The Power of Recovery

Every time you go running or do any other form of exercise that involves working towards a goal, we can call it training. Running goals are numerous and varied; they could include simply wanting to lose weight, run faster over 5km, be able to complete a half marathon or marathon or, at the other end of the scale, wanting to win an Olympic medal! It doesn’t matter what the goal is or what the standard of the athlete is, the training principles are exactly the same. If you want to reach your goal then knowing something about how training works will be an enormous help. If you do the same things week after week your body will soon get used to that level of activity and your fitness will stay the same. Sounds obvious but many people do the same couple of runs week after week and expect to become fitter and faster. What you need to do is build up what you do very gradually, give your body time to recover and adapt, and you will improve. It’s all in the recovery! Your body is amazing; if you exercise it will give you back more than you put in. Most of the adaptations that make you fitter and faster happen when you run gently or chatty, talking comfortably in full sentences. These adaptations actually take place, not during your run, but afterwards. As you sit enjoying your post run cup of tea and piece of cake after a slightly longer run than usual, your body is working to make sure that it is stronger and better prepared for the next time you run that distance. But your body will only make the adaptations if you give it enough time to rest and recover. Improving your running then is very simple. Do more, then rest and recover and your amazing body will adapt and become stronger. The physiologists call this supercompensation. You just need to know by how much to increase your training and how long it will take to recover, so that your body can adapt. This varies from person to person and, the longer you have been running, the quicker your recovery will be. For an experienced athlete a gentle shorter run should take less than a day to recover from. A long run of two hours or more will take one day, as long as it is gentle enough. However, a hard and fast session on the track may take up to three days. For someone just starting out as a runner, a group run of an hour may take several days from which to recover. Many runners try to force improvement rather than allowing the correct recovery and giving themselves time to improve. If you increase your training too quickly and do not allow adequate recovery, you will start your next run in a tired state. You will find that when you do the same run with the same level of effort, it will feel harder. If again you do not allow enough recovery, your performance will drop again. Your fitness will drop even though you are training harder. When runners find that they are having to put more effort in on their runs and it all feels like hard work, they think they are losing fitness. They then think they need to train more. But actually, the opposite is true. They are losing fitness because they have not allowed their body to recover. Giving their body more recovery time would allow their fitness to soar. So how do you know when you are recovered and ready to run? Here is a little guide. You will be recovered and ready to run if you can answer yes to the following questions. Do you feel fresh and enthusiastic as you prepare to step out of the door to run? Does your body feel good with no muscle aches or twinges anywhere? Do you feel healthy and happy with life? Is your resting heart rate at its normal level for you? Did you get a good night’s sleep last night? As you run can you still answer yes to all the questions above? If not make the run that day an easy chatty one, or put your feet up and have a rest. Be patient knowing that the key to progress is all in the correct recovery time. For more information on how to improve as a runner contact Colin Lancaster colin@shropshirefitness.com