your tissues. I encourage you to ease back into training slowly by just focusing on yourself and your own body. I prefer to pass on group workouts the week after a race for the tendency to push harder than if I was alone. However, social workouts where others are also not training, can be a great way to enjoy moving your body with minimal stress. Also, keep the intensity and volume low and do not expect a lot from your body. I promise you that your body will recover but it all depends on your health/fitness before the race, how you "raced" your race and your own ability to recover. As you allow your body time to recover after it allowed you to race, use your free time (that is not spent in your normal weekly training routine) to catch up on chores/shopping/cleaning, grocery shop, relax or to do something that you have been wanting to do but couldn't find the time.

4) A rested athlete performs well - I see a lot of athletes who do not meet their own personal expectations at a race, trying to get back into training too quickly after a race because of terming the race as unsuccessful. Rather than convincing yourself that training hard immediately in the days following a race will boost your fitness, reflect on what didn't go well in the race. Remember that you can't peak and PR at every race so perhaps unrealistic expectations were made for this specific race, the conditions were not ideal, you had extra stress in your life, you didn't pace your race well, nutrition didn't go well or you did race to the best of your ability with your current level of fitness. There are also athletes who do extremely well at races and feel overly excited and confident to get back into training. Just like the athlete who is frustrated with his/her racing performance, even the "successful" athlete needs rest. One of the biggest problems that comes from rushing into training too quickly after a race is getting sick (or feeling run-down) around 10-14 days after a race....when the immune system finally gives up. Additionally, if the body is not rested, the risk for injury, burn out and sub-optimal performance is at an all time high. Not sure about you but I thrive off consistency so the more I rest, the better I train.

5) Reset your mind - For most of the Trimarni training plans, we allow around 12-16 weeks to properly prepare for a race. Balancing training with life requires a lot and we know that every athlete has a breaking point - physically and emotionally. Post-race blues as well as other emotions that can fill your mind after races should be taken very seriously. For the athlete who feels she/he is invisible and sets out to race hard at every race has a high risk for mental breakdown at some point in his/her racing season. It's important that you take care of your mind after a race and reflect on the past journey that you were able to experience with your body, friends, training partners, etc. to prepare for your race. Regardless if you were training for a 5K or sprint triathlon or an Ironman or marathon, you devoted a lot of time, energy, money and effort into your accomplishment and the emotional commitment to your race can bring on a host of feelings after a race. It's important to do your best to keep these emotions positive. In my recovery period after a race, I don't take my eyes off my short and long term goals. No matter how the last race went, I know that I have the potential, drive and passion to always become a better, smarter and physically/mentally stronger athlete. I encourage you to celebrate the milestones of every race and to give yourself breaks throughout your season to recover your body and mind before you train for the next race.