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- Welcome back to the Triathlon Training Explained Show
powered by TrainingPeaks.
This week we're going to be taking it easy.
Sounds good; well sometimes though
it's actually easier to go hard than it is easy.
Okay, let me explain this one.
You're going hard, it's hard; that's pretty black and white.
If it's hurting then you probably know
you're working at the right level.
But when it comes to easy, at the other end of the spectrum,
it's not always quite so easy to gauge.
So I'm going to be heading out of the set today
to look into how easy easy should be
and find out a bit more about the science
behind the recovery session.
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I cannot emphasise enough the importance of recovery.
In order to improve, you need to
stress your body through training,
but then allow it to recover, as this is when it adapts
and gets stronger, which is known as super-compensation.
Now previously we've already talked about
the importance of nutrition and rest
when it comes to recovery, but active recovery
also comes underneath that umbrella.
So there are some sessions that
it's actually important in which you go easy,
and that includes swimming, cycling, and running.
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Mental recovery is also an important part
of these type of sessions, as it's a chance
for you just to switch off, relax, and enjoy.
You don't need to worry about the pace,
the heart rate that you're hitting,
obviously as long as it isn't too high.
And it's a chance to reflect and just remember
why you love doing this sport.
Admittedly the run you are still carrying your body weight,
but as long as you're moving forward
it really doesn't matter how slow you're going.
And you've also got the option of obviously cycle and swim
when your body weight is supported,
so it's just a matter of moving your arms and your legs.
It's easy to think of recovery as just purely being rest,
so sitting, lying down, basically expending
as little energy as possible.
Yes that is important, although we're going to be focusing
on the active recovery side of things.
So I wanted to know, why do we actually
want to expend energy to help us recover?
I'm going to be speaking to expert Chris Bagg to find out.
- The purpose of a recovery workout
is trying to get you back to where you started,
to that unfatigued state, or a lesser fatigued state
as soon as possible.
There's several different methods for recovery.
You can just wait around (laughs), so passive recovery.
You can get recovered through a variety of other modalities,
massage, you know, these kinds of passive
but sort of active things that are sort of done to you.
And then there's active recovery,
which is what we're talking about today.
All of the research out there in the actual scientific realm
points to the fact that a combination of active recovery
and using massage or maybe some of those other products
are the best way to get to that non-fatigued state,
or lesser fatigued state, as soon as possible.
And by far, if you can only do one,
the best thing is active recovery.
- Well, these recovery sessions also allow your soft tissue,
so your muscles, tendons, and ligaments,
to have that increased blood flood
whilst not being put under too much stress.
And it also will help to flush out your legs,
so if you've got any by-products that are still
hanging around from a tough session you've done before.
And when it comes to tendons,
they're notoriously bad for having a poor blood flow,
so if you do have any niggles,
then these type of sessions can really help
promote some healing in those areas.
And also, as I've mentioned before,
you've got that mental benefit where you get to switch off,
but you're still actually adding
a little bit of mileage to your legs
for your overall weekly programme.
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It's easy to think that you can just
drop your recovery session when you're tight for time.
But it is still a session so it's part of your training
and it does need to be seen like that.
And you might think, oh I'm not going to see
a direct benefit of fitness right there and then,
so why does it matter?
But we've already talked about
all the benefits you get from it.
When it comes to planning your recovery sessions,
you need to look at your overall week.
Obviously it does depend on how much time you have,
how many sessions you're doing anyway.
And how many of those sessions are your key, hard ones?
Because that's what you need the recovery from.
So as a rough guide, try and fit in
a couple of recovery sessions a week,
and remember that with running,
you're probably going to have the most amount
of muscle and tendon damage,
cycling coming next, and then swimming the least.
So bear this in mind when you're planning out your week.
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Well the bonus of these type of sessions is
they're going to be shorter to your normal ones
and they don't really require very much planning
as hitting performance targets
really isn't the point of them.
- A bike ride, I would say that you can do
a recovery session up to 75 minutes in length.
But it has to be very, very, very easy.
Again, you want to avoid ever hearing yourself breathe.
From a power perspective, because I think
a lot of your listeners will use power metres,
I would say they want to be below 40% of FTP.
That is very, very light riding.
So for the run, I would say no more than 25 minutes.
And the reason for that is, even though the run
is more intense than swimming or cycling,
the biggest problem with it is that it's load-bearing.
And so every time you take a step while you're running,
you're driving like four to six times your body weight
through your lower body, through your legs,
through your joints.
And so even a very light run is
a more intense experience for your body
than a swim or a ride.
So for the run, no more than 25 minutes.
And it should be, like I was telling my athletes,
like, stupid slow.
It should be really, really, really, really easy.
Like if you know what your marathon pace is,
like an open marathon pace,
like two to three minutes per mile slower than that.
So if you're talking about a half-marathon pace,
like 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes slower than that.
