Recovery for athletes as a tool for optimising performance is both well accepted and much talked about. Nutritional recovery, physical recovery and nervous system recovery mechanisms are readily available to both elite and non-elite athletes. Measuring recovery is also now very achievable with devices such as the Whoop and Oura ring. So let’s dive into the recovery space and talk about practical ways of optimising your performance as a triathlete…

Types of Recovery

I like to classify recovery methods as either acute (what you do directly after a session or race) or chronic (long-term or regular recovery tools). Let’s talk about a couple of simple chronic recovery methods.

Chronic Recovery Methods

Periodisation

The term ‘periodisation’ in the training space refers to changing the emphasis of your training program to bias towards a certain energy system, or in the case of recovery, planning a regular recovery week to allow your body to adapt and regenerate before starting another training block. I was first introduced to the concept of periodisation back in 1983 when I read Tudor Bompa’s book- ‘The Theory and Methodology of Training’. It’s not a light read, and is now in its 6th edition, but gives a great outline of how the concept of periodisation provides a template for THE best way to train.

Typically, running a 3 + 1 or 4 +1 periodised training block will allow you to recover between bouts of hard training. ‘3 or 4’ refers to weeks of training or loading, and ‘+1’ refers to a de-load or recovery week, where ideally a 30% reduction in volume and intensity will allow you to recover and re-load before your body gives you signals that it is in trouble. I have used this recovery principal with athletes of all ages and abilities: from beginner to elite, from young to older athletes with great success. Very occasionally with the older and more ‘compromised’ athlete, I have run a 2 +1 periodisation- also with good outcomes.

In the ‘+1’ week, you should also focus on recovery tools such as massage, saunas, yoga and generally reducing the physical and psychological stress in your life. Periodisation is a great recovery tool to prevent overuse injuries: which are a result of cumulative load. It also helps recovery of the Nervous System (pretty important, and more discussion on this later). It’s easy to program a recovery week: either drop a couple of sessions or reduce the volume and intensity of individual sessions (remember, reduce load by 30%). I‘m a huge fan of having 1 day off training a week in a normal training block, but in a recovery week, add a second day off and get a massage and have a sauna instead!

Sleep

One of the most underrated recovery tools is sleep. Good quality, adequate hours of sleep are important in allowing your body to regenerate and be ready to train again. Devices such as the Whoop and Oura ring give very good indication of both volume and quality of sleep. Sleep is significantly affected by the balance between the hormones of cortisol and melatonin: at night your cortisol (a stress hormone produced in the adrenal glands) should drop, and melatonin (a hormone naturally produced by the pineal gland) should increase. In the morning the reverse should happen. The body releases growth hormone at night- which is essential to rebuild muscle and recovery from training. So good sleep is essential for good growth hormone responses.

If your cortisol is too high at night, or melatonin too low, good sleep does not happen. I was introduced to melatonin as a supplement by Johann Koss (a 4-time Olympic Gold medallist in speed skating) in the 90’s as a way of helping overcome jet lag due to time zone changes (it’s a long way to anywhere from Australia) and regularly use it when I travel to optimise sleep. Remember- to sleep well, cortisol needs to be low and melatonin high.

Other than supplementing melatonin, there are a number of ways to reduce cortisol to help sleep: stay off screens for at least 2 hours before bedtime, or if you must be on a screen, wear blue-light blocking glasses. Charles Poliquin (a famous Canadian athletic coach and Master Strength and Conditioning trainer) would ‘ban’ any of his athletes from using screens after 7pm! Meditation or breathing exercises done prior to sleep can also help to reduce stress and thus reduce cortisol. Taking supplements such as Ashwagandha (a cortisol reducing adaptogen), and Plasmaide (which contains a NO stimulating adaptogen) can also improve sleep quality.

So in summary: sleep better to recover better….

Breathing

Breathing techniques overlap into both the chronic and acute recovery method buckets. Using appropriate breathing techniques such as nasal breathing, both during and after training can help oxygen delivery to muscles, and thus help both performance and recovery. There is a great book by James Nestor – Breath- which discusses the enormous effect ‘proper breathing’ can have for an athlete. Using ‘parasympathetic breathing’ techniques prior to sleep can help lower cortisol and thus aid in sleep quality.

Parasympathetic breathing refers to taking a series of breaths (minimum 10) where you deliberately breathe out longer than you breath in: in a ratio of 4:3 or 5:3 (out for 5 in for 3). Parasympathetic refers to the ‘rest and digest’ part of your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The other component of the ANS is your Sympathetic Nervous system- or ‘fight or flight’ system. An elevated sympathetic nervous system state is good for performance (at times) but not for recovery. Regulating your ANS is key to being able to reduce stress and anxiety, and you also recover and regenerate better in a

‘parasympathetic’ or rest-and-digest state. There is a great free app called Breath 2 Relax which I regularly recommend to athletes to help get control of their breathing and hence their ANS.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measurement of your ANS health. HRV can be measured using the devices we have mentioned: Whoop and Oura ring, but also with a Polar HR Strap and a HRV app such as I-Thlete or Elite HRV. As previously mentioned, Nervous System recovery is critically important in the overall concept of athletic performance: and good HRV numbers (generally high HRV scores) indicate a healthy nervous system.

In future Santara Members Clubhouse blogs, I will dive deeper into breathing and HRV, but if you are keen to learn more, Ben Greenfield does some great pod-casts on these topics.

