Recovery tools for stressful training

Managing big weeks requires thoughtful planning.

(My sincere thanks for all your kind words and thoughts. My family is grateful that so many people came to our aid in ways big and small when we needed them. We’ll have many long days and weeks ahead, but we’re moving in a positive direction. Thank you. )

It wasn’t until the last year or so when I started taking the concept of recovery seriously. I didn’t like taking days off or going slow on easy runs. I didn’t worry all that much about sleep or how stress was affecting my body. I figured my diet was reasonably good, so there was no need to get super serious about nutrition. One of the reasons I ran was to deal with all that stuff, so why concern myself with the details?  

Most of us probably know the answer to that by now, and if you haven’t experienced burnout yet, it’s only a matter of time until it catches up with you. There’s only so many hard miles your body can handle until it starts to break down, and you don’t have to be training for a marathon or an ultra for it to become an issue. 

The best way to handle a downward training spiral is with rest, but the real trick if you want to be able to sustain momentum, is staying a step or two ahead of the hard crash. That starts with recognizing signs such as irritability, lethargy, loss of motivation, or persistent soreness. Once you’ve identified your internal triggers, the next step is coming up with a recovery plan to match your running goals. 

Given the stressful week I had, and the heavy miles I wanted to run, I took as much time planning my recovery as I did my workouts. Remember: The body doesn’t know miles, it knows stress, and it doesn’t differentiate between life stress, work stress, or exercise stress. It’s all just stress. 

Not all of my recovery strategy went according to plan, but I had enough support systems in place to get through the week. Here’s a snapshot of the tools I used to manage a training week that included three monster efforts and two easier ones covering 46 miles and 6,200 feet of climbing.   

Run management 

Some of the best training advice I’ve ever received is to make the hard days hard and the easy days easy. The best solution is alternating hard days with easy ones and committing to making the easy days really easy. 

My training week started on Sunday with a simple 6-miler. With a rest day on Saturday behind me, I knew I’d be a little amped up so I made an effort to keep my pace nice and relaxed, even walking up some hills. To burn off a little excess energy, I did a few strides -- short intervals -- at the end of the run. Strides are a great way to build your running economy. They’re like taking your legs in for a tuneup.  

On Monday, I ran the Skyline Trail in the Middlesex Fells. If you’re familiar with the area you know about Skyline. It’s about an 8-mile loop with roughly 1,500 feet of vertical gain and loss. While there are no big climbs, the topography is relentless. I’ve left pieces of my soul all over Skyline, to say nothing of blood and bruised bone. 

As tough as Skyline is physically, it’s twice as hard mentally. The trail doesn’t meander, it twists and turns constantly so that you’re rarely able to relax and go on autopilot. Running Skyline demands total and complete concentration from the moment you start until the very last step. If I do it right, like I did on Monday, my cognitive function will be just as taxed as my physical side.

Knowing that, I went out to the Battle Trail in Lexington on Tuesday where it’s mostly flat and wide enough for groups to pass each other comfortably. It’s a family favorite and a place where I feel completely relaxed and comfortable. Now this is a zone out kind of run, albeit an important one to meet my mileage goals.  

My plan was to do 6-8 easy miles. I had my watch on, but didn’t look at it except to check that I wasn’t overdoing it. In the back of my mind, I know that I can run this trail at a fast clip -- say, 7-minute miles -- but for this run to work in a larger training concept, I needed to keep it around a 9:45 pace, which I did. 

I finished up with a couple of strides, only this time I ran them up a slight incline. The correct terminology is ‘power strides,’ which sounds cool as hell in my training journal. 

Tuesday’s easy run left me primed for a 10-miler on the Cross Fells Trail the next morning. That included a punishing diversion on the Rock Circuit Trail, which is exactly as it sounds. Big climb followed by big climb, with lots of scrambling over jagged trails in between. 

The Cross Fells is not quite as tough as Skyline, but it’s not far off. I rolled my ankle several times and realized later that the callus on the back of my heel had split and become irritated. Good times. I finished the run knowing I had an off day on Thursday to recuperate and confident from the work I had already done. 

My off day consisted of a light workout, nothing too taxing, with lots of time to mentally prepare for a 14-mile effort over three hours in the Blue Hills on Friday. I run there a lot, so to keep things interesting I often improvise the route. For this run I wanted to hit three big climbs while incorporating enough runnable loops to make my mileage goal. 

