recovery

QUESTION 1: How do you gauge overtraining in one of your athletes -- especially those who you coach over the internet and so therefore don't physically see -- and what do you do when an athlete is overtrained? If you want to spread this out into different "categories" of overtraining, that's fine. Answer it however you want to.

FROM GORDO BYRN: By the time we arrive at overtraining it is a serious situation and normally calls for multiple weeks completely off, followed by alternating a rest day and a light aerobic day until the athlete recovers. I had one athlete who required four weeks of this regime until she was "back to normal." This situation was caused by an overly ambitious end-of-season race schedule and an early winter marathon.

The best way to deal with overtraining is not to get there in the first place. A recovery week every third or fourth week, combined with total and active recovery days during the normal training weeks, works well for most people. I like to structure the week with one or two key workouts—Joe Friel calls these workouts BT, or breakthrough, workouts. I advise my athletes that the BT workouts are all that matter. The non-BT sessions are good for building technique and economy but the core of the training program is the targeted BT sessions.

All of my athletes are requested to send me at least one e-mail a week detailing how their workouts have gone. Ideally, I like to get 2-4 e-mails a week from each athlete.

Half of my athletes use TrainingBible.Com and that enables me to monitor them on a daily basis. When athletes start missing workouts, not making entries or having to cut workouts short, we drop volume and intensity quickly. If caught early then two days of backing off is all most people need.

FROM JULIEANNE WHITE: Overtraining can be a specific problem in the sport of triathlon, more than in other sports. Because you train for three events you have the very real possibility of performing a high-intensity workout––one in which your pulse exceeds 80 percent of your max heartrate for a sustained period of time––at least a half-dozen times per week and perhaps more. This is how overtraining can develop. I coach both age-group athletes and pros, and both groups are equally susceptable to overtraining, and each person must be monitored individually.

Age-group athletes may even have an increased susceptability to overtraining because they must also contend with a career and family life responsibilities. Therefore, I cater to each individual athlete with a specific training schedule to accommodate training, career and family. I often limit high-intensity work to 2-3 times per week, depending upon what sort of competition my athlete is preparing for, and at what time of season it happens to be.

I also ask all my athletes, whether pro or age-group, to take their morning waking pulse and establish a baseline number. If upon waking their pulse is 10 beats above normal, a complete rest day is called for; if six beats above normal then all workouts are cut by 50 percent with HR levels in the 65-70 percent zone; if four beats above normal workouts are cut by 30-50 percent with HR levels in the 65-72 percent zone. I also ask all my athletes to contact me if they have any concerns about their training, as I encourage a strong line of communication between athlete and coach to maximize the success of their training program.

All athletes, age-group and pro, weekly send to me a summary of their training week, and it is through this summary that I can detect any problems. Additionally, I ask my athletes to include in this summary other life stressors and nutrition/lifestyle issues which are contributors to the overtraining syndrome.

QUESTION 2: Describe your idea of an off-season for a triathlete. Should a triathlete take an off-season? How long? When? What can or should he or she do during an off-season? Or not do?

FROM GORDO BYRN: I will target this answer at an elite age-group Ironman athlete with a goal of qualifying for Kona the following season.

Immediately following their last A race of the year (Hawaii hopefully!), I would recommend four weeks of no cycling and no running. Swimming 2-3 times a week is OK but it is best done alone. Ideally no masters swimming for this entire period. If the athlete REALLY wants to swim masters then once a week after two weeks away. In this case, I would recommend that they swim down 1-2 lanes.

Every triathlete who has been in the sport for more than two years should take a month off at the end of their season.

During the four-week break, we would build up their season. We do this by selecting two "A" races and building up the periodisation to enable the athlete to peak for an early season race and a late season race. In the early base period, cross-training is fine with me. However, most of my athletes tend to hit the weights to build strength. Some of my athletes, particularly those in northern states or Canada, cross-country ski and/or mountain bike.

