Recovery Day

Just a wee bit tired today.

Fatigue certainly made itself felt during training this morning. Feeling a bit flat is perhaps not surprising given the cycling that occurred yesterday and the amount of hurt it put me through, so it was of no real concern, still the pain was very real.

Luckily today training was a recovery session. Monday morning is usually a recovery session, in fact it has been a recovery session for about as long as I can remember. A good chance to take it easy and digest some of the big efforts that have occurred over the weekend.

Usually on these recovery sessions I aim for between 50 and 70 minutes of very light dynamic recovery, unless I am running in which case I aim for about 40 minutes. The aim of the sessions is to get out and get moving, get the blood flowing but to keep the effort very light. If I am doing something like swimming I usually use it as a good chance to get in a bit of technique work too. Heading out when you are feeling flat and tired can seem a bit counter-intuitive, surely rest would be better, but usually I find myself feeling better following a recovery session (as long as I have done it right and kept it easy).

Funnily enough these sorts of easy sessions can be more beneficial that going out and slogging yourself again. The obsessive athlete part of our brains likes to assume that training hard is beneficial, so training harder must be better. But if I had gone out and trained hard this morning I simply would have had a poor quality session and been tired tonight, which would most likely mean poor training tomorrow morning. Doing an easy session this morning has actually helped my recovery, which means I will be able to go out tomorrow and execute a good quality session. By taking it easy I have improved the overall quality of my training.

This concept, of taking some sessions easy to make the over all training better, is probably the issue I see people most have trouble with in my coaching. Triathletes classically like to keep training hard and when you ask them to ease back they often look at your funny and struggle with the idea. However, having variation in intensity, and using it appropriately, is probably one of the biggest lessons that triathletes need to learn when they are preparing for long course triathlons. Not every session should be about smashing yourself. Some session need to be easy and aimed at recovery, so that the hard sessions really can be pushed to the limit.

In the end good quality recovery is just as important as good quality training.