Like, really slow.
I've been a professional triathlete; my recovery runs
are never faster than nine minutes per mile.
For the swim, again, it's going to probably be pretty short.
I would say, you know, around 30 to 40 minutes
is going to be pretty light.
If for some of you that still sounds like a long swim,
and I know that there are people like that out there,
just use some toys.
Use a pool buoy to get your legs to float.
This is a great time to use those Neoprene shorts
that most of you probably own,
that are probably not really a great idea
to be using all of the time.
- So next time you see a recovery run
on your training programme, for example,
remember those benefits, and why not embrace
that challenge of actually just going slowly.
Now as triathletes we're lucky;
we've got the choice of three sports.
But sometimes it's a little bit difficult to know
which one to use and when, when it comes to recovery.
And Chris is going to guide us here.
- Here are some good rules of thumb. (laughs)
One of them is that, the research shows that the best way
to recover from a particular kind of workout
is that particular movement again.
So if you just had a very, very hard bike workout,
you're going to be better served
by doing a very easy recovery ride.
Same thing for the run, same thing for the swim.
If you're self coaching, if you have
a very hard bike workout, the next morning
your first thing that you should be doing
is a very easy bike workout.
And then you can add one of the other two sports
for your second workout for that day
that doesn't have to be a recovery session,
that's later in the day.
So maybe it ends us being like 24 to 30 hours
after that very difficult bike session,
but you had that recovery session that morning
that will help that out.
- Yes, you're going to be adding to
your total distance for your weekly mileage,
but it's very much at a low level, low stress on the legs.
And as Chris mentioned, there's a significant difference
between these recovery miles and those junk miles.
And active recovery obviously is needed
after your hard session.
So if you did a hard session in the morning,
you could put a recovery session later that day
or even the following day or day after.
And we've put together a session that you can do
for each of the three sports.
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25 minutes' jog at a very easy, conversational pace.
You shouldn't feel out of breath.
And if you can, ideally do it off road
or on a different surface
so you're reducing that impact on your legs
as well as engaging the smaller muscles
that maybe do not always fire
when you're running on track or asphalt.
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60 to 90 minute spinner with a coffee stop,
or 45 minutes on the turbo, both with
a few high-cadence bursts to spin the legs.
Both of these options are again, at a conversational pace.
Even when you're moving your legs faster,
the emphasis is on high cadence and not high resistance,
just purely moving your legs fast and easy
will increase the blood flow.
So try to pick a fairly flat route.
If you are heading out, wrap up warm
as you'll be working at lesser intensity.
And it could be the perfect time
to take your gravel bike out
and ride some flowing trails
where the speed really isn't a factor.
(projector rattles)
1500 metres of mixed strokes;
include some kick and some fast strokes off the wall.
So use this to really mix things up a little.
If you do find backstroke or breaststroke relatively easy,
then mix these in, as it will help
to open up your shoulders and hips
and promote more movement and blood flow around these joints
that can get restricted when you're training for triathlon.
Swimming is great, because being horizontal
will help with the venous return in the legs.
If you need a pool buoy to help keep it nice and easy,
then feel free to use it.
I often opt for some easy kick with a kickboard,
as this will help remove any by-products
that might be lingering in the larger leg muscles.
And as for these fast strokes off the wall,
these will just raise your heart rate
and increase blood flow without causing any fatigue,
and often help you to get out from the session
feeling better than when you got in.
The recovery session doesn't need to be limited
to the three sports of triathlon.
Why not think outside the box a little bit
and you'd get a mental break from doing a different sport,
as well as just using your body in a slightly different way.
For example, in the gym, you could try the cross trainer.
It's really light on your legs
but you're using your arms and your legs for that.
And if you already do some other sports,
such as surfing or cross-country skiing,
you can also use them to aid your recovery.
Now on the swim, the example I gave you
included some fast strokes,
but you can also translate this to the bike or the run.
For example, doing 10 seconds of
hard effort on the bike or 15 seconds on the run
will just increase your pace, it'll get your heart rate up,
but it also just prevents you from getting in
that plodding feeling that you can sometimes get
with a really easy session.
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Next time someone suggests an easy swim, bike, or run,
don't see it as wasted time, but embrace it
and you'll feel the benefit.
It's often the fastest runners
that have the slowest easy run.
Their spectrum is the biggest,
from their top end speed to their recovery run.
So much so that the likes of you and I
can actually keep up on their easy runs.
And I'm always struggling to explain to friends
how slow I run on my easy runs
and they think they won't be able to keep up.
The only problem is, I still need to work
at the other end a little bit more.
But hopefully you have enjoyed this,
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And if you want to see some other videos
from our Triathlon Training Explained,
we've got a playlist for that just here.
And if you want to see how to recover
after a triathlon race, we've got six top tips
in a video just here.