Traditionally downhill running is the one part of all my training that hurts me the most. During the last mile of the Hawaii Ironman you have to run down Palani road or as we used to call it “Pay and Save” hill. This is the same road that I had walked up a short 14 miles before during this marathon. So I am running this downhill with abandon and thinking “I am going to pay dearly for this”. Sure enough an hour later I could not get up from my lounge chair. Mark Allen had to pull me up. My quads were absolutely useless. I could walk fine but sitting down or standing up was not fun at all.
Recovery for me is always tough. Even after a 5K I am always sore. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is because I give it my all during the race but also because for a triathlete I am a a big guy and when you weight a little more your quads will take a serious beating. Now notice that running is the culprit here. Recovery after a race is almost always dependant on how long and how hard you ran. For a run race the rule of thumb is to allow one day per mile. But I feel that for triathlons were the run is done at a lesser pace you can recover a little faster. The swim and the bike ride add to the recovery equation but I think they get over shadowed by the run.
So how is it that some people can recover very fast and hardly get sore? Not to mention that they race back to back races. Short of doing illegal drugs, which by the way I think there has to be quite a bit of this in age group triathlon. Here is my take on it. As I mentioned above if you are relatively small you will not get as beat up but also if you did not push you body as much you will also not get beat up. But let me add that pushing yourself sometimes has nothing to do with your effort. You can try as hard as you can but many times you will not be able to push. This can be a tapering factor. If your taper went well and you are peaking you will be able to go where you have never been. When and if you do that you will undoubtedly get real sore and your recovery will be long. On the other hand if your taper is not right on you will not be able to push and your race will be more like a training day. When this happens your recovery will be relatively fast. This people just do not taper well and racing and training are interchangeable. That is how some people can race all the time. I think that is a waste. Yes some of you may not agree but I am all about peaking and trying to achieve my best performance and as coach that is my aim. It is not about how many triathlons or Ironman races I can do.
Now here is the other trap. Just because Joe triathlete down the corner does well it does not mean they train well. You may know some triathlete that trains like a madman and hardly tapers and races all the time and still kicks your butt every time out. Performance is relative. Take for example this one. There is a pro Peter something. This guy races about every Ironman on the planet. That is great for him. (No checks written out for that feat) But look into his race performance. He is 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on. Then in Kona he is in another zip code. He was quoted once as saying “One day I will win one of these”. He may help himself by training well and learning how to peak. There is no way to train properly and peak with so many Ironman races in one year. Of course there is also the possibility he may win one if no other good pro shows up to race. This is now always a possibility with so many Ironman races. He is a good triathlete and a good pro for sure but his training and racing methodology is preventing him from achieving his personal best. Just because someone is a “pro” or wins his age group it does not mean he/she trains well. You will not believe how many emails we get related to this. Coach my friend says or I read in an article that you should do this. I always reply nicely of course but my first thought is always “Why didn’t you sign up for their coaching”.
Race recovery can vary as you can see. It depends on your training and on how much you left out on the course. I generally take the day after the race off no matter the triathlon distance. Then I go by soreness. For an Ironman I can take as much as a full week off. For a half I would take about 4 days and for an Olympic I take 2 or 3 days totally off. The first thing I do after a race is swim. There is no jarring and it relaxes the body while pumping some blood to hopefully flush toxins away. If that goes well I then go for a bike ride the next day. If that goes well then I try to run. I took a week totally off and followed this protocol after Kona. When I got to my run I found out my quads were still a mess. I then decided to get a massage and that help a great deal. I took another day off and repeated the protocol. This time it went really well. I should have gotten a massage sooner. Massage is a great way to help you recover. Recovery does not happen real fast when you live at 9000 feet. That is the downside of living at altitude.
Many people that use our online program want us to give them a recovery program. We do not have one because it is very hard to automate. I usually just give them email advice based on their race report. Basically one has to wait and see how you feel after the race. The other thing that happens very often is people get sick. We tend to take care of our bodies and do everything right before the race but right after the race we head for the beer tent. Although that can be fun it can dehydrate you and if you do not stay hydrated you will further weaken the immune system which is maxed out already. Combine that with a trip home on a crowded plane and you have the recipe for the common cold. That will force you to take it easy for sure. I prefer to stay healthy.
It has been a month since Ironman now and I am way past the recovery stage. I have to worry about the off season. Worry about putting on pounds. I will post on all this later but my next post is that Ironman gossip column I promised.
I have also been learning how to skate ski. I plan on participating on a couple of winter triathlons. They are run, mountain bike, and x-country ski. I will post on all this too.
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving Day.