This is something I never really gave much thought towards when I was younger, given that as a teenager banging out 6k and 7k workouts, usually twice a day, didn't seem that hard.
Nowadays though (late 30s), post-workout recovery is taken more seriously. Not necessarily because I want to get back to the pool ASAP, but because I don't want to be a human pile-up over the course of the day after a hard AM swim.
For me, my recovery routine ends up including:
1. Always doing at least ten minutes of warming down. I feel noticeably better in the hours after a hard practice if I spend some time doing easy swimming at the end of my session.
2. Packing a post-workout shake and banana. Takes about ten seconds to do, and it's waiting right there in my swim bag post swim.
3. Hitting the pillows and blanky like they owe me money. Where possible, of course.
4. A scotch at night. Master's prerogative, as they say.
What are you doing to make sure that you are recovering quickly after practice?
I'm following Alex Popov and Michael Klim's training program from back in the day. They had weeks where they were doing close to 90k a week. And they could crush it in the pool from 50-200m.
I really enjoy doing long, unbroken freestyle swimming with a snorkel, and find it rather meditative. Usually takes around 1,000m to find my rhythm, but once it's locked in it feels pretty darn good. And my technique feels lights-out awesome at the end of those high volume weeks....so I guess I'll just keep doing it :)
I'm following Alex Popov and Michael Klim's training program from back in the day. They had weeks where they were doing close to 90k a week. And they could crush it in the pool from 50-200m.
I really enjoy doing long, unbroken freestyle swimming with a snorkel, and find it rather meditative. Usually takes around 1,000m to find my rhythm, but once it's locked in it feels pretty darn good. And my technique feels lights-out awesome at the end of those high volume weeks....so I guess I'll just keep doing it :)
