Recovery Strategy for the busy Triathlete
- Thursday, 17 May 2012
- By John Polson
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Triathlon is a sport that demands time, requires exertion, and produces fatigue. If you train upwards of 10, 20 or even 30 hours a week, you will experience elements of metabolic (energy), physiological (muscles) and psychological fatigue. This is exacerbated if you are also trying to combine your training with full time work. Therefore the importance of proper recovery to reduce fatigue in all these areas is paramount. So lets look at recovery strategies in a brief, succinct and useful way that will ultimately improve your productivity and performance at work and in triathlon.
For me, recovery has two key components; optimal nutrition to replenish metabolic stocks and the use of actual recovery strategies to reduce physiological and psychological fatigue.
Nutritional Considerations
Endurance training is predominately long duration and at a low to moderate intensity, therefore carbohydrate and fats are our key sources of fuel. Whilst fat is a readily available fuel source and something we do not have to be particularly conscious of in our diets, even in very slender athletes, carbohydrate and protein levels are very important to consciously maintain. It is vital that we replenish these stores post-workout to optimize recovery and performance in subsequent sessions. Below are my recommendations for your diet, as simple as it can get. Be sure to read the Important Hints to help put things in perspective.
Carbohydrate
The science
• Stored as glycogen in the body
• Fuel for 2 hours of moderate/high intensity exercise (below 75% of your max)
Athlete Guidelines
• 10hr/week training: 6 – 7g/kg/day
• 20hr/week training: 7+g/kg/day
Important hints
• Reduced glycogen may result in excessive fatigue and concentration loss, and severely reduced recovery.
• Important that carbohydrate forms the basis of each meal otherwise you will breakdown muscle to access protein sources.
Carbohydrate rich foods include breads, pasta, cereal, rice, potato, fruit, and low-fat dairy
Protein
The science
• Protein (or its amino acid building blocks) repairs cells of the body (eg. Muscle cells), helps with production of enzymes and hormones and is utilized as an energy source when carbohydrate and fat stores are depleted.
• Athletes require only a small increase in protein intake.
Athlete Guidelines
• 10hr/ week training: 1 – 1.2g/kg/day
• 20hr/week training: 1.6g/kg/day
Important hints
• Combine Protein intake with Carbohydrate intake 30 – 60 minutes after completing intensive session
• Use exogenous protein powder for readily available replenishment post-workout, then use protein rich foods in your everyday diet. If excessive amounts are taken instead of carbohydrate, as suggested above, muscle break down can occur to provide alternative energy supply.
Protein rich foods include lean meat, fish, eggs and beans
Recovery Strategies
Recovery strategies are aimed to complement our nutritional goals to optimize improvement from training load and to assist the body to regain the physiological and psychological capacity required for the next performance. Inadequate recovery can result in increase risk of injury, overtraining, and ultimately underperformance. Whilst there is currently a wealth of recovery fads available, there are a select amount of strategies with good research base. As with the nutritional recommendations, I have outlined key recovery strategies is a clear and hopefully useful way.
Cool down
The science
• Increase clearance of lactate from circulation reducing magnitude of muscular fatigue (evident with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
• Lowers core body temperature in a graduated and controlled state
• Evidence suggests improvement of up to 30% in subsequent performances
Athlete Guidelines
• It’s simple. 10 – 15 minutes of gradually reducing low intensity exercise (similar to the activity performed during work-out)
• Stretching can be introduced for main muscle groups used, holding each stretch for at least 30 seconds
Important hints
• Stretching is a good addition post-exercise. Evidence for stretching pre-exercise does not exist and actually places you at greater risk of straining muscles.
• Combine the cool-down with immediate rehydration and food intake to allow replenishment of electrolytes and to instigate early muscle rebuilding.
Cold Water Immersion (aka. Cryotherapy)
The science
• Intense exercise causes tearing of muscle fibers and local inflammation.
• Cold Water Immersion is a physiological and psychological modality that decreases heart rate, blood pressure, core body and muscle temperature, and reduces inflammation and pain sensation.
• Cold water causes blood vessels to constrict, forcing blood and muscle damage byproducts away from the muscles. Following cold water immersion, blood vessels will expand again, allowing return of new blood to the muscles for muscle repair.
Athlete Guidelines
• 5 – 10 minutes of immersion in water of between 10 – 15 degrees.
Important hints
• Showering or a chilly beach wade immediately after a work-out can be a convenient and effective alternative to purposely designed cold water immersion
• Break protocol into periods of immersion (2 minutes) with periods of room temperature exposure (2 minutes) to promote a ‘pumping’ effect
• Excessive cold water immersion of longer than 10 minutes can stress immune system and increase risk of illness.
Cold water immersion can be as convenient as a walk in the ocean
Psychological activities
The science
• Involves the use of debriefing, relaxation and sleep strategies
• Reduces heart rate, body temperature, anxiety and stress post performance and significantly increases subsequent performance
Athlete guidelines
• Debrief; talk about a performance with a coach/mentor immediately after to critically analyze, force closure, and plan for next performance. This will reduce stress and anxiety and promote motivation.
• Relaxation; whatever makes you feel relaxed, comfortable and not thinking about any performance is key. This will reduce heart rate, blood pressure, stress and anxiety, ultimately improving physiological and psychological recovery and enhancing subsequent performance
• Sleep; it is vital to maintain a regular sleep cycle and avoid diet and environmental stimulants. As long as the hours of sleep are consistent, the actual hours you sleep is almost irrelevant (provided it’s not below 5!).
Important hints
• Psychological strategies are vital and an area I personally struggle with the most. However, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of utilizing these debriefing, relaxation and sleep techniques to reduce physiological and psychological fatigue, increase training adaptations, and ultimately improve your subsequent performances.
Recovery is the most undervalued and poorly understood aspect of athletic training. Our modern-day lifestyles, be it work, family, and sport, encourage the “more is better”, “go hard or go home” and “sleep when your dead” mentalities. I will not lie, I am definitely a culprit here. My advice to you and ultimately myself is take a step back and tell yourself “what I do is not normal and I need to give my body a chance”. I honestly believe you will be amazed at the changes to your performance across all aspects of your life.
Written by John Polson
Professional Triathlete
Physiotherapist (DPhty, BSpSci) at Back in Motion – Mermaid Waters
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