On the Endurance Nation “Boomers’ Forum” (for folks over fifty – OFs, Old Folks, Old Farts) someone raised the issue of needing more recovery time. They focused on during workouts, or between workouts. Here is my post in that conversation…
For the first time, well, ever, I’m on Injured Reserve with overuse injuries. One swimming related – left ulnar tendonitis – and one run related – right high hamstring tendonitis. So I’ve been doing a bit of thinking along these lines the past four weeks while impatiently waiting to heal up.
One thought is the multi-level nature of “recovery”. There is a need for recovery within intervals of equal effort; between such intervals; between workouts; recovering from a long or hard race; recovering between seasons punctuated by an A race; and following an injury. Speaking of the last, it has long been obvious to me, both in my role as a physician/surgeon, and in my life as an athlete, that there is a direct correlation between age and the time it takes for an injury (like a surgical wound or an overused tendon) to “heal”. [I put heal in quotations, because even that term is problematic. Does healing mean it no longer hurts at rest? No longer hurts when used? Can be documented to appear normal on imaging studies like and MRI? Is no longer more susceptible to re-injruy? And which of those should be used to allow one to return to normal physical use?]
What used to take 6 weeks to feel better now takes 12. So it would make sense, I suppose, that at a different level of recovery, say, between intervals, what used to take 2 minutes might take 4. Now, over the years, when I’ve been making a decision about how much time to take between intervals, or workouts, I’ve used the following criteria:
- For intervals, I follow the EN workouts suggested times, unless I can’t hit the time/power/or pace indicated, inc which case I’ll lengthen the rest interval. If that doesn’t work, I will next shorten the work interval. If that doesn’t work, I pull the plug. Usually not an issue for running, which these days seems to have only two intervals. But for swimming or biking, thats my strategy.
- Workout frequency, I use a combination of following signs of over-reaching and observation of my ability to hit the prescribed effort level. Signs include: needing more sleep/longer nap; losing weight; feeling grump or depressed. On rare (maybe once a month or so) occasions, I have started a workout only to quickly abandon it.
- This year, I seem to have failed to pay attention to signs of physical discomfort in both my elbow and butt (high hamstring). In the past, I have almost always been able to back off a bit for a short (1 week or so) period of time, and then “worked through” such discomfort, and it would always get better. This year, that didn’t happen fast enough, and I showed up at a key race (Kona) unable to either swim or run with any authority. You might say I miss-timed my ability to recover.
I suspect that I have not been applying these principles to my need for recovery between seasons. So I went back into my training log to see what I could learn: did I put myself in a danger zone by being too greedy year-over-year? “Down Time” below is a relative term, usually indicating unstructured swim/bike/run @ 7-8 hours a week, and/or skiing, which for me is a pretty intense activity. Here’s what I found (I wish I could access by workouts before 2007, but they are hiding on a retired computer which is no longer functional):
- 2007 – 1 IM, Season ended with Xterra WC end Oct, 2 weeks @ 7-8 hours a week, then back to 10+/ week (OS type work) by mid Nov. 1 week down time
- 2008 – 2 IMs, June/Nov. 1 week easy, 4 weeks @ 7hrs/wk, five weeks skiing mixed with SBR, then 2 OS followed by 2 IM cycles end Nov 20. So 2+ months of down time
- 2009 – Age-up year, 3 IMs. Season ends Nov 16. 1 week easy, 5 weeks @ 7hr/, 6 wks mixed ski with S/B/R, then back at it for another attempt @ 3 IMs. 3 months down time
- 2010 – 3 IMs planned, Cut short mid-Sept bike accident, back to OS work in 3 months downtime.
- 2011 – 2 IMs. End season Nov 20, took 3 months off from biking and running,
- 2012 – 2 IMs. swam and skied until mid Feb, then OS, and 2 training cycles. Season Ends Oct 14. 2 weeks downtime, started OS in Nov.
- 2013 – 2 IMs. 2 Full Training cycles, season ends Nov 18, 2 weeks downtime, start OS in Dec.
- 2014 – 3 IMs. Start OS mid Dec, mix in some skiing, 2.5 IM training cycles, Season ends Nov 16. 1 week downtime
- 2015 – 3 IMs planned. Nov 17, 4 weeks of s/b/r mixed with skiing; Start OS mid-dec, begin what seems like an endless cycle of injuries and accidents: Symptoms of R Patellar-femoral Syndrome starting mid-Jan; Head injury ski crash early Feb; R low-back/spine problems on ToC mid-May; recurrence of this last two miles @ IM LP end July; R high hamstring tendonitis starting 2 weeks later, just now healing after 4 weeks of complete rest from running.
Looking at this list, it’s a wonder I didn’t start to break down earlier. In 2008/9/10/11, I was routinely getting three months of unstructured reduced physical activity each year. My results in those years were pretty darn good.I was routinely winning races, getting superb time (PRs, Course records) and qualifying for Kona. The last 4 years, I have routinely been disappointed with my IM performances. The only thing which go me back to Kona several times was the precipitous drop-off in the presence and performance of my age peers.
This year, I am taking 2 months of enforced down time (I have hernia surgery scheduled for this Friday) followed by another two months primarily devoted to skiing. Then, I’m hoping to do only one IM at the end of the year, and key in on some shorter races @ the USAT National Championships. Time will tell how well I’l respond to that.
Since this is the OFs forum, I’ll end with some age-related comments. Yeah, it’s true we need more recovery of all kinds as our bodies wind down. We are still capable of remarkable things. But one thing which weighs on me is the ticking of my biological clock. A “younger” man (late 40s) might be very willing to take a year or two completely off and feel confident that he can get back into the game. Me, I’m having thoughts that each time I try this might be my last, and so I have to take full advantage of every day I have left. What I need to learn is that “taking full advantage of every day I have left” might actually mean using that day (or week, or month) to rest and get ready to enjoy whatever I have left do.