Time to Rest?

Pay attention to 10 body indicators to gauge when to run and when to back off. 
 
By Jayme Otto
From the June 2011 issue of Runner's World

After disappointing performances in a couple of key tune-up races last fall, a depleted Ryan Hall made the hard decision to withdraw from the Chicago Marathon. Too many grinding 15-mile tempo runs at a five-minute-per-mile pace at 7,000 feet with too little rest afterward had finally caught up with him. "I love to push my body," he says. "Recovery is the hardest part of training for me."

Problem is, if you don't take time for proper R&R, your body won't adapt to the stress of your training—you won't get stronger or faster, explains Stacy Sims, Ph.D., at the Stanford Prevention-Research Center, School of Medicine. Neglect recovery for too long, and you will start to lose strength and speed. You'll sink into the black hole known as overtraining.

First, your sleep patterns and energy levels will feel the effects. Eventually, your immune system crashes, and you lose your appetite. It's like burning out your engine. And you don't have to be logging 100-mile weeks to suffer. Recreational runners can overtrain, too. "With deadlines, chores, bills, kids, and lack of sleep, it's more challenging to recover properly from your runs," says Sims.

So in preparation for the 2011 Boston Marathon, Hall used an online recovery-tracking program called Restwise, which looks at simple biological markers input by the athlete first thing each morning, calculates a daily recovery score from 1 to 100, then trends it over time. (Rest-wise subscriptions start at $119 for six months; go to restwise.com.)

Pay attention to the following 10 markers. If three or more of these indicators raise a red flag, you should consider a few easy sessions or off days so you can return to running strong (see box, right). Says Hall, "Now I'm learning to love to rest."

1 BODY MASS: You lost weight from yesterday
A two percent drop in weight from one day to the next indicates a body-fluid fluctuation. Most likely, you didn't hydrate enough during or after your last workout. Dehydration negatively impacts both physical and mental performance, and could compromise the quality of your next workout.

2 RESTING HEART RATE: Your resting heart rate is elevated
Take your pulse each morning before you get out of bed to find what's normal for you. An elevated resting heart rate is one sign of stress. It means your nervous system prepared for fight or flight by releasing hormones that sped up your heart to move more oxygen to the muscles and brain. Your body won't know the difference between physical and psychological stress. A hard run and a hard day at work both require extra recovery.

3 SLEEP: You didn't sleep well or enough
A pattern of consistently good sleep will give you a boost of growth hormones, which are great for rebuilding muscle fibers. Several nights in a row of bad sleep will decrease reaction time along with immune, motor, and cognitive functions—not a good combination for a workout.

4 HYDRATION: Your pee is dark yellow
This can be an indicator of dehydration, barring the consumption of vitamins, supplements, or certain foods the evening before. The darker the color, the more you're struggling to retain fluids, because there's not enough to go around. You need H2O to operate (and recover).

5 ENERGY LEVEL: You're run down
If your energy level is low, there's something amiss. The key is honesty. Athletes can block out signs of fatigue to push through it, thinking it will make them stronger. It won't always work that way.

6 MOOD STATE: You're cranky
When your body is overwhelmed by training (or other stressors), it produces hormones like cortisol that can cause irritability or anxiety. Stress also halts chemicals like dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that has a big bummer effect on mood when depleted. Crankiness probably means not enough recovery.

7 WELLNESS: You're sick
Any illness, or even a woman's menstrual cycle, will increase your need for energy to refuel your immune system, which is having to work overtime. This means fewer resources available for recovering from training.

8 PAIN: You're sore or nursing an injury
Whether you're sore from overworked muscles or an injury, your body needs more energy to put toward repair, lengthening total recovery time.

9 PERFORMANCE: Your workout went poorly
This is a subjective measure of workout quality, not quantity nor intensity. If you felt great on yesterday's run, you'd evaluate that as good. If you felt sluggish on that same run, you'd count it as poor. Trending workout quality—multiple poors in a row—is one of the easiest ways to identify the need for more recovery.

10 OXYGEN SATURATION: Your oxygen level has dipped
The amount of oxygen in the hemoglobin of the red blood cells can be measured by placing your fingertip in a portable pulse oximeter, a gadget available online for about $40. The higher the percentage, the better: Above 95 percent is the norm at sea level or for an athlete who is fully acclimated to a given altitude. This is a new area in recovery science, requiring more research, but there may be a link between low oxygen saturation and the need for more recovery.


