Race Preparation: Recovery

Not the most exciting of training topics for most people but the most misunderstood despite the numerous articles on the subject in magazines in recent years. Riders talk about recovery. They claim to do it. But most seem to get no results from it. Why not? Probably because they are not really recovering, or, more appropriately regenerating. Riders usually don’t allow their body to recover. I believe that this is the single biggest mistake riders make.

These are four main principles for all training that determine the results of any training. These four are:

• individuality
• specificity
• reversibility
• overload

Without going in to detail on the first three at this time they mean the following: each person responds differently to each training stress and has their own appropriate stress level at any given time; training must be specific to your sport and movements (e.g. Swimming does little to make a better weight lifter); and any improvements can be lost through non-use, respectively.

The fourth principle, overload, is part of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). The three stages of this syndrome are stress (overload), response, and then adaptation. Overload means to regularly and progressively apply greater than normal physical stress (training) to the body which causes an adaptation in the body that results in the greater stress becoming normal, and thus non-stressful. This is improvement. Overload must be progressive. For example, it takes years to build up the ability to easily handle multiple consecutive hundred mile days. You must get there gradually. You are a professional if riding multiple, consecutive 100 mile days is not stressful. However, one ride of one hundred miles may be appropriate if several days are allowed for recovery (renewal) before the next. If the stress applied is too great the stress becomes distress and the response is acute exhaustion, chronic exhaustion, and /or injury, and no positive adaptation occurs.

As you might have realised multiple consecutive hundred mile days might also violate the principles of individuality and specificity. Individuality because multiple consecutive hundred mile days is not appropriate for you because you are not Bradley Wiggins, and specificity because you don’t ride in an event that requires you to ride multiple consecutive days of one hundred mile days. Unless you’re racing Bradley Wiggins there is no need to ride consecutive days of one hundred miles and almost without doubt you will actually go slower. If the longest race you do is two hours there is little or no need to ride one hundred miles for one day much less on consecutive days.

Renewal comes during the adaptation stage of the GAS as a result of recovery time. Renewal occurs when you body is under no great stress and is able to adapt itself to the previous stress incurred. Without proper time for recovery, the full or complete adaptation cannot occur. If your body is not fully adapted to the previous stress, your body will not be working at full capacity during your next workout and your training will be compromised. It is much like recovery from an open wound on your skin, or the healing of a broken bone. If the injury is not allowed to heal but is reopened or re-broken continually, permanent damage will occur and full health and strength of the injured area will never occur.

Renewal is primarily the repairing of soft tissue damage (if any) in the muscle, tendons, and ligaments; and the restoring of the metabolic, endocrine (hormonal) and nervous systems to homeostasis. Part of the restoration of the metabolic system is the removal of lactic acid. Removal of lactic acid is normally not a concern. Your body produces lactic acid at all times, even at rest. Lactic acid is the normal byproduct of fast glycolosis which you body uses to rapidly break down glucose for energy. Your body oxidizes lactic acid as a fuel in muscle, to replenish blood and liver glucose, and to replenish muscle glycogen stores. Excess lactic acid, however, is buffered in the blood by the bicarbonate system and then released through expired air as CO2. The main problem with lactic acid arises when the rate of production exceeds the rate of removal for too long (i.e. going too hard for too long). Prolonged time with high lactic acid concentrations can have long term (next day) affects but the lactic acid itself is brought back to resting concentration levels in less than 60 minutes (at worse). The long term affects of prolonged, high concentrations of lactic acid, is not sore legs but muscle damage that can cause impairment of the metabolic processes of the muscle cell. The is a result from incorrect interval training or group rides that cause you to ride above your current fitness level for too long.

When thinking about recovery in cycling consider the following:

1. How much time do the demands of daily life allow for recovery?

This is why professionals sit or lie down most of the time. They want their body to concentrate solely on renewal. Cycling is their job. If you work full time and have a family you will have a hard time recovering if you try to train more than 10 hours per week. Don’t be fooled, your work and family deservedly take lots of energy; physically, mentally, and emotionally. And all three sources of stress affect metabolic, endocrine, and nervous systems.

2. Always do less than you feel like you can do. While this is not always true, the consequences of over training are great and occur quite easily. When in doubt, leave it out!

3. Stress is not only physical stress but mental and emotional as well. All stress has an impact on your body’s metabolic, endocrine, and nervous system.

4. There are probably seven different types of recovery that you should take note of and monitor.

Recovery from:

• Individual efforts during a ride (e.g. between intervals or while descending after a climb)
• One day to the next
• One week to the next (too little recovery one week will lead to a reduction in intensity and/or duration the next week, or more)
• One mesocycle (a number of weeks) to the next (this is why periodised rest weeks are important)
• A year of racing/riding (you feel a little tired and hopefully not burned out at the end of a season but you still need rest and recovery to have a long and fruitful next season)
• Injury
• Illness (I separate this from injury for emphasis since people have a much harder time allowing recovery to properly occur from illness than from injury)

5. There are many influences that determine the appropriate amount of recovery. Below is a rather complete, but probably not exhaustible list. Remember these apply to all of the seven areas of recovery discussed in number four.

• Training history (number of years, level of training, highest level reached etc.)
• Current ability level (not necessarily category, especially if you don’t race)
• Current training level (how much you are training now)
• Current fitness level
• Available training time (this is reality based not some fantasy where you think you can work 40+ hrs/wk and train 2-6 hrs every night with lights on your bike
• Other responsibilities besides training and racing (e.g. work, family time, house work, friends, relatives, other hobbies, etc.)
• Actual recovery time (this dovetails the previous two items especially, and does not include sleep up to 7 hours)
• Duration of workout (anything beyond 3 hours (2 for most) is stressful, no matter how slow you ride, and requires recovery)
• Intensity of workout (a 30 minute interval is stressful and requires some recovery)
• Type of workout (i.e. steady, intervals, flat, type of climb etc.)
• Mode of workout (i.e. on the bike or off the bike such as weights, running etc.)
• Time of training year (e.g. base training, build, race, recovery)
• Time of training week (e.g. after recovery day(s) or after a high intensity day, etc.)
• Nutritional status (i.e. balanced, adequate, and well timed caloric intake or not; rehydrated or not, etc.)
• Sleep status (have you been getting the seven hour minimum)
• What are your goals (e.g. to win races, to be fit and healthy etc.)

Pull all these together and listen to your body honestly, then let your body recover after a hard (stressful) workout. One last thing to remember, ‘A strong body gets stronger, a weak body gets weaker.’ Your body only gets stronger after it recovers. Let it.

Taken from ‘Recovery’ by Bart Hill