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Recovery is an essential part of any triathlon training program. Far too many triathletes do not port enough to give us is on recovery and it is costing them considerable improvement, injury and fatigue. So I guess the real question is; what is the best way to recover? but first I'd like to look at the definition of recovery: Recovery is the overcoming of the effects of fatigue caused by activity and restoration of the body to its full performing potential. Active VS Passive Recovery. Which is better? Passive recovery is mostly used for short events e.g. 100m, to replenish energy stores( PC stores). If you use a passive recovery for long events, you would eventually recover but it would take a lot longer. Therefore for Triathlon Training, an active recovery is best. The problem with a passive recovery for Triathlon, is that after training there will be a lot of metabolic by-products such as lactic acid which have built up. Active recovery maintains blood circulation which gets rid of these by-products, i.e. venous pooling (see another article posted in the recovery section for explanation) and all the other nasties. The increased oxygen that is used in active recovery is great for recovery. Also, this type of warm down includes muscle contractions which tenses the veins and capillaries to get rid of your body's waste products. Warm down should be at low intensity, but continuous. It should last long enough for your heart rate to lower itself to around 100beats per minute (BPM). HOT TIP: Good Test. If your heart rate is not under 100 BPM in 5minutes then you may be training too hard or you may even be coming down with a cold. When you are unfit, it will naturally take you longer to get your heart rate down after exercise, however, if it is taking a very long time to get your heart rate down and you are not feeling the greatest this could be an indication that you need to take a day off training. Warm down should be assisted by stretching. Stretching helps reduce muscle soreness. For long endurance events e,g a triathlon it can take 24-48 hours for you to fully recover and get your fuel stores back to normal. This is because most, if not all of your stores will have been depleted by the event. Your recover time will depend on the intensity of the event and the length of it. Active Recovery: Heart rate is between 40-60% of heart rate maximum or 30-40% of Vo2 Max Passive Recovery: Heart rate is less than 40% of heart rate maximum or less than 30-40% of Vo2 Max
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triathlon, triathlon training, triathlon training recovery, active recovery, training for triathlon, triathlete training, triathlon program,
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