Acute Recovery Methods

Ice Baths, Saunas and Spas

These recovery tools can be used as specific post-training or post-event recovery methods, or integrated into your general training process as regularly used tools to facilitate optimal recovery. The use of extreme cold has been popularised by guys like Wim Hoff, and the benefits of regular ice-baths are now being researched and well-documented. Ice baths have both physiological (reduce inflammation) and nervous system (improve ANS control) effects.

Scandinavian and Slavic countries have used saunas and ice baths (or frozen rivers) as tools to improve general health for centuries. Saunas facilitate circulation and toxin removal and lead to a reduction in stress. As a generalisation, saunas once or twice a week are a good idea, but you can ice bath more frequently if you want to.

There is some research to suggest ice baths can limit specific muscular adaptation: so don’t ice bath straight after a gym session if you are trying to build muscle mass. Generally, try to use an ice bath of 10 degrees C or less, and spend either 90 seconds, 4 minutes or 12 minutes in the bath. Often start with 90 seconds, get out, shower and repeat 3 times, then progress to longer exposure times as you get better at tolerating the cold. If the idea of ice baths ‘scares’ you, start with regular cold showers- or the last 30 seconds of any shower, go full-cold. You will quickly adapt to the cold stimulus, which indicates you are improving your ANS control and better handling stress.

Spas, particularly those with strong jets, provide both a heat and muscle ‘massage’ effect. Again, over-use of heat exposure can lead to fatigue and nervous system suppression, so don’t use them more than once or twice a week.

Massage

Massage is an age-old recovery method that definitely helps you overcome soreness and tightness that comes from training. Finding a Sports or Deep Tissue massage practitioner that you can see weekly, fortnightly or monthly (depending on time and finances) will aid recovery. Ideally, get a massage in your +1 or the download week of your periodised training cycle.

The percussion massage guns and other tools like Normatec boots and mechanical chair massage devices can all have positive benefits: as long as you feel better afterwards, then the tool has helped. Normatec or other pulsing pressure massage devices are a great post-training or post-event tool to help remove lactate and other waste products that build up in training or competition. The relaxation effect of any massage modality also helps the nervous system to ‘unwind’ or be more parasympathetic, and as previously discussed, this helps in recovery.

Stretching

Stretching as a recovery and injury prevention tool is also very useful. Post-training stretching allows the reduction of tone or muscle tension as well as improving the range of motion of joints. Reduced joint range and increased muscle tone are 2 primary causes of overuse injury, so a personalised or activity-specific stretching program is a great tool to prevent injury as well as enhance recovery. Different programs for post-run, post-cycle and post-swim should be used by every triathlete to optimise their muscle and joint range.

Nutritional Recovery

Post-training and post-race nutritional recovery usually include having sufficient carb/protein/electrolyte intake to replenish what you used in the session or race. As you are no doubt aware, in-race or in-training nutritional plans are critical to optimise performance, and the better your in-race nutrition, the easier it is to recover.

There are nutritional supplements such as Plasmaide that also have significant upsides in post-training and post-race recovery. Plasmaide has a plant-based adaptogen (PBE) that triggers your body’s eNOS (endogenous nitric oxide) system- which leads to improved circulation and hence waste product removal. The PBE also acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant agent, so you regenerate and recover post-training or racing much quicker. Check this snippet from Kristian B re his view on Plasmaide and recovery:

For the science geeks among you, PBE’s also lead to quicker removal of inflammatory markers (such as CrP and ESR) post-event, which results in improved recovery and ability to return to training sooner. The longer your event, the more upside PBE’s have in the recovery process.

Nervous System Recovery

I’ve mentioned Nervous System Recovery a couple of times, and it is an often overlooked part of the recovery process. Our 21st century busy and tech-driven lives often lead to an over-stimulation of the ANS (autonomic nervous system), leaving us in a constant ‘fight or flight’ state. Recovery happens best in a ‘rest and digest’ state, and I’ve mentioned breathing techniques, saunas and massage as tools to help you control your ANS. Other techniques such as yoga and meditation are also super-useful to help you get to that optimal recovery state. The ‘Zen Master’ of triathlon- Mark Allen- used meditation and mindfulness training as part of his regular routine in his hey-day, and credits these techniques as an integral factor in his success.

In Summary…

There are quite a few tools and methods that any level triathlete can use to recover better from training and competition. The Art of recovery is understanding which methods will work best for you, and how you can incorporate them into your training process – and life- to get the most out of your body.

Individualising a recovery program can also be a science. Measuring HRV and sleep, taking CrP measures (blood tests) and looking at ‘sweat tests’ to determine what specific electrolyte balance you need can all help provide better information re how your recovery is best planned.

I’ve mentioned a couple of books and products in this blog, which are worth a read if you get time, and have included them in the ‘references and resources’ section below.

So to be your best- train hard and recover hard…

- Victor Popov

References / resources:

Tudor BOMPA: The Theory and Methodology of Training (6th Ed-2018)

James NESTOR: Breath (2020)

Breathing app: Breath 2 Relax (free app)

Normatec Boots

HRV and sleep measurement: Whoop, Oura Ring.

HRV apps: I-thlete, Elite HRV, HRV Logger.

HRV info: Ben Greenfield Podcasts

Plasmaide: Plasmaide.com

Nervous System recovery: nettglobal.com.au

Sweat test: kodanutrition.com