Maximising recovery
Say recovery and most cyclists see it as relaxing, watching a movie and chilling out. This can be part of the enjoyment of recovery but recovery should be seen as so much more.
The cooldown:
It may seem insignificant but shortening a cool down can mean you aren't fully clearing the muscles of waste metabolites or giving the heart, blood pressure and muscles a chance to ease out of training. Taking a bit more time here is the start of a good recovery post-training.
Nutrition and hydration.
This is not just about focusing on what you eat and drink after your training session. Yes, that plays an important role however, what you eat and drink through the day and in training has a vast impact on your recovery.
Protein is an important macronutrient. For hard training cyclists eating between 1.8g and 2g of protein per KG of body weight over 4 meals a day is recommended.
The quality of protein matters if you want to get the best recovery. Each protein-rich meal should have between 3g and 6g of the amino acid Leucine. Animal and dairy proteins are rich sources. It's why vegans and vegetarians should supplement if they are unsure of hitting this mark in the food that they eat.
Carbohydrate helps us retain lean muscle mass, quickly restore glycogen levels so we can continue to perform effectively and reduce excessive build-up of the catabolic hormone Cortisol. Recommendations for moderate load and moderate intensity training is between 5g and 7g per KG of body weight per day.
Staying on top of your hydration is also a key factor. Have you ever come back from a ride and felt a bit broken only to discover you drank a fraction of the two water bottles you took with you. The reason why you feel like this is that your blood is thicker than glue so the transport system to and from the lungs and muscles is in limp mode.
What I'm trying to get across here is recovery is an all-day focus when it comes to what you eat and drink not an afterthought.
On non-training days you can also aid recovery with light activity such as walking, yoga, stretching or a very easy short pedal to get an ice cream. I've planned that into a cyclists Training Peaks before. It was definitely a favourite training session.
Sleep is an important factor in recovery. Between 7 and 8 hours, a night is seen as optimal. On deload weeks take extra naps if you can help boost the recovery process. (You can tell I don't have kids)
Ditch the alcohol post-training. It becomes the immediate source of fuel which slows down muscle recovery and glycogen repletion. I know an ice cool beer sounds like a good call after a long ride but if you're working on something that means a lot to you delay the booz for a few hours at least and prioritise hydration, protein and carbs.
A quick look at the overall training load.
A good training plan factors in de-load weeks or at least easy aerobic weeks. This is why it's important to keep to the plan and stay consistent so that there is a sensible progression and recovery.
Respecting aerobic capacity is hard to do. I know It's easy to slip into a tempo effort but that creates extra fatigue that can mess up your recovery for harder sessions to come.Thanks for reading
Simon
Performance & Nutrition Director
2 X Winner of Gym Based PT, and founder of VPCC