Recovery Please

There has been some discussion lately about the necessity of recovery during training. So how much and what recovery do we need? How do we fit in all our training, cross-training, weights, etc. and still have time for recovery? What can we do to recover faster? How much recovery is needed prior to taper? How do you balance training hard and training and recovery? Based only on what I've gleaned of you from this forum, I can virtually guarantee that you are not allowing yourself enough recovery time. Listen to your body. If you are sore, and getting tired a little more easily, you need to recover. Recovery is more important as you age because you don't recover as quickly between workouts. Remember -- I'm sure you've heard it before -- you actually get faster when you recover (ie adapt to your training). "What can we do to recover faster?" (I had to chuckle over this a little, clearly you like the training more than the recovery!) Enough sleep and good food would probably help. No cheating! For example, most serious triathletes I know don't recover enough -- I mention this b/c of your cross-training -- and view "swim only" days as their recovery. How to fit it in? I would suggest periodization, especially of your cross-training activities. With your weights, lift hard for 3-4 weeks and then lift light for one week before repeating. I usually divide the 3-4 weeks up a little too, starting with higher reps and lower weights, with less rest between sets, gradually increasing weights and decreasing reps and increasing rest before going light for a week. I'm not a runner but it is probably similar to cycling: go easy one week after about 4 weeks of harder training. More along that vein: every 4-6 weeks, spend a week working on something different that isn't as taxing but is still useful. Flexibility, for example (you can do some of that yoga you liked so well). Or work on self-pacing: pick a (relatively slow) time for a set of repeats and try to hold EXACTLY that time and pay close attention to how your body feels at that pace; vary the pace a little and do the same. Work more on your technique and stroke drills for a week and less on conditioning. Take some time to work on starts and turns. Try some new toys (eg, the snorkel), or use some that you don't use as often. Do hypoxic sets at a more relaxed pace. I'm not sure about your tapering question. I view tapering is one extended/controlled recovery process, though there are others who view it differently. So I tend to use the time just before tapering as the last time to get in some really hard training and weights. Not sure if that is ideal, though. I've heard that women should taper a little less than men, which is probably what you want to hear...! I'm not a coach so I cannot really verify that. Take a weekend off, if you need it, and even then, work your way back to full speed over 2-3 days. Your body will thank you and you'll end up faster. Don't worry, I'm sure you're in awesome shape; it took months/years for you to get there and you don't lose that in days. Overtraining is a good way to get sick (your body's way of getting you to recover if your brain isn't smart enough to do it first). Good luck.

There has been some discussion lately about the necessity of recovery during training. So how much and what recovery do we need? How do we fit in all our training, cross-training, weights, etc. and still have time for recovery? What can we do to recover faster? How much recovery is needed prior to taper? How do you balance training hard and training and recovery? Based only on what I've gleaned of you from this forum, I can virtually guarantee that you are not allowing yourself enough recovery time. Listen to your body. If you are sore, and getting tired a little more easily, you need to recover. Recovery is more important as you age because you don't recover as quickly between workouts. Remember -- I'm sure you've heard it before -- you actually get faster when you recover (ie adapt to your training). "What can we do to recover faster?" (I had to chuckle over this a little, clearly you like the training more than the recovery!) Enough sleep and good food would probably help. No cheating! For example, most serious triathletes I know don't recover enough -- I mention this b/c of your cross-training -- and view "swim only" days as their recovery. How to fit it in? I would suggest periodization, especially of your cross-training activities. With your weights, lift hard for 3-4 weeks and then lift light for one week before repeating. I usually divide the 3-4 weeks up a little too, starting with higher reps and lower weights, with less rest between sets, gradually increasing weights and decreasing reps and increasing rest before going light for a week. I'm not a runner but it is probably similar to cycling: go easy one week after about 4 weeks of harder training. More along that vein: every 4-6 weeks, spend a week working on something different that isn't as taxing but is still useful. Flexibility, for example (you can do some of that yoga you liked so well). Or work on self-pacing: pick a (relatively slow) time for a set of repeats and try to hold EXACTLY that time and pay close attention to how your body feels at that pace; vary the pace a little and do the same. Work more on your technique and stroke drills for a week and less on conditioning. Take some time to work on starts and turns. Try some new toys (eg, the snorkel), or use some that you don't use as often. Do hypoxic sets at a more relaxed pace. I'm not sure about your tapering question. I view tapering is one extended/controlled recovery process, though there are others who view it differently. So I tend to use the time just before tapering as the last time to get in some really hard training and weights. Not sure if that is ideal, though. I've heard that women should taper a little less than men, which is probably what you want to hear...! I'm not a coach so I cannot really verify that. Take a weekend off, if you need it, and even then, work your way back to full speed over 2-3 days. Your body will thank you and you'll end up faster. Don't worry, I'm sure you're in awesome shape; it took months/years for you to get there and you don't lose that in days. Overtraining is a good way to get sick (your body's way of getting you to recover if your brain isn't smart enough to do it first). Good luck.