Recovery after Trail Running

“My advice for optimal recovery is to listen to your own body, and give it the rest time it needs, along with some very light training sessions”

Kilian Jornet

Anticipation

Everything went well and you have finished the race. Whenever you approach the crossing line, you start thinking of your recovery by hydrating and replenishing your energy. You also start thinking of the activities you are going to get involved in to help you go through your recovery process. It will not take you quite long to think of that.

Recovery is something you long await especially when you are running a long race.

Recovery after a race

Finally the long awaited time has come. You have crossed the finish line and now it’s time to do the recovery. Where do you start from? Below are some of the things you can do to help you undergo the recovery process successfully.

Assess your fatigue

Once you have come to a stop, the first thing you need to do is to assess your fatigue. Know what you want whether you are sleepy, thirsty or hungry. After carrying out the check, you can now determine the right recovery strategy.

Performing a recovery process without analyzing your fatigue may fail to give you the best result, recovery slowly or not recover totally. That is because you will be dealing with what you don’t know just working with lucks. It just the same as taking medicine without carrying out a test to know what you are treating.

Restore balance

When you are on trail running, you subject your body to a vigorous activity. The foods that were stored in the body are broken down to release the energy require for running. The rate of your body function increases including your heartbeat and metabolism.

This vigorous functioning of your body such as respiration leads to high accumulation of wastes in the body. That creates a lot of imbalances in the body. With recovery, you need to restore the original body balance. That requires you to do away with the waste accumulated and also restore the blood sugar balance.

Food and Hydration

The question here is, how will you achieve the state of balance? The first thing you need to do is to drink a lot of water. That will help restore the water lost during running in form of sweat which is the major source of water loss from the body during running. High water intake will also help eliminate lactic acid and other accumulated waster bringing the body into a state of balance.

Apart from drinking water alone, you can also drink a recovery drink which has an added advantage. The recovery drink contains proteins which promote the regeneration of tissues damaged during the running exercise. The carbohydrates will also enable you to replenish your glycogen reserves.

Rest

Another important aspect of recovery is to have rest. It will give you enough time to listen to your body and know what it wants. During the rest, the body can also adjust by itself and also ease some pain you experienced during the exercise. Having a rest will help your body and mind too to relax bringing it to a state of balance.

Active recovery

Apart from just having rest, taking food and drinks, there is also active recovery where you can involve in other activities to help bring your body to a state of balance. These involves making your body moving by performing easy and gentle stretching exercises. Also, shake your legs and massage yourself abit. Such activities promotes venous return and help your body release toxins.

Massage

As part of your recovery exercise, you can also opt for a massage. That will help stretch your muscles and relax your overall body. You can perform it yourself or look for a therapist. The therapist will advise you on importance of posture and also help you fix muscular imbalances. The best way to it is by receiving a regular massage. Massage will help you gain flexibility, physical and mental strength.

Compression Clothes

These are pieces of clothing that fit tightly around the skin. These pieces are usually best for providing support for people who have to stand for long periods or have poor circulation. They have different degree of compression. These garments can help you prevent swelling especially on the feet by providing good blood circulation.

Ice bath

This also aids in the recovery process by fastening it. It is important when the athlete wishes to recover faster for the next training. They will also make the athlete perform to their best by making their muscles fit.

Conclusion

Recovery is a process that is essential for every runner. The best thing to do is to have a recovery routine, follow it correctly and you will get positive feedback.