The main things to avoid in the off-season/early base period are:

Fast group training sessions (group rides and masters being the most "dangerous").
Races: Lots of my athletes think it would be "neat" to do a marathon. I try to steer them toward half-marathons instead. Races during mid- to late base are fine with me. Particularly races that provide data useful for building up their tri-season.
Threshold and anaerobic sessions: We do some threshold work when we do some fitness testing. Besides that I like to keep the HR way down. I like my athletes to put their energy into their strength sessions. I get a lot of flak from my athletes about having to train so slowly. However, I believe this is essential for achieving a solid physiological peak as well as ensuring a long career.

FROM JULIEANNE WHITE: I encourage all my athletes to take an off-season, and the amount of time can vary with each individual athlete. If one of my athletes chooses to compete and train just for Ironman events, I encourage him or her to take at the very least six weeks of active rest.

Active rest relates to any activity they would like to engage in which is not related to triathlon or structured training schedules. I strongly believe that athletes at all levels––age-group or pro––need a sustained period of time to allow their mental and physical bodies to recover from a season of racing and training.

Off-season can be at the end of the competing triathlon year—September or October for most athletes. It can also be mid-season, say, June, and may last only for a few weeks, depending upon the athlete's schedul.

During this time of rest or "off-season," my athletes can choose to do nothing, while some choose to surf (if they are fortunate enough to live in such a climate) or mountain bike ride, or hike. The theme is enjoyment—activities that allow for a sense of relaxation and recovery, both mentally and physically, from the stressors of a season of racing. I encourage all my athletes to choose activities which will allow them to keep their heartrates low for sustained periods of time. Most importantly, I encourage them to avoid structure, and to be spontaneous and enjoy every aspect of whatever activity they choose.

QUESTION 3: Your pro athlete has just completed an Ironman in May, and qualified for Hawaii. He or she wants to compete in a short course season thru June, July, and August prior to racing in Kona. What's your specific advice for the recovery regimen immediately following the May Ironman?

FROM TONY BENSON: An Ironman requires the same amount of recovery regardless of what the athlete may have planned in the post-race period. I would not recommend this course of action if the athlete really has Hawaii as his or her major focus. The post-race period would be a shortened version of the above with enough training to allow the athlete to go into a full 14-week preparation for Hawaii. Rather they would race a couple of short-course events as part of their IM buildup and as a reason to back off heavy training and allow recovery during the period.

FROM MAUREEN CUMMINGS: Take two weeks of TOTAL REST off the bike and run. Their swimming needs to be brought back to shorter swims, no squad and no intensity. Determine on a daily basis their training needs. Then during the third week have 30-45-minute easy bike and run sessions. They should be ready to tackle swim squads, but keep it aerobic and no longer then an hour. See how they feel before, during and after the sessions. If they are coping well, they should be ready to begin some harder training. If not, keep monitoring their recovery on a daily basis until you both feel they are ready. If they are back into a training pattern by the beginning of June, then they should be all right to compete in July and August if all things keep going to plan. They would not race in June if they were training in my squad.

FROM BRIAN HASENBAUER: First, taking a week off from training and assessing the damage that was done from the IM race is the most important thing on the list. If there are any nagging injuries, they must be the main concern with racing second. After that first week off it is OK to resume low intensity/moderate duration training for the next three weeks. After the one-month barrier is passed it is OK to start to build back the base and start incorporating some transitional speed work into the plan, such as fartleks and strides so that he/she gradually gets used to the speed workouts. After about two weeks of this transitional speed work it’s back to the track and group rides or Computrainer to work on the speed. During the period where track work and other speed work is being done, it is OK to start racing again. The longer duration sessions such as long runs and rides can be pulled back by up to 50 percent for IM athletes and they will still maintain their fitness levels. A weekly 13-15 mile run and 60-mile ride should keep the endurance level high enough to keep the athlete in shape for Hawaii in October but provide for enough recovery that the athlete can do well at short course races.

QUESTION 4: Describe recovery time during an in-season training regimen. When do recovery periods occur? Per week? Per month? Per season? Just let fly with whatever you want to say about the importance, or lack thereof, of recovery periods, and what a recovery period consists of: No work? Minimal work? Swimming only? Really, anything that YOU think is part of "recovery" is fair game in this answer.

