Tips for rapid muscle recovery

kirstengeffen

I'm in a pickle. I'm frustrated!!
I'm training for marathon end of April and I've done a few half marathons this year already, I've been an exercising individual my whole life, but I'm frustrated!! I feel like I'd love to be doing a lot more than my body is agreeing too. My recovery time feels soooooo slow.
I feel like I'm only getting in 4 sessions a week because my muscles feel flat, when i'd like to be getting in 6 days a week.

Surely the people who do crazy triathlons etc build their body up to training more hours etc... How do i do this?
Is there any supplement thats safe and beneficial for muscle recovery?

ninerbuff

What's your actual macro ratio and how many calories are you consuming a day?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kirstengeffen

I don't pay too much attention to calories. I eat 5 or 6 times per day... things like oats, veg, tuna... protein with every meal... I'd guess my macros to be around 45 protein 35 carbs and 20 fats..

jimmmer

1) Eat more (track everything and make sure you are eating at least to, or slightly under, maintenance levels). Trying to chase two goals: building superior endurance and losing weight are not complementary, you'll compromise both to a certain degree if you try to do both.

2) Sleep more (the single best thing you can do for recovery)

3) Hydrate more

4) Epsom salt baths (yes they do work!)

5) Contrast showers (probably about 3 mins hot to 1 min cold is a "comfortable" ratio)

6) Get plenty of carbs. You're high on protein in your guess - more carbs are going to be the best thing for an endurance athlete.

7) look at your programming. If you're going out and doing the same thing at the same pace every time, you'll stagnate. Proper programming will include recovery runs, speed work, etc. You should be doing active recovery, mfr, and some strengthening work too.

That's probably not an exhaustive list, but if you can hand-on-heart say you're doing all of those to your upmost ability, then you can investigate further. My money's on a combination of a few of the items above.

If you want to seriously improve - you need to take all aspects seriously. That's just the way it is. Everything from nutrition to recovery techniques can be dialled in for improvements.

TavistockToad

eat more, swap some protein for more carbs

kirstengeffen

It's frustrating. I gained a lot of weight over December and can't shake it, as you mentioned running in a deficit just doesn't work well... but it sucks because I'm also carrying 6 extra kgs when I run!!

Maybe I need to focus on losing the 6kgs first, then try become super human!

TavistockToad

findingkirst wrote: »

It's frustrating. I gained a lot of weight over December and can't shake it, as you mentioned running in a deficit just doesn't work well... but it sucks because I'm also carrying 6 extra kgs when I run!!

Maybe I need to focus on losing the 6kgs first, then try become super human!

given that you have a marathon in april i would concentrate on that for now, work on losing weight afterwards?

CollieFit

I spent years and years doing distance cardio and eventually returned to cutting that back and incorporating more weight training because I feel healthier and my body feels functionally in better shape. I used to be totally driven by the whole thing of going further for longer, but it really didn't do my body any favours. After my last Ironman I stumbled across an article by Rachel Cosgrove, which I found eye opening. It was her experience of doing an Ironman and how it made her "flabby"... https://www.t-nation.com/training/final-nail-in-the-cardio-coffin

I guess it's all about your goals and what you're willing to sacrifice for them. Personally I am simply in better shape when I do a better ratio of cardio to strength training. That means I can't just pull a 15 mile run or a century ride out of a hat anymore, but so be it.