Count Your Red Flags
The restwise algorithm assigns more weight to some markers (e.g., performance) than others (e.g., mood), along with other factors to generate a precise recovery score. But you can get a sense for your ballpark recovery quality by tallying the red flags (left) you average per day in a week.

0-1 GREEN LIGHT
You are clear to train hard.

2-4 CAUTION
You can go ahead with a hard workout if your training plan calls for it, but cut it short if it feels too hard. Better yet, take an easy day, or a day off.

5-6 WARNING
You're entering the danger zone, which could be intentional according to your periodization or peaking protocol. If not, back off.

7-10 DANGER
You require mandatory time off, ranging from a day to a week, depending on the severity of your fatigue and what you've seen over the previous few days and weeks. You may need to visit your doctor.


FEEL Better: Too much rest has its own problems: Your performance stalls. On your recovery days, do something active; go for a bike ride, walk, or do yoga.


MUSCLES NEED 48 HOURS TO RECOVER AFTER AN INTENSE RUN. DURING THIS TIME, CELLS ARE REPROGRAMMED TO BE STRONGER.

Running Tired: Four Strategies for Recovering Faster

by Jenny Hatfield
Runner's World

I feel like I'm keeping the makers of Advil in business. I'm not injured, but I'm feeling pain and soreness from pushing my body to the limit. Soaking and stretching helps, but is there something else I should be doing? Please don't say REST:) Thanks ~Kim

Hi Kim.  I'm glad you wrote as there is a difference between being injured and feeling pain and soreness from the demands of training. They both sit at the threshold, it's just that one is above it (injured) and one is just below.  Taking anti-inflammatory products is one way to deal with the pain, another is to modify your training life a bit.  Here are a few tips on how you can train hard and recover more efficiently to avoid living in a consistent state of fatigue.

• Run by effort rather than a prescribed pace. If you run by how your body is feeling on the day, versus a specific pace (i.e. (9:45 per mile), you'll train in the right gear on the day, get in a higher quality workout and promote faster recovery.  For example, you wake up to run your weekly tempo workout and head out to a strong headwind and humid temperatures.  If you run it by your normal tempo pace, you will expend a lot more energy to get in this workout.  If you run it by feel and effort, you will get in the tempo at the pace on the day and at the correct effort thereby allowing your body to recover faster because you didn't push too hard.

• Run truly easy on your easy days. One of the easy mistakes to make while training for a event is to get into what I call the La La Pace – where, most runs are done at the same effort which turns out to be too fast for an easy, recovery run and too slow for a speed workout. As you build and progress through the training season, it takes a toll and creates more fatigue, slower recovery times and poor performance.  Easy means not being able to hear your breathing while running.  Slow it down to recover so you can kick butt on the longer and faster workouts.  It just takes patience.

• Mix it up. When I first started coaching running over 18 years ago, there was not one program that included cross-training.  The belief was that if you wanted to run longer and faster, you had to invest only in running.  My background in the fitness world told me different.  First, by weaving in cross-training activities you decrease the physical and mental wear and tear on the body and keep your program fresh.  Second, a successful lifelong running program is all about creating balance and maintaining durability.  Strength training (especially for your core), and lower impact training can boost your body's ability to run longer for stronger – and in doing so, reduce wear and tear, fatigue and inefficiency.  The runner that can run with the most durability over time will be running with great quality for life.

• Inventory your life's flow. Take a look at the flow of your life outside of the miles.  The quality of sleep, stress, work, nutrition are just a few areas that if out of balance, can really take a toll on the quality of your recovery.  Sometimes making a few minor tweaks to your lifestyle (getting more sleep, upping your quality calories) can have a profound effect on your performance.
  

Thanks for posting your great question.

Jenny Hadfield Co-Author, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals
Have a question for Coach Jenny? Post it on her Facebook page, on the Ask Coach Jenny Facebook Page or email her at coach@jennyhadfield.com

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Relax, Recharge

Take your easy days seriously so you'll run your best when it really counts.  

By Bob Cooper   
From the August 2010 issue of Runner's World
 

Runners who sweat every detail of a workout—pace, distance, effort—may not think twice about a "recovery day" on their training program. After all, rest is easy, right? But while some people are more than happy to take a day on the couch, others can't resist going for a bike ride or even a light three-mile jog. Which is best?

"Recovery days make your training count because your body makes fitness gains while you're at rest," says Brian Glotzbach, head coach of Personal Best Marathon Coaching in Denver. "If you don't give your body the chance to rebuild, you can't maximize those gains—and certain activities at certain times allow for better recovery."

