Photo: Chris Comfort (amny.com)
What is “recovery”?
Recovery can be as simple as putting your feet up; and it can be as complicated as sipping on a specially-formularized recovery shake while being massaged by fancy compression boots, and having electrodes pulse the muscles of your lower back and enjoy the soothing sounds of the ocean through noise-cancelling headphones.
Most of us are not so lucky as to have the wide-range of high-tech gadgets described above. But most of you reading this (I’d say 90%) are not recovering as affectively as you could be. And while you don’t have to go out and spend $1,000 on recovery gear – some small amount of investment may help – it is our time investment that will improve our recovery the most.
The old saying holds true: “If you’re standing, you should be sitting. And if you’re sitting, you should be lying down. And if you’re lying down, you should be sleeping.” (I may have added that last part, but studies have shown the sleepis the single-most important recovery tool that we all have access to – and it’s free!
It’s a simple principle: save your energy now, so that you can use it later for a race or workout. Would you rather make your legs sore my standing by the water cooler for half an hour at work, or by crushing sign sprints on your Wednesday night group ride? I know which one I’d choose.
Now I know everyone’s lives, occupations, and daily schedules are different, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a few simple changes to improve your recovery, and thus, your performance. Here are some core recovery principles – many of which I’ve used throughout my riding “career” – in order from cheapest/easiest to most expensive/possibly most effective:
1. Sit down (lie down, and sleep). If you are in serious training for cycling, running, triathlon, etc. there is no reason that you should be on your feet more than you need to. Whether you’re making breakfast, folding laundry, or typing out emails, sit or lie down whenever you can. Your legs will thank you later.
2. Elevation and Compression. Don’t have the means for a high-tech pair of recovery boots? Lie down with your feet up against a wall. Your legs should be straight out in front of you, with your feet up in the air and your heels resting on the wall. (Your body should look like an ‘L’ with the top of the L being your feet, the corner of the L being your bum, and the right end of the L being your head). Relax your legs and remain in this position for around 20 minutes. This will help drain out the fluid from your legs, as well as resetting your hip joint.
When travelling especially, use compression gear. These are the weird-looking socks that I’m sure you’ve seen before. But just like an aero helmet that looks like it’s from Spaceballs, they work, no matter how dorky they make you look. The best (and most effective) compression gear is so hard to get on that it’s probably a 2+ person job. If you’re able to ‘slip on’ your compression gear with little-more than a tug, it’s not going to help you recover; you just bought an expensive sock.
3. Normatecs and Recovery Boots. Used by World Tour teams such as EF – Education First p/b… (insert sponsors here) Pro Cycling, Normatecs are a high-tech brand of compression recovery boots which act as a pulsing massage for your legs. [They make Normatecs for your arms as well, but I’m pretty sure that’s only for The Rock to use]. There are lots of other ‘recovery boot’ brands on the market, but Normatec is the only one that I have been lucky enough to use, in my time at both Marian University and Project Echelon Racing.
Photo: prnewswire.com
I’m not pushing an advertisement of a crazy or weird product here – I am being 100% honest when I say that Normatecs work. During the biggest period of training in my life during the first couple months of 2018 in Tucson, I discovered the recovery power of the Normatecs. We had one pair of boots in the house, and they were always in use as my teammates and I were in the constant loop of ‘ride 5 hours, eat lots, recover hard’. I never had a bad day after using the Normatecs. They are also adjustable in terms of time and intensity, so it’s easy for anyone to give them a try.
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Full disclosure: Project Echelon Racing is sponsored by Normatec Recovery. BUT, as soon as I have the means, I’m getting a pair for myself – they’re that good.