Recovery is often the hardest part of our training, yet is arguably the most important! We have officially started our month of recovery for short course athletes and for the vast majority of our long course too. For all of you who are currently in #struggletown, here are some articles that you may find useful in coming to terms with the importance of recovery.
http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2016/06/guide-to-recovery.aspx#axzz5E6nFTsrL
http://www.220triathlon.com/training/beginners/how-to-recover-from-a-hard-triathlon-season/9357.html
I saw a triathlete last year refer to sleep being the equivalent to using a performancing enhancing drug (say what?!), I cannot for the life of me find where I saw it, but this article (thanks to Sláine for the find!) is near enough!
https://www.theroot.com/the-ultimate-performance-enhancing-drug-sleep-1790875473
I had my month of recovery a little early this year so here are a few of my favourite tips that helped me along the way:
- Sleep, sleep, sleep. You don’t need to know me well to know I love sleep. Thanks to a few illnesses in my teens and as a young adult, I need more sleep than the average person. But I think the most valuable lesson I learnt from that is knowing how much sleep I need. Everyone should know how much sleep they need, and chances are it’s more than you think! This month of recovery is the time for some extra sleep ins and some early nights (maybe some late ones too!), as well as figuring out how much sleep you need if you don’t know already. At first, I was waking up at 5am without an alarm and I thought I didn’t need the extra sleep ins but I soon adapted and I can easily sleep in an extra hour or two when I can – and it feels good!
- Spend extra time with family and friends, or catch up with those that you neglected a little during the season or big training builds.
- Use this time as your time for getting rid of any niggles, spending more time stretching, rolling and doing any exercises set by your physio. Get your body back to a “blank canvas” as Ollie would say!
- Set some goals that are not triathlon or training related, like taking a photo of the sunset each day, reading a new book or trying a new recipe!
- It’s so much easier said than done but remember, you simply will not get the gains you are after next season if you don’t take the time off now. So rest, recover and get your body back to a “blank canvas”, as Ollie would say, ready to build bigger and better than ever for next season.
