BY GERMAN MEDRAZO
Last week should have been a recovery week and I want to talk about the importance of recovery:
We need to exert higher levels of effort during training in order to improve, to run longer and to run faster. But we can’t increase the speed and the distance indefinitely and expect our bodies to take the pounding without ever feeling fatigued or injured.
Recovery weeks are the stepping stones to greater fitness. They’re some times hard to understand because we feel we can do more and faster! But during these weeks it’s best to err on the slow and short side of things. Because our bodies will use the increased blood flow from the shorter runs to rebuild damaged muscles. And instead of using the energy to do more it’ll use it to replenish and rebuild stronger muscles and larger mitochondria cells that will provide more energy to our bodies.
During these easier days our glycogen storage will be replenished and ready to be used in the hard weeks ahead. During these recovery weeks we’re still running and training, but the easy and short nature of the runs will throw our bodies and minds out of the routine of always pushing hard and it’ll then take a brake and focus the extra energy on healing possible injuries.
During your recovery week it’s a good idea to get a massage, to drink more water and too take your significant other to the movies, or your family to the beach! This doesn’t mean you can eat junk food or drink beer! Because remember our new cells will be built with the nutrients in our bodies, so if you eat junk during your recovery week then you’ll have junk cells to work with in the next building block.
So remember to take it easy on the recovery weeks and enjoy the extra time they give you to recharge your mind and body for the longer runs ahead.
On your plan please notice how your harder interval days on Wednesdays are getting less recovery time, this is because we want your body to gradually recover quicker and more efficiently each week from those hard bursts of effort!
Keep up the good work and remember to smile and enjoy every step of your runs!
