Recovery Run 101

My last training tip examined the relationship between running, muscular fatigue and muscle fiber micro-trauma and introduced the concept of the “recovery run” for novice and advanced runners.  In today’s training tip, I’ll point out a few of the guidelines you should keep in mind when approaching your recovery run sessions.  Although many of the key points addressed below are both simplistic and commonsensical in nature, it is all too often the case that motivated, dare I say, obsessive, endurance athletes fail to heed the following principles when approaching their training progression and, by doing so, compromise their rate of recovery between bouts of high stress training.

When muscle fibers are inflamed, under powered, and overextended, pressing them further is of little to no benefit to the hard working athlete; the exception being pre-planned periods of intensive block training , but that’s a subject I’ll address at a later date!   As always, I’ll be the first to promote the fact that advancement in one’s fitness will only occur via a long term commitment to high quality, event specific training that involves heavy doses of work that is not intended for the faint of heart (i.e. you better be willing to suffering during training!).  So despite what some of the new-age training philosophies may espouse, there’s a lot to be said for the old saying “No pain, No gain.”  However… the principles of nature must also be respected; the tide cannot always be high, nor can the sun always shine.  The human body, like everything else in this world, must be in balance in order to operate at its full potential.

Although there are a variety of ways to determine the optimal placement of an active recovery day as you progress through your training plan, the most effective means of doing so is by simply listening to your body.   It’s a simple concept, really:  When you are tired, take it easy.  Keep in mind that as humans, there are a wide variety of variables that affect your rate of recovery.  Sleep, nutrition, hydration, stress levels, etc. all impact how quickly you recover from a given workout or series of workouts.  That being said, there is no precise pre-planned point at which an active recovery session can most effectively be employed.  When your body is too tired to work hard or even maintain its baseline endurance building paces, go with the flow and don’t be afraid to keep your session extra short and very easy.

How easy is easy you may ask?  For a hard working endurance athlete, limiting your heart rate to approximately 70% of maximum is generally accepted as being the cut off point for an active recovery session.  The bottom line in my book:  Run as easily as you’d like on your active recovery days while keeping respiratory rate, heart rate and pace very low.  The effort should feel very comfortable throughout; on a perceived level of exertion scale of 1 – 10 (10 being the hardest) you should limit your effort(s) to a “3.”  I favor the use of flat to gently rolling cross country trails on my active recovery runs for a few reasons:

1. Running off road, on unmeasured trails, negates my ability to determine my pace while running.  Being the competitive athlete that I am, I enjoy running relatively fast on a daily basis and have a hard time slowing down to pedestrian like paces while traversing my normal running routes out on the road.
2. Running off road allows me the opportunity to immerse myself in nature for a while and provides a degree of tranquility and peace that is hard to find when hammering out the miles out on the streets or local track.
3. Trail running provides much needed reprieve from the unforgiving impact that the body is subjected to while running on asphalt, concrete and even the rubberized surface of the track.  As a side note, I’ll also point out that utilization of the treadmill can be equally effective for this specific reason due to the decreased shock transmission that a high quality treadmill deck provides.  There have been many a tired day where I’ve opted to execute an easy 30 minute jog on my Landice L8 Executive Trainer while listening to my favorite playlist, and my legs thanked me for doing so!

In terms of duration, active recovery runs are typically no longer than one hour for even the fittest, well trained runners.  Keep in mind that active recovery sessions are not designed to stress your body in any way.  You are using these sessions to help expedite your body’s rate of recovery by very gently stimulating the muscular, cardiovascular and respiratory systems.  Running at very easy efforts will help to restore hormonal balance, decrease muscular soreness/stiffness and keep the body from tightening up after blocks of intensive training.  A well trained runner will gain nothing, fitness wise, from pushing the pace on their active recovery runs; as a matter of fact, they will only prolong elevated fatigue levels by doing so and extend the period of time they’ll have to stay in low-stress training mode before being able to insert high stress training back into the training regimen.

Active recovery running is an integral, and enjoyable, component of any well thought-out training plan.  Although it will constitute a fairly small percentage of the running that you will execute on a week to week basis, its insertion will go a long way in expediting your rate of recovery.  By providing yourself with a bit of mental and physical reprieve from time to time on the training front, you’ll remain physically fresh and psychologically motivated for the high stress training that will move you closer to your competitive objectives.  At the end of the day, you must remember that if your objective is to get faster, training is a means to an end, and there’s no written rule that says the athlete who never rests will win.  All things being equal, smarter training trumps harder training every time.