The result was an immensely satisfying long run where I hit all my marks in terms of mileage, climbing, and time on feet. That’s a great feeling, but I knew my training week wasn’t over after the long run. 

Even before I got back in the car to head home I was thinking about recovery. The next few days would be critical. On Saturday, I made it a point to do nothing physical other than a light stretch. On Sunday, I took another day off from running and did a workout focusing on my back, upper body, and core. 

That leads into what I call a stepback week. I have yet to find the exact formula, but my goal is to cut my mileage and climb by about 40 percent. I’ll probably mix in a speed workout on flat ground to switch things up, but I’ll otherwise take it easy. No Skyline. No Cross Fells. This week is a chance to recharge, refocus, and yes, recover for longer weeks ahead. 

Eat to run

One of the best things about running long distances is being able to eat a ton of calories. When I was younger, that meant indulging in anything I craved. Now that I’m older, I try to pick my spots a little more carefully. Did I house a pizza and an order of curly fries after that 14-mile run on Friday? I did. Did I do the same thing the next day when I didn’t leave the house? I did not.  

Given the caloric demands that my body has during heavy weeks of training, I make it a point to have plenty of nutritious food on hand to feed the machine. This takes planning so when I go to the fridge or the cupboard, I know I have quality options readily available. Rather than jam it all in with a big feast, I prefer to eat a lot of small meals throughout the day. 

That process starts almost immediately after runs with a smoothie. My go-to is what I call the antioxidant cooler: a cup each of tart cherry juice and frozen blueberries, along with a banana and a half cup of one percent yogurt. That, along with a post-run egg and cheese, are my primary staples. By mid-morning, I will have replenished most of the calories I burned while taking in a solid mix of carb, fat, and protein. 

For lunch, I usually have a big salad topped with veggies, pistachios and sunflower seeds, along with some carrots and hummus. For mid-day snacking, I go with combinations like apples and peanut butter. Toast drenched in olive oil and salt (poor man’s bruschetta) works wonders. At all times, I have a ziplock full of almonds, cashews, and raisins on the counter, and for big weeks, I’ll get chips and guac.   

Getting enough calories is my responsibility -- no one in my family eats like I do -- but my wife is an ace at helping with meal planning. For dinners, we had grilled salmon and roasted veggies one night, lentil stew the next, with lots of whole grain pasta, and an amazing butternut squash soup topped with roasted seeds.   

I try to be mindful about not overeating, but at the same time I’m not counting calories. New runners will note that running to lose weight is not as straightforward as it seems. The more you run, the more calories you need to keep going. My body needs fuel, so as long as I’m getting quality food in my system, I’m good.  

Sleep 

This is where things started to break down. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say that no one in the house has had a decent night of sleep all week. We all did the best we could -- a well-timed nap can work wonders -- but I know that I put my health at risk with heavy training and inadequate sleep. 

My feeling was that I can handle it for a short time, but there will be a price to pay later. Even if I didn’t have a stepback week planned, I would have taken one after the stressful week we had. More than exercise, sleep is my number one priority right now. If I have to cut out a run to get adequate rest, then the run gets cut. Fingers crossed. 

Meditation

I haven’t talked much about my meditation routine because it’s intensely personal and I’m in no way qualified to talk about it in a larger context. There are lots of ways to meditate and to my way of thinking, all of them have validity. The important thing is finding a practice that allows you to connect with your breathing. 

During the most stressful part of the previous week, I let my meditation practice lapse for a few days and it had a negative effect on my mindset. While completely understandable given everything happening, I also needed to take responsibility for neglecting an obvious remedy. 

Getting back into a meditation routine is no different than running or working out. I have to make time for it, even when I have to force myself to sit on the cushion. As with exercise, something is better than nothing. 

Normally, I don’t make a fuss about my practice, I just get it done in the time I have to myself. On Saturday, I told my family I was going to meditate and asked to not be bothered. I did so again on Sunday. By Monday, when my wife opened our bedroom door and found me in a darkened room in the lotus position, I barely noticed she was in the room.  

Maintaining a consistent meditation practice is like strength training for my brain. When I’m on top of things, it allows me to have a clear focus and positive outlook. It helps manage my anxiety and stress. It’s an incredibly valuable tool in my recovery box and I can’t recommend it enough. 

How about you guys: What are your recovery staples?