Factors that Impact Recovery (Part 3 of 3)

Harley helps Coach Liz recover.

What’s this Podcast About?

In their Recovery Manifesto series, Coach Amy and Coach Liz explain the importance of recovery to endurance sport longevity. In this episode, they discuss the factors that impact recovery.

How Long Does it Take to Recover?

The body takes time to heal.  As we've discussed in Part I of our Recovery Manifesto, there are periods of recovery that follow the different phases of training. But how much time do we need to recover?

It depends! The amount of time and type of recovery an endurance athlete needs depends on the effort, the sport, chronological and athletic age, and life situation.

Effort impacts recovery time.

The type and amount of recovery needed are directly related to the effort expended during a race or training workout or, in other words, the intensity and volume.

A high-intensity effort refers to difficulty. Volume refers to the distance or time of a workout.

For example, 10 x 800 repeats at a faster-than-race pace are considered high intensity, while running 20 miles or a 6-hour ride is considered a high volume.

Remember, we are intentionally stressing the body with training, breaking down to build back up, and the extent of muscle damage is greater for high-volume and high-intensity workouts. So...more recovery is needed for these types of workouts.

Listen to the body! You know how you feel after a workout, or you will learn to know as you gain more experience. It isn’t just muscle fatigue; it is all body.

The type of sport determines Recovery Time.

The amount of time it takes to recover depends on the sport type. Swimming, biking, and running load the body differently from each other and allow the body to handle the overall load.

Our joints take on 3-6 times our body weight when we run, which is a much greater load than when swimming, and therefore, the body needs more time to recover.

The way swimming loads the body is very different. The way the muscles/joints move can be helpful for recovery, even if working hard. 

Cross-training can impact recovery.

Athletic Age impacts the time it takes to recover.

The athletic age is the number of years somebody has been in a sport. It matters because your body becomes more durable to handle the sport over time. A young athletic age requires more recovery time than an older athletic age. Liz explains how a Division 1 swimmer begins training for a triathlon. They are durable for swimming but not ready for the pounding of running. They are a newborn runner, so we must be cautious!

The cardiovascular system adapts to running a lot quicker than the musculoskeletal system.

It’s important to note that even if you have previous experience in a sport but an extended period off, you are not the same athletic age as you were. Coach Amy shares a personal example of her time off from running.

Chronological Age plays a role in how much recovery we need.

The older we are, the more recovery time we need. You don’t recover when you are twenty, like when you are fifty. It doesn’t mean we don’t go hard as we get older or won’t improve. It just means that we have to support our recovery differently.

Stacy Simms and Joel Friel have some excellent resources for athletes.

Simms, Stacy. Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.

Friel, Joel. Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life.

As we age, the ability of our cells to repair and regenerate diminishes. We need more recovery time.

We have hormonal changes as we age. We produce less of the hormones that we need for repair. And, we produce less collagen, an ingredient we need to build and repair muscle and tendons. If we have less, it changes our ability to adapt to training.

We also have muscle changes that occur. We lose muscle as we age. This is called sarcopenia.

For more information, check out this article written by Coach Amy— The Secrets to Combating the Effects of Age on the Musculoskeletal System.

All these physical changes directly impact our ability to adapt and recover from training load, but some behavioral changes also occur.

Researchers studying recovery strategies in endurance athletes found that with increased age, was a decrease in the use of recovery strategies.

Braun-Trocchio R, Graybeal AJ, Kreutzer A, Warfield E, Renteria J, Harrison K, Williams A, Moss K, Shah M. Recovery Strategies in Endurance Athletes. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2022; 7(1):22. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk7010022

We need more recovery strategies as we age, but many of us are not heeding that need.

Genetics impact recovery.

Genes give us our hair and eye color, but it goes beyond that. Genetics affects our physical abilities, including how much recovery time we need.

Coach Amy shares a story from The Sports Gene by David Epstein.

Genes impact endurance and speed but also recovery. This is one of the reasons why comparing your training and outcomes with your friend or what you see on social media isn't a good idea.

Life Situation is often an overlooked factor in recovery time.

Work, aging parents, children, divorce, a move, or job change affect our ability to train and recover. They cut into the time to recover. But we can make better changes within the confines of life. Coach Liz gives examples of making choices to help your body.

Professional athletes’ training and recovery are full-time; they fail if they don't make room for both. The same is true for us. 

What about the people who participate in run streaks or a marathon every month?

Coach Amy and Liz address how some athletes get by with it.

Summing it Up

Be aware of the factors that impact our recovery because it isn’t always obvious. Pay attention and make good choices. Be good to yourself.