Keys to Recovery
Hello from my beautiful oat milk latte to you. Today, I wanted to share a little bit about the importance of recovery and rehab work for runners. This is personally, something that I am continuing to work on (not an expert at yet) but something I want to continue to grow in. The more I learn about it, the more convinced I am that this is a key piece to running the races/times/prs/distances that we, as runners, want to run without getting injured/burnt out/or hitting the wall (at least as frequently.)
A couple months ago, I listened to a podcast and this top level Crossfit coach was sharing about how important recovery is. He even went so far as to say that the athlete who recovers the fastest and most will be the best athlete. Why? Because that athlete is able to do more and take on more work load and training stress BECAUSE they recover faster. This was quite the light bulb moment for me (as someone who struggles with prioritizing stretching/recovering #keepingitreal)
But, there is so much truth in what he said. Recovery is vital and if we can be pros at recovering well and growing in our strength, our running will only improve.
Here are a couple of my go-tos for recovery and rehab work:
-
Hip routines. The stronger your hips are as a runner, the less likely you will be injured and the stronger/faster you will be able to run. My hip routine I do is really simple, takes as little as ten minutes or less and doesn’t require any weights or equipment. I do a mixture of donkey kicks/fire hydrants/clam shells, and bridge raises to strengthen my lower body using only body weight. (If you want a video of this, comment below and I can send one to you!)
-
Legs up on the wall. This seems so strange, but really helps alleviate inflammation and promotes healthy blood flow, etc. Feels strange, but effective.
-
Foam rolling. Foam rolling and I have a love/hate relationship but foam rolling really is so beneficial. You can stretch, but it is hard to really break up some of that tissue and massage your muscles without using a foam roller!
-
Another piece of recovery is fuel. The way we eat so impacts our training. When I wasn’t eating enough, I was the most injured. Why? Because my body was breaking down and not rebuilding. Muscle growth, in a nutshell is basically muscles breaking down and then rebuilding stronger than before to ensure the next time that workout comes it will be stronger to handle it than before. But, if depleted from the proper nutrients it needs to build, it will not rebuild and continue to simply break down. Eat real food. Refuel with protein/carbs after runs. I love a good smoothie with protein powder and bananas 🙂
-
Warm ups. Another piece of training I didn’t do for years was warming my legs up before just heading out the door. After implementing this into my training, I’ve seen a big improvement in how I feel on the run and how I feel after. Leg swings (back/forward/side to side) and banded lateral walks/monster walks are some of my favorite warm up movements!
It is hard to continue to do ‘all the things’ on top of running four plus times a week, but as long as I remember that these things will help me stay running four plus times a week, I am more likely to remember to do them. So, you guys can hold me accountable okay? I want to the best at recovery these time around and I know that will only impact my running in a positive way!