In the past I have written about the importance of being adaptive in the way we plan. A direction, a focus on the demands of the event and what we are trying to achieve is critical. For me though the detail should be iterative and stem out of self reflection and feedback with ourselves, a coach, a mentor, other athletes and other sports professionals where relevant.

But being adaptive isn’t just about be reactive – responding to a niggle, a tired run, a new PB. It’s more about being proactive – interpreting a wide range of data (and not just biophysical data) and conversations to tweak and tinker. Treating training in this way is more like painting a picture as Dr Andrew Kirkland once said to me, not following a road map.

In order to do this well performance analysis becomes a much more central part of the coaching/self coaching process. This goes beyond just looking at GPS splits from a run or heart rate data from a session. How an athlete feels around their training is probably more critical.

Some time ago the brilliant and humble Rob Griffiths chatted to me about the benefits he has seen monitoring Heart Rate Variability (HRV) with the athletes he coaches. I started to include it a bit more in my coaching process and have found it to be very useful.

What is HRV?

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measurement of the variation in time between each heart beat, your R-R interval, and it is controlled by your autonomic nervous system (ANS). It is different from your heart rate which is a measurement of the number of times your heart beats over a given time span (usually one minute).

Your ANS plays a key role in regulating your respiratory rate, pupillary response, digestive system and even your sexual arousal amongst other things and it is composed of the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system. These two systems can be over simplified as your ‘fight or flight’ response and your ‘dampening’ or ‘resting’ response. HRV is a way of quantifying/measuring the activity of the vagus nerve.

How can it be used?

HRV can be used as a method of monitoring changes in your autonomic nervous system. In essence it is a method of assessing your state of stress. Generally the greater your HRV the better you are recovering and the more receptive you will be to further training stress.

It can help tell us whether an athlete’s training load is appropriate, whether they might be at risk of colds or infections in the near future. As athletes we are often not very good at knowing when to push and when to back off. The warning signs aren’t always obvious and sometimes we prefer to see evidence before we adapt.

If we want to perform we need to ask ourselves “am I recovering well?”, “is my training load about right?”, “am I receptive to hard sessions?” “will this training make me fitter?”. HRV gives us a littler extra help answering these questions. Some athletes after all are pretty damn good at tolerating or normalising pain and discomfort.

How is it measured?

The gold standard for measurement is an electrocardiogram. In the real world runners or coaches will be using either a wearable device with an HR strap or using their phone with an app which can record HRV using photoplethysmography.

Apps such as HRV4Training and EliteHRV are just two of many examples and have free versions which are suitable for most.

Validity and reliability

Any set of data is only as good as the validity and reliability of the system used to collect it. Before deciding how you want to measure it be sure to do some research into whether the data you’ll be seeing is something meaningful. Different devices and different methods of collecting HRV data will have different levels of accuracy. There are countless studies you can read – for example this on the validity of smartphone HRV measurement.

Regardless of the accuracy of the tool sometimes I just don’t get consistently good, reliable data which tells me anything useful about performance and training. This could be due to ‘user error’ (see below) or just recognising that, regardless of the published research, the n=1 rule applies to all of us!

So of course beyond the device itself is the athlete. The number of times I have had a runner tell me their watch does not collect HR readings accurately whilst having their watch or HR strap positioned incorrectly. So take time to read and follow a consistent protocol suited tot he device you are using.

Data will be affected by the time of day and frequency of recordings and of course by your training and recovery (thats the point!). Also by other factors including nutrition, hydration, whether you’ve just eaten, whether you’ve just necked a few espressos. This doesn’t mean the data is useless, just that we need to understand the context of the data, its limitations and search for some consistent protocols in recording.

Education is required on what the data means and how to use it. Recording data for recording sake, or even worse using inaccurate or unreliable data is unhelpful. As this article from former UKA Performance Director Dave Collins states, the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ need to be understood.

How HRV helps adaptive planning

As mentioned at the start is that HRV is another (small) piece in the puzzle of making training as proactive as possible. The image below shows screenshot of data from an HRV app (HRV4Training in this case). This particular app gives ‘recovery points’ as a proxy for an HRV reading but it’s the same idea.

You can see the decrease in HRV in the track of the blue line. The colours at the bottom indicate how hard the athletes training is. Measuring HRV has allowed for changes to be made to training reducing intensity for a period of days and only reintroducing harder sessions when a baseline has been met.

What’s the point?

What’s the point of all this? Acceptance that beyond any quality session or extra mileage the thing that gets us fit above all is is consistency. Being proactive and adapting training in response to warning signs of overtraining/under recovery or illness we can increase consistency.

By adapting training early we might be able to support your body to fight off an infection (by not adding further hard training stress). Or prevent an injury (by not hitting high intensities during periods when your body is most susceptible to injury). It can also help inform, as per below, when an athlete is ready to tackle a harder session again after a cold or infection.

A niggle or infection in a key competition cycle can make or break the end result. HRV is just another tool we have available as an athlete or coach inform training. Beyond training it can be a prompt to focus on things that promote recovery – good sleep, lower psychological stress, good nutrition. We can check the impact of our harder sessions or a change in stimulus (such as an increase in mileage, change in pattern of rest days etc).

Self reflection the most useful tool

Not everyone I coach wants record HRV, that’s fine. Some record it and don’t share the data with me (via Training Peaks). This is also fine. One of the main benefits of encouraging athletes to use an app to record HRV is that it stimulates self reflection. That is more important than me as a coach having a load of data.

Most of the apps available will not only be recording HRV but will also ask a range of other questions around recovery. ‘How did you sleep last night?’, ‘what are your energy levels like?’, ‘how sore are your muscles?’, ‘how motivated are you to train?’. Of course as a coach I want to know these things too but more importantly Id rather an athlete ask first. Whilst we all know this day to day ‘listening to our body’ is important, we don’t always do it.

No data is a substitute for conversations

I saw a tweet recently from Dr Stephen Seiler that got me thinking;

THOUGHT QUESTION: based on your knowledge and experience, IF you could accurately, inexpensively measure “anything & everything” from daily endurance training sessions, what would your manageable set of monitoring variables be to guide training prescription day-to-day? Why?

— Stephen Seiler (@StephenSeiler) July 29, 2020

The answers to this question are interesting to read and quite telling. We love to measure and quantify. It makes its feel in control.

This is another area of the ‘art vs science’ of coaching debate. Like always though it’s doesn’t need to be one or the other. The better a coach gets to know an athlete they can pick up on other subtle cues. Tone of voice, the ‘zip’ of an athlete’s strides or drills, how positive an athlete is about sessions.

No app, watch, lab test or algorithm will ever be more important than a conversation a coach has with an athlete, or an athlete has with themselves.

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NOTE: This article was initially published in January 2018 and has had an update with a couple additional comments.

Not the sugary stuff on top of cakes, but submerging the body into ice cold water after exercise, on a regular basis, can aid recovery. For as long as I can remember world-class athletes have been using this technique to help recovery and reach new highs of athletic achievement.

It’s getting warmer in the UK right now and that cool dip or an an icy cold shower might seem a little more appealing.

Now there are people that saying icing is bad, mmmkay. So I figured it best to do a bit of research into the matter to try and see what the science actually says and what is the best protocol if you are using cryotherapy.

What’s been said before?

American running website, Competitor, had a piece back in 2015 and quite quickly concluded that science was on the side of icing. That article found three scientific studies that suggested icing reduced pain and therefore, it was good for runners.

A second glance at this fine piece reveals it is actually sponsored content paid for by the fine people at icesleeves.com. What possible bias could they there be with that?

Firstly, do we as runners need to reduce pain? Pain is the body’s way of communicating with us that rest is needed. That a muscle might need an easy day or two or that an injury is occurring.

If you’re a footballer in a big game or an ultra runner at the end of a long race then maybe reducing pain to get through to the end might be worthwhile (see the magic sponge). But is that a good thing after training, on a regular basis?

Hiding the pain

If you’re not listening to your body and masking pain then there could be health implications that won’t actually add to your long-term ability.

So what are we seeing as the potential benefits of icing? In one ingenious study athletes were asked to put one leg in an ice bath and keep the other outside of the cold water as a control measure. Whilst there may have been some cooling of the other leg because of blood flow, it was interesting to see that inflammation was reduced in the cold water leg.

So the reduction of inflammation is one suggested mechanism of improvement for icing, as well as others suggesting that the constriction of blood vessels caused by the cold water will “flush out all the bad stuff”. More on this later on.

Is inflammation the bad guy?

What we must now ask, is if inflammation is the Bond villain its made out to be? Why would the body do it, if it wasn’t a good thing? Maria Urso conducted a review of research in 2013 and found that the science was inclusive thus far. She determined further research was needed on the timing and benefits of icing on injuries and general recuperation. Inflammation may actually hinder recovery.

In 2006, Japanese exercise physiologist Motoi Yamane used cycling and hand grip exercises to measure the response to training effects with cold water immersion. The results actually found it did “seem disadvantageous for training, in contrast to the beneficial combination of rest, ice, compression and elevation in the treatment of macroscopic musculo-tendinous damage”. Good for acute injuries, not for training recovery.

The research is backed up by an Australian team from Queensland University, who found in 2014 that “regular cold water immersion attenuated improvements in strength and lean muscle mass following progressive high-intensity resistance training”. They advised that you should “therefore reconsider whether to use cold water immersion as a strategy to recover from exercise”.

Is it dangerous?

The case for cold water immersion isn’t looking good, for sure, but is there any risk in it (apart from the potential risk of it being counter productive above, obviously)? It works for world-class athletes like Paula Radcliffe, Jess Ennis and the Brownlee brothers, should we just be cracking on and taking ice baths just in case it’s going to make us better too?

A 2010 study, out of the University of Milan, looked into full body cryotherapy. This involved the whole body submitted to temperatures as low as −110°C to −140°C in special cryo-chambers and the team, led by Giuseppe Banfi, concluded that there was no risk if conducted correctly.

Another study, way back in 1992, by a team from Duke University led by Terry Malone looked at the risk of cold-induced peripheral nerve injury. They investigated “six cases of cold-induced peripheral nerve injury from 1988 to 1991 at the Sports Medicine Center at Duke University.”

The results found that although injuries could be severe, it was not a major risk as long as clinicians were “aware of the location of major peripheral nerves, the thickness of the overlying subcutaneous fat, the method of application (with inherent or additional compression), the duration of tissue cooling, and the possible cryotherapy sensibility of some individuals”.

Could age be a factor?

A study, using anti-inflammatory drugs instead of icing, looked at older athletes doing resistance training workouts. The study found that reduction of inflammation did increase muscle growth over the course of the research. Could the increased degradation of muscle at older ages mean that reduction of inflammation is more useful in masters athletes? More research is needed with regards to icing and this, but it shows a potential.

On the flip side, could a hot bath be of more use? Certainly more enjoyable, we’ll be investigating the benefits of hot baths and saunas in a future article with regards to recovery, heat adaptation and even performance enhancement. Is it better to gamble on a hot bath, rather than an icy one?

Hot and Cold

Could we even combine the two? Mixing hot and cold treatment post-exercise could aid recovery through vasodilation and vasoconstriction, creating the flushing effect that was discussed earlier as a reason for icing, but on an accelerated scale. Once again a 2004 review by David Cochrane was inclusive in it’s findings, especially when it comes to the effects on athletes.

When considering what the body’s physiological reactions are to both hot and cold water submersion, it certainly makes more sense that alternation would be the best option, but research into the effects is limited.

But if feels good

When we initially published this article Dr. Andrew Kirkland highlighted a flaw on Twitter. What if a cold river dip makes you feel better? How often do we hear “I only follow evidence based science”, which is all well and good as a 20-40 year old, recreational male in a mainstream sport, but half the science out there might not be suitable for you.

If you’re on a long run and there’s a chance to dip your head, or your whole body into a cold body of water at the end of it, does the psychological benefit come into play too? Mid run there might even be the effect of lowering your core body temperature too.

So although this article focuses on some of the studies out there, if it’s working for you then there is still a value there. It may be personal, placebo or just psychological, but it’s there.

Conclusion

Basically if you’re a regular ice bath user, read the above studies further to investigate whether what you’re doing is actually beneficial now, or if you will have to wait until you are older for the gains.

Are you considering cold water immersion for the first time? There could be better things to be doing post run, but if you try it and like a bit of ice, then have at it. Just don’t skip the basics, like a post workout refuelling, to sit in the freezer.

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Last week I made a decision that I’ve never made before, I didn’t line up on the start of the Snowdon Skyline.

Maybe I’m getting older (definitely) or maybe just a little wiser (probably not) but it is absolutely the right decision for my body, however my head and heart had a hard time letting go. Somehow I feel like I’ve let myself down when in reality it is the exact opposite.

Commitment to your health, as well as your races.

Growing up my family didn’t have loads of spare cash, as many families don’t and I wanted to do all the extra classes (unless I was bad at them my mother reminds me and then I wasn’t interested which feels very familiar and is why I won’t play pool with George) so my sister and I were allowed to pick one or two.

The rule in the house was if you committed to something then you were to show up to every practice and every game no exceptions. It is one of the many qualities that I am so grateful my parents instilled in me and has been the backbone of my running and hairdressing career. If I sign up I show up and get it done, no matter what.

In my running career which now spans more than a decade I only have two DNF’s to my name both in small local races which were down to injury  but never a DNS. Gutting it out is how I learnt my craft, it’s how I refined my racing strategies and built up experience.

Leading by example

Maybe it’s the fact I’m a coach now but I do want to lead by example and I’d never recommend an athlete do these races so close together. There are so many exciting races out there that you just can’t do them all, at least you can’t do them all well and keep running for years.

My problem is I like to race long but I also like to race technical and those calendars just don’t line up. Three weeks ago I raced the TDS [a 145km sister race in the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc series] and stepping over the finish line I knew it had been a hard race that I’d left a little extra out on that course.

I couldn’t even talk about racing Snowdon for a few days as it was just too daunting but I’d been here before, surely a few days of sleep and I’d start to get my head around it. There were heavy thoughts about keeping my UK Sky Running crown but to do that I’d have to place first or second in the final two races of the year and with Snowdon being the UK Champs my race game would need to be strong.

Photo: George Woods

Recovery is so important for a long career

How’s your recovery going? Are you recovered yet? As a runner I’m sure we’ve all had to field these questions. Recovery takes time, more time then I’d like it to, it’s more than just catching up on your sleep and refuelling your body.

Recovery is something you feel in your bones, it’s regaining that motivation to get running again. When you finish a big race you will be less fit then when you started but the temptation to race again soon is huge! Goodness knows I am certainly guilty of slapping on a smile and trying to fool my body and mind into thinking I’m ok to race again.

Learning from 2018

Last year I raced Lavaredo Ultra Trail and two weeks later the Lakes Sky Ultra, then went onto the UTMB, stupidly climbed Mont Buet three days afterwards and two weeks later was at the Glencoe Skyline. Unsurprisingly I felt rubbish but my desire to run that route outweighed the fatigue.

As soon as I started I knew it was going to be a battle and even though we were on the bad weather shortened course the finish couldn’t come quick enough. I simply don’t want to feel like that again. I don’t want to delay actual proper recovery by another month just to satisfy my desire to be out in the mountains and see my mates.

Making the smart decision

Even as I write this though a little voice is saying ‘would it be so bad? Maybe you should just do it, it would be so much fun!’ Don’t worry I’ll head out for a run soon and be swiftly reminded that 60 minutes is more than enough right now.

Ultimately it’s a case of FOMO and I was very jealous of others this weekend when I wasn’t shimmying across Crib Goch but it is never the wrong decision to be kind to yourself.

So I took my coach’s advice and did something fun that didn’t involve running and will look forward to feeling fresh again much sooner. I put my energy into my sport in a different way, going along to cheer on some of my athletes at the Centurion Chiltern Wonderland 50 miler.

Anyway there is always next year for Snowdon…

Sophie Grant is a UKA Athletics Coach, GB Trail international and part of the Centurion Running Coaching team. If anyone can convince you that #vanlife is a good idea, it’s Sophie. 

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Many look for performance improvements in all sorts of special products, fancy shoes and obscure diets. But they overlook the biggest performance enhancer available, a good night’s sleep. With boosts to growth hormone levels, improved kidney function and greater immune function, what else can help maintain consistency of high quality training like 40 winks?

Don’t take my word for it, below we go into greater detail and talk to experts about the power of sleep. Multiple studies have been undertaken on the subject so it’s not just something “Dave from the club” swears will make you faster, it’s evidence based advice.

How many of us really optimise our sleep? Below we look at why you need more sleep and how to improve the quantity and quality of your slumber. First, here’s why you should be prioritising your kip.

The benefits of sleep

Esther Goldsmith, sports physiologist with Orreco and St Mary’s University says “Sleep is critical for muscle repair, muscle building, bone growth and fat oxidation: all things that are going to help you adapt to training and progress as an athlete”. Good sleep can help athletes perform better in a number of ways;

Growth Hormone: Your body releases Human Growth Hormone (HGH) your deep sleep cycles (see below for more) and increases cell division and regeneration, in fact up to 75% of the growth hormone your body releases is thought to happen when you sleep. HGH is what you need to heal and repair damaged muscle fibres and tissues from those hard sessions…basically getting fitter!
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Mental effects & stress: “Sleep also improves cognition and psychological functioning, as it can enhance neuronal connections, aiding memory and helping you learn” says Goldsmith “this is one of the reasons why, if you are practicing a new skill, you may find your ability dramatically increases the next day, after a night’s sleep”.
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Injury Prevention: A US study showed that amongst a group of elite athletes those getting over 8 hours sleep a night had a massive 61% reduction in injury risk. Another study (Le Meur et al, 2013) showing athletes getting less than 8 hours sleep a night had 1.7 times greater risk of injury.

Look after your kidneys

Kidney Function: Poor sleep has been linked to inhibited glucose metabolisation & insulin release resembling type 2 diabetes and hypoglycaemia. It is at night when your kidneys also work to rebalance water and electrolytes – vital for athletes.

Improved diet: It’s a familiar story for many that when we are tired we tend towards lower quality foods to get energy in quickly and a great reliance on caffeine. A recent study confirmed that good quality sleep might see you eating more fruit and vegetables.
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Immune Function: Goldsmith states that sleep also promotes the restoration of the immune, nervous and endocrine (hormonal) systems “these three systems that are important to keep in check in order to prevent injury and illness, and to keep absorbing training. Peaks of melatonin also occur when you are most likely to be asleep… and as melatonin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, it can help decrease oxidative stress which could otherwise impair and delay recovery”.

Just what are your ‘sleep cycles’?

You may have heard about ‘sleep cycles’ or ‘phases’ of sleep. In very basic terms as we sleep we move through a series of sleep cycles lasting roughly 90 minutes and within each cycle we move through different ‘stages’;

NREM (Non Rapid Eye Movement) 1: Light sleep, where we drift in and out of sleep easily, some people will feel muscle contractions and a falling feeling as gradually your eye movements and muscle contractions start to slow.

NREM2: In this phase your heart rate will start to slow and your eye movement will cease. Generally body temperature will also drop and brainwaves are slowed.

NREM3: This phase is typically a transfer from a lighter sleep to a deep sleep, with slow ‘delta’ brain waves interspersed with shorter more rapid brain waves.

NREM4: This is your deep sleep where rapid brain waves are much less frequent, this is the phase of sleep that will leave you feeling confused and disoriented if woken from.

REM: Rapid Eye Movement is characterised by more rapid brain activity that mimics a waking state but whilst still asleep and is when you will often experience more intense or vivid dreams.

How do we sleep?

After about 90 minutes your will move back to stage 1 for a new cycle, as the night progresses so you move through a series of cycles but the time spent in each stage will change, with the latter stages of sleep characterised by less time spent in deep sleep and more in REM sleep.

The important thing to recognise is that it is during your deep sleep (NREM 3 & 4) that your body undergoes the most beneficial changes. Goldsmith says “it is in stages 3 and 4 where the real magic happens. This is the beginning of deep sleep, and when growth hormone and androgens are released”. Interrupted sleep represents a problem because each time you wake to interrupt a cycle you go back to the start reducing or even limiting time spent in the most beneficial (in recovery terms) stages

It’s not just about the number of hours…

We commonly hear about a magical ‘8 hours’ of sleep being the measure of a ‘good night’s sleep’. Certainly it’s great to get more sleep with 7-9 hours being the recommended for adults but quality is also critical. Some people seem to be able to function well on less than 7 hours sleep a night and one of the possible reasons for this could be sleep continuity. The images below show sleep monitoring of two different athletes. The left image showing over 8 hours of sleep time but with very poor continuity, and the right image shows less than 7 hours sleep but with much better sleep quality.

With less interruptions to our sleep cycles we are likely to feel more refreshed than with more hours but of poor quality. There is also some evidence to suggest that short pre exercise ‘power naps’ of 20-30 minutes can play a useful role in mitigating the effects of poor sleep.

How do you improve your sleep?

What can you do to improve your sleep and get fitter and stronger as a result? Well the answer really is about observing what we call good ‘sleep hygiene’. Here are a few key tips to get you going;
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Avoid light and radiation from screens: A recent study (Figeurio et al) showed that exposure light form electronic displays reduced melatonin by up to 22%. Melatonin is critical to your sleep and wake functions. Banish smart phones and tablets from the bedroom and aim, as much as possible to give yourself a 90 minute window pre-bed clear of these devices.
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Develop a pattern: Try to develop a routine and pattern of both behaviours (i.e. when do you brush your teeth, when do you dim the lights) and time you get into bed. This can help get your body back into a more natural and regular sync of sleeping and waking.
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Avoid stimulants: Avoid caffeine and alcohol late at night – both are sure fire ways of affecting both your ability to get to sleep and your ability to sleep uninterrupted. This is both through their ability to stimulate brain activity but also because of their diuretic effects.
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Food and drink: Eating your last meal a good two hours before sleep helps to ensure that your body is not still trying to digest a big meal as you get into bed. Whilst its important for all athletes to be hydrated try to avoid drinking to excess in the evenings. Getting up to go to the toilet is a sure fire way of interrupting your sleep cycles! Some people, if they train or work late, might benefit from eating their main meal at lunchtime, with a lighter evening meal.
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Relax! It’s obvious but most of us hope to relax, rather than continuously doing anything about it. Again this is about routines, perhaps for you it’s a bath, or a short period of reading before you get into bed, for some it might even be meditation. Dim your lights and create a calm relaxing environment away from stress and distractions of smartphones or TVs.

To the mattresses

Environmental factors: A good mattress can be one of the wisest purchases any athlete can make. The decision is very personal but your mattress is one of the biggest factors in how well you sleep. Think about keeping your bedroom cool and investing in a blackout blind to limit light pollution, particularly if you are in a town or city. Ear plugs can be useful if you live in a noisy area.
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Control your stress: If you have a lot on your mind try to write down a list ‘to do’ for tomorrow. Clear these now from your mind before you go into your relaxing routine before bed. Thinking over and over about work, family or money worries (or even training or racing stresses) really wont help.

Controlled breathing techniques (such as tri-breathing where you breathe in for a count of three, hold for a count of three and breath out for a count of three) if you are very stressed can also help you start to calm down, and transition towards sleep. One of the really damaging effects of lack of sleep is that it also affects your ability to control stress. This  can create a vicious cycle where stress increases, affects your sleep, which in turn affects your stress. Seek further support if you do have chronic stress issues.
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Training times: Exercise in general terms appears to have a beneficial effect on your ability to sleep. Harder training sessions however can elevate cortisol and leave a sustained increase in heart rate. This can inhibit sleep so it is probably wise where possible to avoid harder sessions in the final 2-3 hours before bed.

Sleep tracking

Whilst sleep tracking technology is now readily available to athletes and coaches it should be approached with caution. Whilst used in this article to visually demonstrate the concept of sleep continuity the accuracy of these devices for accurate measurement of sleep needs to be questioned.

As with all technology within sport coaches and athlete need to consider the validity and reliability of the technology they use – for example a recent study showed wearable sleep trackers under reporting sleep by 25-49 minutes. Athletes should be mindful of collecting data just for the sake of it and coaches should consider the ethical and performance implications on using this kind of data and surveillance. After all most of us know when we have had a good or a poor night’s sleep.

To summarise Goldsmith says “increased sleep has been shown to improve performance, in both repeated sprints and more endurance-based time trials. Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, can cause worsened performance, decreased strength, and increased anxiety”. So look beyond just what’s in your plan and what you do with your trainers on. Sometimes the biggest improvements can come from recovering better.

Le Meur et al, 2013. In Recovery for Performance in Sport. Human Kinetics. 2013

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Whether driven by elation at a PB achieved or a goal met or disappointment at a race that didn’t go to plan it can be tempting to jump straight back into training and competition. An element of compulsion plays a role in most of our training, but in this delicate time it can be your undoing if you’re not careful!

The Impact

Esther Goldsmith, sports physiologist with Orreco and St Mary’s University explains that a hard marathon has a big physical toll – “our muscles have been working constantly for a long period of time, using up and building up an oxygen debt, which needs to be ‘repaid’. Inflammation levels will be increased and this inflammation must be reduced. Losses of electrolytes and water through sweating can cause an imbalance in fluid levels and pressure, so your body has to work hard to ameliorate these.”

“As the body tries to repair itself and re-obtain homeostasis, more energy must be used, further depleting glycogen stores. Marathons also stress your digestive systems, adrenal systems, and bones. This causes disruptions in digestion, alterations in hormone concentrations (particularly a raised cortisol level), and induces the breakdown of bone.”

Goldsmith also goes on to explain why its common to feel flat even after your muscles have recovered “the central nervous system is also under a lot of strain and this takes longer to return to normal than the rest of your body. This partly explains why, if you return too soon, your legs feel fine to run but the rest of you struggles.”

The impact of the marathon isn’t only felt in our muscles “you will likely have spent a long time focused on that specific date, been concentrating on your training and even if it all went perfectly to plan we can feel quite deflated and a little lost once it is all over. It happens so much it has a name: Post race blues” says Sport psychologist Dr Josephine Perry “expecting this and putting some plans in place will help us adjust better to the sudden change in focus”.

Your Best Recovery

So what can we do to recover? How can we get back into our next training cycle stronger and faster? Hayley Munn, coach and 2:37 marathoner states “the body and mind need time to recover in order to build to a higher level in the next training block.” “Failure to recover sufficiently from the marathon leads to burnout over time”. Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Take some time: Munn says “I leave it two – three weeks before getting back into too much running as this is how long the muscles need to repair fully. The mind also needs a break from pushing hard”. Consider sticking to a period of easy and steady running or cross training as you refine your running legs and motivation

2. Mix it up: Cross training can be a perfect transition back to regular running. Munn says “I like to do alternative sports to maintain fitness. I love long walks but once a little recovered, think that non-running challenges like climbing mountains or cycling are great”. Easy bike, swimming aqua-jogging, elliptical and row sessions also give you a great cardiovascular stimulus whilst still allowing your muscles the break they need.

3. Shake off the blues: “Celebrate your success” says sports psychologist Josephine Perry “Even if the race didn’t go to plan then some time analysing the period building up to the marathon will offer some elements of success to celebrate. The analysis can help you recognise what you learnt from the process, reflecting on what has gone well and how to continue doing that, rather than getting caught up in our negativity bias of focusing on what went wrong.”

4. Get productive: Having a bit of extra time can allow you to set a new routine “many runners end up neglecting the ‘little things’ when caught up in marathon training” says UK Trail Running Champion and sports therapist Georgia Wood “as you start to feel more recovered perhaps it’s time to implement that regular S&C you’ve been meaning to start, focus on ironing out mechanical weaknesses or restarting the stretching routine you’ve neglected.” 

5. Track it: ” You can track your resting heart rate every morning. It may be higher for the first few days post-marathon, but as you recover, should return to what normal is for you” says Goldsmith “you also use a heart rate monitor in your first runs back to see whether the intensity is the zone that it would normally be in.”

6. Get to bed: “Sleep is so important for recovery” says Goldsmith “but if you’re not refuelling adequately post-marathon, sleep can be disrupted”. Stay off your smart phone in that final 60-90 minutes before bed and keep clear of caffeine late at night. Sports therapist, Georgia Wood, also suggests keeping a lid on the post marathon celebrations “a few drinks to celebrate is great, but alcohol will definitely limit your ability to recover quickly….so keep it in moderation.”

7. Take the pressure off: Jumping straight back into heavily structured and measurable sessions can be an unnecessary stress. Consider converting your sessions to time instead of distance, running them on mixed surfaces and including more loosely structured fartlek sessions until you start to find your legs again.

Getting back on track

The focus then shifts on channelling the fitness and mental energy from your marathon into further progression. Munn states “setting new goals is vital to stay motivated and on track with the training. It helps to focus the mind and to stay grounded irrespective of the result of the recent race.

Taking time is key though Josephine Perry highlights “we don’t want to immediately cross the line and start setting our next goal. We will set a better goal if we give ourselves time to reflect and analyse. Picking a goal which feels like the next stage of your journey helps you see the benefits of the marathon you have just done. Will you now go longer, or faster, or to try a variation of road running like a triathlon, cross country or some track events? It needs to get you excited, be realistic but also be a stretch so you don’t rest on your laurels.”

Perhaps it’s stepping back into speed and racing on the track, or getting faster for 5-10km on the road, for some it might be racing over different surfaces or tackling a longer ultra distance challenge. Check out our article on effective goal setting to get as specific as possible.

RELATED: Nutrition and rapid recovery for athletes

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The post How to recover after running a marathon appeared first on Fast Running.

Whilst it may seem that all elite athletes are constantly searching for small margins of improvements, such as shipping their own mattress to every race or only eating the green M & Ms, they are also getting the simple things right first.

Before getting carried away, there are some good tried and tested basics that all top runners do, and if you focus your own approach to the basics, it could net you a five or ten per-cent performance boost.

We asked a handful of experts within their disciplines to pass on one piece of advice that often gets overlooked. From a sports dietitian, a top marathon coach and international runners to a strength and conditioning coach of Olympians, we have you covered.

Andrew James Hobdell, coached athletes to the last three Olympics

Listening to your body is key. It’s only natural to want to tick the boxes of the training set. Just remember taking an extra day or two after a hard session are not days lost but much-needed adaptation time needed.

Jon Brown, 2:09 marathoner and Olympic team coach

Be patient, set yourself short term and long term goals but be flexible in planning.

Value recovery as much as training and always be thinking about the impact of everything you do has on subsequent days as training needs to be consistent and sustainable.

Julia Davis, 2:39 marathoner

Change your shoes regularly. I wear through so many that I have to have a constant rotation and try not run in worn out trainers. It’s all part of looking after yourself.

Don’t neglect the foam roller either. I’ve certainly been guilty of that but it really helps.

James Stewart, British international 24hr runner

Remember to smile and enjoy the act of running for running’s sake from time to time.

Don’t get caught up with the numbers, but focus on how you feel during and after your runs.

Renee McGregor, sports dietitian and British Athletics team lead

Periodise your nutritional intake so that you are fuelling appropriately for your training sessions.

Think porridge oats and carbohydrates before hard work and eggs and proteins afterwards. What are you asking your body to do? Fuel it accordingly.

Sarah Tunstall, World and European mountain running medallist and physiotherapist

When travelling to races or having to stay overnight beforehand always take a breakfast option.

For me, it’s the most important meal before a race and you never know what hotels or service stations will have. Therefore taking your usual breakfast can help reduce stress, stomach problems or unnecessary panic before races.

Tom Craggs, England Athletics marathon coach

Focus on mechanics and form. Whether you are an ultra runner or 800m runner spending time working on efficiency and biomechanical flaws should be part of your training, but is often neglected.

Strength work is important, but only if you apply this within your running.

Drills and running specific conditioning should be a part of every runner’s training.

RELATED: 5 running drills you should be doing

Keith Scofield, Director of the UK Endurance Conference

Don’t be afraid to take two weeks off to mentally and physically recharge before another block of training. Otherwise you risk burnout.

A great time for this is after a big target race when you the body and mind really need that break.

Dr Richard Blagrove, strength & conditioning expert

Stretch and foam roll after every run. It is tempting after a hard run to have a lie down and switch the television on!

It is likely to promote recovery if you include a small amount of static stretching and foam rolling shortly after a run to ensure you maintain your mobility and promote blood flow to the muscles that are fatigued. To maximise recovery, don’t forget to rehydrate and refuel alongside this.

RELATED: 5 strength & conditioning essentials for runners

Mimmi Kotka, Swedish International and one of the world’s best ultra trail runners

It’s important to skip a workout every now and again. Maybe you simply don’t feel like it one evening. Importantly just because it’s in your plan doesn’t mean you have to. All good runners seem to do that by listening to their body.

Summary

So there you have it. Some simple advice from people who know what they are talking about. Taking it easy and listening to your body was mentioned repeatedly.

The foam roller gets a couple of shout outs and packing your own breakfast is advice from a world-class mountain runner that is worth taking onboard.

Now remember to smile when you’re running. That’s an easy one.

RELATED: Can smiling make you a better runner?

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patreon. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post 10 experts with 10 simple tips to improve your running appeared first on Fast Running.

Quite often though the message about protein helping to repair muscles is only communicated by the marketing and advertising departments, along with the need to ingest carbohydrates soon after exercise. These messages combined have resulted in the birth of a myth!

There is little or no evidence that protein does anything to help immediate recovery. Of course, there is a wealth of evidence that protein is important for protein synthesis and this is important for longer-term training adaptation (and improvements in performance), but this is a process that takes many hours/days or even weeks and it is unlikely to influence performance only a few hours later.

So what does protein do in the hours after exercise?

Protein has been suggested to help glycogen synthesis. I asked Dr James Betts from the University of Bath (UK), who has spent a lot of time researching acute recovery and the role of carbohydrate and protein about his thoughts on the following situation:

If you had two exercise bouts separated by 2-3 hours, could protein help performance in the second exercise bout?

Dr Betts: Results are mixed. A number of well-controlled experiments have shown that protein ingestion during recovery from exercise can improve performance during a second performance just hours later. However, a similar number of equally rigorous experiments have shown no effect.

Some studies have suggested that protein can help to restore glycogen. And if it helps the restoration of glycogen stores, it might also aid performance?
Dr Betts: Including protein in a post-exercise nutritional strategy can accelerate glycogen restoration and thus potentially restore functional capacity more quickly. However, this would only happen in situations where muscle glycogen availability limits performance (i.e. longer duration events) and insufficient carbohydrate is ingested to maximise glycogen resynthesis.

If you ingest the recommended amounts of carbohydrate, protein will have no additional benefit. The positive effects seen in some studies are puzzling and it is difficult to see what mechanism would explain this. Perhaps it is a placebo effect because it is very difficult to mask protein in these studies.

What about the effects of protein on muscle damage and repair?
Dr Betts: It is unlikely that ingesting protein in the hours after a given exercise bout will impact the extent of exercise-induced muscle damage sufficient to account for functional changes. Although some indirect physiological markers of muscle damage (e.g. markers of muscle damage in the blood) may indicate an effect of protein, these markers show poor reliability in response and may not provide a valid indication of the true state of muscle damage/repair.

The real functional markers of muscle damage such as strength (peak isometric) show no effect protein on short-term recovery.

I also asked Prof Stuart Phillips from McMaster University about his opinion on the matter. Dr Phillips is recognised as one of the world leaders in protein metabolism so maybe he can shed a light on the issue.

Is protein necessary if you are only interested in performance, a few hours later? For example, a tournament situation with two competitions separated by a few hours?
Dr Phillips: The measurable effects on performance are going to be much smaller than, say dehydration or sub-optimal refuelling.

I always say practice the 3 Rs of recovery – rehydrate, refuel, and rebuild, but rebuild is always number #3 because #1 and #2 are more important for performance.

What are the acute effects of protein in the recovery phase?
Dr Phillips: Stimulation of muscle protein synthesis, suppression of muscle protein breakdown, and satiety (fullness).

How much protein can you synthesize in 4 hours post exercise?
Dr Phillips: Based on whole body rates of protein synthesis I’d say that a 70kg guy with 60kg of lean mass (with a dose of 0.4 g protein/kg) that you could make 30g of TOTAL BODY protein… muscle it’s much, much less perhaps 2g?

And what would this translate into in terms of muscle or any sort of improvement?
Dr Phillips: Nope!

So in summary, protein is important for adaptation, though these effects take a long time. And importantly protein plays little or no role in acute recovery, the 3 to 5 hours after exercise.

About the author:
Asker Jeukendrup is a Professor of Exercise Biochemistry and Director of Mysportscience. He has published extensively on the topic of sports nutrition and acts as a consultant to many elite and not so elite athletes all over the world. He is also a keen runner and triathlete. You can contact Asker on twitter or mysportscience.com.

The post Busting the ‘Protein for Quick Recovery’ Myth appeared first on Fast Running.

Runners and active individuals create stress on the body during periods of intense exercise. While this stress is a necessary part of building endurance and strength, it also stimulates a short period of inflammation.

Inflammation is a general term used to describe a state of stress in the body, that may also be related to infection or obesity. But in this case, we are using the it to describe the stress we place on the body as runners. So, what can be done to help reduce the this period of inflammation after intense running or exercising?

Let’s take a look at the spice turmeric. Turmeric originates in Chinese and Indian cultures for not only its vibrant yellow flavour and appealing flavour in their cuisines, but also for its medicinal properties to alleviate inflammation in the body.

Nowadays, research on turmeric supports its use for being a safe method to reduce inflammatory markers in the body. Turmeric is now also linked to being an ailment for inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer prevention.

How do all of these health claims relate specifically to being active?

First, fighting inflammation in the body will provide relief to your working muscles. In fact, studies have proven its effectiveness on recovery from eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Secondly, it may help to improve digestion to reduce an irritated stomach or bowel that may result from exercise-induced stress. Lastly, it’s a safe addition to many recipes.

Here are five ways to use turmeric into your diet:

1. Mix a teaspoon into brown rice or couscous to season complex carbs.
2. Sprinkle it in a salad.
3. Make your own salad dressing with about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric added to olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper.
4. Top it on vegetables before roasting them (i.e. sweet potatoes, broccoli, peppers)
5. Stir it into your favourite stir-fry dish to season your vegetables.

The post Superfood turmeric is the natural recovery supplement appeared first on Fast Running.

The sequence focuses on the areas of the body that get tight from running, mainly hamstrings, hips, hip flexors and thighs. We then end with a few moments of relaxation.

This recovery yoga routine can be used to help aid recovery after a long run, or race but can also be used as a way to work in a quick yoga session after a shorter run. At the Veg Runner we never forget the importance of mental wellness, and this yoga recovery routine will also leave you feeling relaxed and give you an overall feel good feeling.

The post Yoga routine to aid a runners recovery appeared first on Fast Running.

There are many additional benefits to blending food, such as the extraction of the maximum number of nutrients from food.

Nutrient-packed smoothies are not just a great way for runners or athletes to refuel, every person can benefit by giving them a try. In a matter of minutes, a nutrient-packed smoothie can be made with everything you need protein, healthy fats, vegetables, and fruits. Not forgetting there is no prep work, no cooking and minimal cleanup.

All the ingredients in these smoothie recipes are vegan-friendly.

Here are 3 delicious smoothie recipes that will help aid your recovery after a tough run.

Strawberry, Spinach & Banana Super Smoothie

Give this favourite protein smoothie a boost by adding flax seed and spinach, which will provide you with heart-healthy omega-3 fats, an iron boost and extra dietary fibre.

Ingredients
14 oz. / 400ml water or almond milk
1 handful of cashew nuts
1 Tbsp. of ground flaxseeds
1 bananas
1 cup of frozen strawberries
1 cup of spinach

Nutrition Information
500 calories, 50g protein, 8g fat, 50g carbs, 12g fibre.

Beetroot & Carrot Smoothie

Dark coloured fruits and vegetables like beetroot, carrot and strawberries are full of nutrients that can help boost the athletic performance of runners and help aid muscle recovery.

Ingredients
14 oz. / 400ml water
1 cup chopped raw beetroot
1 cup strawberries
½ cup frozen blueberries
1 cup chopped pineapple
1 chopped carrot
1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 small handful of hazelnuts

Nutrition Information
340 calories, 30g protein, 6g fat, 50g carbs, 12g fibre

Sliced Orange & Nuts Smoothie

This smoothie provides a healthy serving of vitamin C, a shot of healthy omega-3 fats and extra dietary fibre. Additionally, oranges are a good source of B vitamins including vitamin B1, folate as well as vitamin A and potassium.

Ingredients
14 oz. / 400ml water or almond milk
½ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. walnuts or hazelnuts
1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
2 large oranges
1 chopped apple
¼ orange peel

The post 3 Superfood Smoothie Recipes for Runners appeared first on Fast Running.