Post race recovery

Allowing time for the body to recover

"So, as the muscle pain subsides in my quads and calfs, I've still got some soreness in my ankles and knees. However, I'd already decided that I was going to take at least a few weeks off, post Lakeland 50.

That said, I still often see posts on various Facebook pages and groups from people who are doing a "recovery run"".

Can you answer me a question? What exactly is a recovery run? If you've done a big race and have got any muscle soreness or stiffness and you haven't allowed your body time to start healing, how can doing an activity that is only adding to that trauma and fatigue make it a beneficial recovery?

If you want to do something that makes you feel as though you're doing something beneficial, try a little gentle swim, or a very short and easy FLAT bike ride, maybe even a walk. But don't do something that's going to delay the healing process. Make sure you eat healthy with plenty of lean protein to help with the muscle healing, healthy fats and carbs to replenish energy levels and glycogen stores and drink plenty of water.

Recovery takes time and can take weeks, and in some cases even months. Just because you're feeling better and your muscles might have stopped aching within a week of a big race, it takes a lot longer than that for the body to recover properly. There are 11 systems in the body and all of them have a direct connection with how we live our lives and do exercise:

1. Circulatory system:
   • Circulates blood around the body via the heart, arteries and veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells and carrying their waste products away.
   • Equalizes temperature in the body
2. Digestive system:
   • Mechanical and chemical processes that provide nutrients via the mouth, esophagus, stomach and intestines.
   • Eliminates waste from the body.
3. Endocrine system:
   • Provides chemical communications within the body using hormones.
4. Integumentary system/ Exocrine system:
   • Skin, hair, nails, sweat and other exocrine glands.
5. Lymphatic system / Immune system:
   • The system comprising a network of lymphatic vessels that carry a clear fluid called lymph.
   • Defends the body against pathogenic viruses that may endanger the body .
6. Muscular system:
   • Enables the body to move using muscles.
7. Nervous system:
   • Collects and processes information from the senses via nerves and the brain and tells the muscles to contract to cause physical actions.
8. Renal system / Urinary system/ Excretory system:
   • The system where the kidneys filter blood.
9. Reproductive system:
   • The sex organs required for the production of offspring.
10. Respiratory system:
    • The lungs and the trachea that bring air into and out of the body.
11. Skeletal system:
• Bones supporting the body and its organs.

Many of these systems take an absolute hammering when you do a long endurance event and some of them will naturally heal quicker than others. However others can take a long time to heal or recover. You're far more susceptible to illness following a long event, for example, because your immune system is massively depleted. 

Similarly, the digestive system will also be affected. This explains why you can feel sick during a long event. Or why, when you've finished such a long race you've got very little appetite. All the systems will be affected in some way or another and ignoring the effects that endurance races / training has on your body will almost certainly lead to either a prolonged period before you recover properly, or in worse cases, you can lose months and months of training before you start to pick up again. 

I've read articles and interviews with athletes, some of them elite level too, who have lost almost a full season of racing because they aren't allowing their bodies to recover properly. I know there's the "old school" athlete who just tries to keep pushing through it, but eventually you'll plateau and then you'll notice that you start to drop off with your timings and results as you try and push your body harder to overcome what you're perceiving as a loss of fitness.

After a long event, take a minimum of a week to 10 days off and do absolutely nothing. Allow things to settle down a bit. Then start introducing some light sessions, maybe a brisk walk or a very short jog. There's a common misconception that if you're not training, you're losing fitness. It takes around 2 weeks for any fitness levels to start to drop and if you're an experienced athlete they'll only drop off very slowly. Therefore, if you spend a minimum of 3 or 4 weeks recovering properly after a long event, any drop off in fitness will be negligible. 

Following this, start easing your way back in to training and build gradually. You might even surprise yourself as you surpass your previous levels of fitness due to the enforced rest and recovery period. 

If you'd like to speak more about your goals and ambitions and how I can help you on your triathlon journey, click on the link below which will take you to my coaching Facebook page, where I can be contacted through

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