My Road to Recovery

Recovery. After four years of racing this seems to be a great mystery to me. And it might be my biggest failure in the sport. Every injury I have sustained has two things in common….they are associated with overuse and need more recovery time than I am willing to devote.

When I started this blog, I sought a title that I thought reflected what I put myself through for 9 months of the year. Creating a machine. While it has multiple interpretations, the notion was on my mind constantly while I was in Hawaii. My machine seems to be under repair much more often then I would like. Unfortunately, I don’t have a warranty card and my service plan includes costly medical bills.

What I learned this week is that my body adapts. It adapts to stress VERY well. Probably too well. By that, I mean it takes a pounding. And so long as the pounding continues, it responds. But the minute the pounding is over…all the masked problems rear their ugly head.

I have always attributed this to the additional testosterone and adrenaline that comes with training for something as large as the Ironman. My body knows what is expected of it, so it responds. And it responds well. It does what I ask of it. But in return, when the event is over, my body asks things of me. And I don’t listen. That isn’t a fair relationship. I may not listen but the boy has the last laugh because when I trying to get moving again, it shuts me down.

Being injured this year provided me ample opportunity to learn more about recovery. I was constantly monitoring my fatigue level, my resting heart rate and my general demeanor. As a triathlete, I expect to be tired all the time. If not, then my coach isn’t doing his job or I am not doing mine. But when the general tiredness becomes fatigue, then I have a problem.

Over the course of the training camp, I kept a sharp eye on my fatigue level. It was easy most days because my power numbers or pace were down. So the question remains, how much recovery time is needed? How about the two days I spent laying by the pool and sleeping late? Is that enough? Goodness knows that I am going to come back more energized and motivated to train again.

Given my past, I am going to experiment a bit with recovery. Two weeks. I certainly hope that is enough time. The true test will be how I perform at the Tundra Time Trial. My focus for the next two weeks will be on three primary things—sleep, eating and stretching. I will aim for 8 hours of sleep EVERY night. No exceptions. I will eat more fruit, vegetables and protein than I am accustomed to. I will overload the system at times in hope that my muscles are rebuilt properly. Finally, I will stretch a lot. I don’t anticipate any intensity in my workouts. Instead, I will treat the next 10 days like a recovery week. I will swim a little, bike a little and run….well maybe some. Instead, I will work on keeping the core intact, strengthening my lower body and participate in ample yoga sessions to keep the body fresh. Then I will see if I can get the 10-20% gains that should come with training 25 hours in a week.