Has the marathon left you feeling energized, spent, sore, totally trashed? Whatever your state, your body needs to recover.

Ideally sooner rather than later.

To do so, body needs 3 things:

• Rest
• Blood flow
• Nutrition

Our ability to recover fully and quickly depends on our ability to optimize these three things.

(Side note, perhaps an even greater influence on recovery is the actual preparation. 

• Proper training yields not only better results but better recovery as well, and that should never be underestimated. 
• Hate the way you feel after a marathon? 
• Might be that some key changes to your training could lessen that.)

The question in this monologue is why do those three things matter and how can we optimize them?

Rest: not just about taking a few days off

Most of us forget that rest is about more than staying off tired legs or sore muscles for a bit…

• Musculoskeletal system needs to rest (trauma to tissues and bones)
  • Microtears
  • Possible stress responses
• What to do?
  • Sleep! It’s when the body repairs itself best
  • Avoid impact forces
  • Change positions often (sitting, standing, walking, lying)
  • More on this in a moment…
• Energy system needs to rest
  • Depleted fuel stores (more on this in nutrition)
  • Cellular recovery (mitochondria and energy production)
• What to do?
  • Stay low key (once again… sleep!)
  • Refuel
• Nervous system fatigue
  • Especially prevalent in long-term hard efforts or short-term very intense efforts
  • Mental and emotional influence
• What to do?
  • SLEEP!
  • Avoid high-stimulation activities
  • Read a relaxing, pleasant book
  • Stare out the window – or better yet, sit outside and watch the grass grow

Quick summary: at it’s core, the need for rest in any of the above areas is best addressed by plenty of sleep foremost, but some of the little things do really make a difference.

• Bill’s example: take the next day off work
• Don’t try to travel right away after the race (maybe even the next day)

Blood Flow: bringing the good stuff where it needs to be

If fatigue and all that is poverty, nutrition is gold, and blood is the Genie in the lamp, granting all your body parts all their wildest hopes and dreams.

Or something like that…

The point is that uninhibited blood flow is the imperative to recovery. Resting is great, but if the blood isn’t flowing properly, all that rest ultimately does us little good.

• Blood carries in oxygen
• Blood carries in nutrients
• Blood carries out bad stuff

What inhibits or reduces blood flow?

• Dehydration (blood is mostly water, after all)
• Inflammation (blood pooling means not as much flowing)
• Constricted fibers

What do we do about it?

• Drinks loads of water (and be sure electrolytes are present)
• Take some light anti-inflammatories (potentially – they are known to speed recovery for a day or two after a hard effort, but we don’t give medical advice here, so talk to a doctor or something first)
• Drink more water
• Gentle tissue massages and myofascial releases to keep the fibers flowing smoothly
• Keep drinking water
• Activation and activity that avoids impact if possible (walk, bike, even just bicycle your legs in the air while lying on your back)
• And of course… water.

Lots of fun little devices out there designed around this idea:

• Electrical stimulation (especially encouraged during sedentary times like flying or driving long distances… but maybe not if YOU’RE the one behind the yoke or the wheel…)
• Massage guns (like the rooftree product we’ve been discussing)
• Vibrating rollers (be gentle, though)

Quick summary: you’re not going to like me saying this, but remember that some things are exactly COUNTER to the logic here, like toxins that enter your blood, diarrhetics, etc. 

• Many of us view race day as the immediate conclusion of our hard work and discipline, at least for a little while. 
• We probably shouldn’t. 
• Maybe give ourselves two more days of disciplined recovery.

And on that note…

Nutrition: eat well, eat lots, eat often

We cannot overstate the importance of replenishing everything as quickly as possible. And not just the obvious stuff like protein and carbs…

Start with the macros

• The first priority is getting those fuel stores back up a bit
• Protein, carbs, and fats are all necessary for the repair process, though especially protein and carbs
• The big fad around proper ratios is all very interesting, but it makes little difference if I’m not getting enough. 
• Remember how the body absorbs things: far more effective to consume moderate quantities frequently than large quantities occasionally

Do NOT miss the micros

• Micronutrients make the body function
  • If your muscles run out of available calcium, where do they turn? Your bones!
  • Magnesium helps muscles relax and aids the digestion of macronutrients
  • Iron is a key ingredient in hemoglobin and thus helps transport oxygen
  • Zinc is involved in energy metabolism as well as helping synthesize hemoglobin
  • Vitamin D helps the body absorb things like calcium, zinc, and magnesium (among other roles)
  • Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron
  • And ALL of these things are utilized and depleted in some fashion during races, especially long ones
• Boosting micronutrient intake after races is yet another method of ensuring the body is getting what it needs to perform it’s essential functions well
• We are almost definitely NOT getting enough of these things just by our normal diet (not for recovery purposes, at least, and probably not for day-to-day either)

Another note about absorption…

• The body only has so many ways to absorb a given thing, so spreading out the intake more gradually over time helps increase how much is absorbed 
• (think: eat a massive meal in 30 minutes is less total absorption than the same amount of food spread over 2 hours)
• Some things absorb better and worse in a given category or are aided by the combination with another thing… it’s worth paying attention to this stuff… but also not enough time to really go into that right now

Quick summary: eat well (and supplement), eat lots (meaning VARIETY), and eat often to maximize absorption

Conclusion: we want to feel as good as possible as soon as possible

The entire motivation for the principle of recovery is either that you have another thing you want to get to or you simply want to feel good in general. 

Do the good work now and reap the rewards later.

 Functional Movement Resources

• Jay Dicharry’s Running Rewired
• Functional Movement Assessment (chapter 17 from Musculoskeletal Interventions: Techniques for Therapeutic Exercise)