FROM JULIEANNE WHITE: Recovery––along with proper nutrition––needs to be the fourth event in any athlete's training regime. I schedule one rest day per week for all my athletes. That is complete rest—no weight training, no swimming, just rest. The mind and body need time to be free of structure and constantly doing, performing, achieving. All of my athletes have come to enjoy this day of rest and relaxation because they are then ready to perform their training to the best of their abilities the remaining six days per week.

After races, I will give them the option of complete rest or just therapeutic swimming for relaxation to relieve the stress in joints, surrounding soft tissue structures and muscles, but it must be low heartrate with no structure. It can be recreational swimming only.

All athletes need to have one week per month in which the activity level is greatly reduced to allow recovery physically, mentally and spiritually to enable the body to absorb and rebuild to a new level of development.

Every competitive athlete needs a recovery period during the season for a period ranging from one to three months depending upon the length and intensity of their season. You can have two periods of "off-season" during your regular season which occur after peak race periods. The "off-season" taken during the regular season can last two to three weeks in which the athlete engages in activities related to training but at a very low intensity—for example, taking a week-long mountain bike tour or a scenic bike tour along the coast. It could be trail running in the mountains or hiking for several days, but the activity should be enjoyable and low stress to the body.

FROM BRIAN HASENBAUER: At least one day per week of low intensity or no training is needed in most athletes who are training hard. On this recovery day, low intensity swimming (distance swim) or yoga/stretching is permitted.

Also, in each four-week cycle having a recovery week whereby mileage and intensity is decreased can have positive mental and physical effects on the athlete. Adding an additional rest day, removing a hard two-a-day workout or increasing low intensity work can all serve as recovery during that week.

FROM TONY BENSON: My experience of coaching decathletes (10 very different events) showed me that no athlete doing a really full volume of training can train beyond two weeks hard. The pattern of two weeks on, one week off was the best, since the purpose of recovery is to allow the absorption of the training. Recovery must form a major part of any program. I use this for triathletes. The recovery week is heavily downloaded but does include 'tests', i.e., a 500m swim, 10k ride and 3k run. Extrapolated properly, all training paces for all distances can be given to the athletes and any semblance of overtraining caught before it even becomes a problem. Of even greater value is the fact that, once the necessary speed training has been done, times recorded for a 50m (push off the wall) swim, a 1k standing start cycle and a 400m run will indicate changes in the athlete's long-term potential over all distances. The 200m swim-3k cycle (velodrome)-1k run will show changes in medium/long-term potential over all distances. The 1k swim-10k cycle-3k run will indicate current training capabilities as well as changes in short- to medium-term potential. (Note: The latter has predicted time within one minute over the IM distance and 22 seconds over the Olympic distance.

FROM GALE BERNHARDT: I use several recovery periods throughout the schedule:

Daily: After breakthrough (long or fast for that athlete) workouts, consume recovery fuels of carbs and some protein. Recovery actually begins before the workout by consuming enough calories—a big problem for most endurance athletes. They must eat real food and high-value food. (This is minimally processed food loaded with vitamins and minerals—read the labels.) A general vitamin/mineral tab with extra E (400IU) and extra C (1000 mg).
Weekly: There are recovery days built into the schedule. Depending on the athlete, this may mean a day "off" or it may mean a very easy—guiltfully easy—day of aerobic work. Post-race, I usually don't have athletes run for 2-4 days. They cycle or swim instead. If they run, it might be in the water.
Monthly: Each 3-4 weeks a recovery week is built into the schedule, in which volume is reduced by +/- 50 percent. There is usually some limited speedwork involved, usually short segments. I find many athletes do a poor job of resting.
Midseason: Everyone I train is usually on an annual plan. Right after the first big peak, EVERYONE—even the pros—has a recovery week, or maybe two, depending on the person. Guidelines depend on the individual, but typically include:
1. All workouts concentrate on form and are aerobic (no anaerobic workouts at all);
2. There's an upper ceiling on the longest workout, usually two hours;
3. The athlete MUST take 1-3 days totally "off"—relax. This does not mean paint the entire house, a job that you've put off for three years.

Extras:

A prescription of good friends and family—a support group.
A daily nap.
Weekly or bi-weekly massage.