Monday, November 10, 2008

Trying to recover

After Sunday's Mission Inn Run, it's not a matter of me thinking of recovering, it's a matter of figuring out how to recover. I scoured the web and found a few bits of advice but only one that really grabbed my attention and made sense.

Here's the link. It seems pretty thorough and the site seems respectable so I'm taking the advice a a bit to heart.

Now, the story is for a 10-point recovery plan following a race and includes steps to do immediately afterward. That ship has sailed but I can still salvage something from the story, mainly what to do in the days after the race.

- The story suggests light training the day after the race. I took today off but was planning on some easy recovery on Tuesday, two days after the race. I'm actually undecided on that right now but the story makes sense and perhaps I will end up going after all. I seem to have been right on my inclination to stay away from running and switch up my work out. I'd wanted to ride a bike and the story suggests doing so would be a good idea. Still, I'm not certain how many times this week I should go to the gym. I'm thinking Tuesday and Thursday would be good, and if I do so I'll be on the bike.

- Stretch. I stretched some after the race and that was part of the post-race recovery plan. But stretching before and especially after the easy recovery at the gym is key. Muscles need stretching and they need to be warm in order to help the recovery.

- Some type of massage is recommended. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed my visit to the Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa in June, I don't foresee another trip anytime soon.

- Refocus. I have a training plan in place for the coming year. It's not really quite a plan yet I suppose, just some races I'm planning on running. But I will hit this hard on in a coming post. The only problem is the short-term as I am not planning on racing anymore in 2008.

No comments: