Recovery for runners is ESSENTIAL – from day one through the rest of your journey. Good runners don’t just think about recovery after a workout. You need an overall recovery plan.
A recovery plan should include techniques done before and after your workouts, as well as best practices to aid overall healing and wellbeing. That’s what we’ll be looking at here in this first post of a new series.
Remember, a healthy runner is a happy runner.
The recovery toolbox for runners
Before your runs
Proper nutrition. Make sure your body is fueled before lacing up your shoes. This can be done by maintaining appropriate calorie intake, making good food choices, and by adding a pre-workout meal before runs.
It’s important to note that some foods are specifically beneficial to runners – more on that here.
Proper hydration. Dehydration is a major risk to runners. To combat that, maintain adequate hydration everyday, prioritize water while running, and pay attention to your electrolyte levels.
For our complete guide on hydration and electrolytes, click here.
Dynamic stretching. This form of stretching is done during a warmup and uses movement to help stretch the muscles. We’ll be diving into this topic next week.
After your runs
Static stretching. This style of stretching is how people frequently picture “stretching.”
It involves a longer hold of the stretch while breathing, and is best done after a workout rather than before.
Post-workout meal. This is especially good after a long or hard run. You want a good balance of carbs, protein, electrolytes, and fuel. For more information, check out our previous post on meals specific for runners.
R.I.C.E. This acronym stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. If you suffer an injury on the trail, keep these four things in mind. We’ll dive deeper into this later on in the recovery series.
Overall practices that support recovery
Sleep. This cannot be stressed enough. Make. Sleep. A. Priority. This means taking enough time to get a full 6-8 hours of sleep, and to identify any issues that are deterring you from getting good sleep.
Recovery runs & recovery weeks. While making your original training plan, you hopefully included regular recovery runs – days where you reduce mileage or intensity.
When training heavy, you may need a week rather than a day.
We’ll examine these further on in the series.
Tapering. This is a technique done before a race that allows you to fully recover from training and feel fresh on race day. You do this by reducing the amount and intensity of your runs. We’ll dive further into this soon.
Mental health checks. Recovery extends beyond the physical realm. Take your recovery days or specific techniques to also check in on your mental health. Doing so will promote further growth and self-improvement.
Time management. Training plans can be time consuming, and when life gets busy, recovery is easy to skimp on. You may be able to review how you spend your time, and find that by giving up menial things (like Facebook checks) you have all the time you need to include proper recovery techniques.
For specific suggestions on time management, check out this guide from SkillsYouNeed.
Recovery for runners must be a mindset
For runners, recovery is just as important as the running itself. It must become a mindset to properly care for the body that you’re working so hard.
The most important thing to remember is that recovery is way more than five minutes of stretching after a run, or a rest day once a week.
Recovery is your body repairing and adapting to the stress of training. It’s your muscles healing stronger than before. It’s your time to practice self care and check in with your mental health.
Recovery is when the real progress is made.
Up next in our recovery series
Recovery is so essential that we’ll be digging deeper into a few of the essentials in the coming weeks: dynamic and static stretching, foam rolling, R.I.C.E., recovery weeks, and tapering ahead of a race.
Be sure to stay tuned.
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Stay healthy and stay happy, runners!
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That’s quite interesting. Is it ok to submit a question? It’s just that..I have more points that work with this.
Absolutely! We love feedback and questions. What’s on your mind?