Give it a rest already

Rest and recovery are just as important to any training plan as the workouts themselves. While some people long for their days off from exercise, some people really struggle with stepping back for a day or two.  By giving yourself time away from running, you allow your body to adapt to the stress you have been putting it through and come back stronger. Failing to allow for adequate recovery can lead to disproportionate fatigue, feeling flat during all your runs, injury, or burn out.

Aside from the physical break you are giving your body, recovery days are a good mental break from endurance training. They also give you a chance to reconnect with family and friends or catch-up with things that may fall by the way side while you are focused on your running schedule.  Not that I have any experience with that. I’m just guessing it might come up from time to time.

Aside from not running on rest days, there are a number of ways to enhance or speed up your recovery following your runs. They include massage, foam rolling, legs up the wall, or ice baths.

Massage – I don’t think this one needs much explanation. There are a number of highly skilled licensed massage therapists on the island that can work wonders on sore muscles or trouble spots. Lately, I’ve been visiting Linda at Northwoods Massage and have been very happy with the results.

Foam Rolling – Foam rolling is essentially self massage. While it’s not usually as effective as a full on massage by a professional, using a foam roller in a very good alternative and can be used every day. Fair warning, this is not a fun exercise. Be prepared to cry and shout profanity. This means it is working. A particular sore or painful muscle indicates that is deserves extra attention and is most likely very tight or weak. Take heart that this will become less painful as you work to eliminate knots and soften your muscle facia.

Here are a handful of links that show some good foam rolling exercise:

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/foam-rolling/

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285--11556-0,00.html

http://www.rumbleroller.com/foam-roller-exercises.html

Legs up the wall – This is actually a restorative yoga pose that many runners and triathletes swear by. All it involves is lying on your back and sticking your legs up a wall. Stay in the pose for 1 minute for each mile you’ve run and try hard not to fall asleep.  Oh yeah…don’t get up too fast or you’ll wind up back where you started.

Ice baths – Full disclosure here…these can actually be more miserable than foam rolling. I have taken ice baths. I’ve taken many ice baths. I have been reduced to tears by ice baths. And I will do it again. Submerging yourself in ice cold water for 15 – 20 minutes post run will do wonders for inflammation and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). But they are painful. Oh man, are they painful. I recommend having a good book, magazine or powerful narcotic to distract you while you are sitting there watching the clock until you can get out. 

Run for your lives,
Bree