Choosing what to do on your easy day to balance out your hard efforts is key to realizing your full potential. But as with any training principle, your own best formula depends on a range of factors including your fitness level, age, and work/life demands. For most runners, however, the following recovery guidelines will help you get the kind of rest you need to get the most out of tough workouts.


RECOVERY DAY: EASY RUN

"Easy runs let your muscles recover while improving your biomechanical efficiency, which translates into improved running form," says Ruth England, a coach for Rogue Training Systems in Austin, Texas. The key is to make them short enough and slow enough. England recommends going one-third to one-half the distance of your longest runs and slower than you normally run. "Start out glacially slow for five to 10 minutes," says England. "Your breathing should be light and your speed up to two minutes per mile slower than race pace."   
DO IT The day after a tempo run, speed workout, or hill repeats


RECOVERY DAY: CROSS-TRAINING

Cycling, swimming, and hitting the elliptical or rowing machines are all good, low-impact ways to hasten the removal of waste products that cause soreness, while correcting muscular imbalances caused by running. However, if your goal is recovery, you shouldn't cross-train for too long or go too hard, says Jim MacWhinnie, a running coach and personal trainer for Core Dynamics in Water Mill, New York. Limit your sessions to 30 to 60 minutes (a bit longer if cycling a flat route). Your heart rate should be elevated, but your breathing shouldn't be labored.
DO IT Whenever you're feeling slightly fatigued or sore, especially the day after a long run or speed workout

RECOVERY DAY: PUMPING IRON

Strength training gives your legs a much-needed break from pounding the pavement and improves your whole-body strength. "More powerful muscles can improve the efficiency of your stride, making you a better runner," says MacWhinnie. "A strong upper body keeps your form from deteriorating and helps you power up hills, while a strong core and lower body absorbs shock better, which can protect you from injury." Maximize your workout time by choosing exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once, such as squats, lunges, push-ups, chin-ups, step-ups, and bent-over rows. Start with two to three sets of six to 12 reps of each exercise. Your muscles should be fatigued by the last rep.
DO IT The day after running hill repeats or a tempo run


RECOVERY DAY: TOTAL REST
No yoga, no short walks, no pick-up soccer games with the kids (if you can avoid it). "I even tell my runners to take the elevator instead of the stairs," says England. "A day off from activity can be hard for overachievers who think they have to be progressing every single day. But in fact, the training principle of 'super-compensation' suggests that a full day off gives you a bounce in performance. It also gives you a mental break from training."
DO IT Once a week. The day after your long run is ideal, but any day you're feeling out of gas works.


The Easy Plan

HOW YOU PREPARE for and recover from key workouts helps you get the most out of them. Here's what to do before and after your quality days.

LONG RUN
Day Before: Cross-train or total rest
Day After: Cross-train or total rest

SPEEDWORK
Day Before: Cross-train or easy run
Day After: Cross-train, easy run, or total rest

TEMPO RUN OR HILL REPEATS
Day Before: Strength train or easy run
Day After: Strength train or easy run

Rules for runners: Skip the ice bath and other secrets

A Q&A with "experienced runner" and author Mark Remy. His witty collection of unspoken rules of running is in his book "The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a runner needs to know — and then some."

By Julie Deardorff

Chicago Tribune

Originally published Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 3:10 AM

Runner's World.com executive editor Mark Remy is the kind of guy you'd want to go for a run with. A veteran marathoner with a childlike love for the sport, Remy would not judge you for wearing a cotton T-shirt, he thinks the whole pasta thing is overblown and he might offer a trite slogan just when you need it most.

Best of all, Remy loves running. To spread the gospel and to help non-runners and runners coexist peacefully, Remy has created a witty collection of the unspoken rules of the sport. They can be found in his new book "The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a runner needs to know — and then some."

Remy was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about "The Rule Book" and running culture.

Q: Which rule do you always end up breaking?

A: I wouldn't say I always end up breaking it, but ... probably Rule 1.47: Let Angry Motorists Go. When I have a close encounter with a driver — e.g., he or she rolls through a stop sign or blows around a corner without looking my way — it's awfully hard for me not to express my displeasure. Especially if that driver is on the phone. This is why I don't run with a large stick.

Q: Are runners a misunderstood group, and if so, why?

A: I think we are, sometimes, to non-runners. If you're a non-runner and you see some poor sap out there in searing heat and humidity or driving rain or a snowstorm, running hill repeats or a 20-miler or whatever, you're bound to find it puzzling. And actually, for a lot of runners, I think that puzzlement is a source of pride.

Q: Which rule or rule of thumb generated the most debate at Runner's World?

A: I would say Rule 1.20 — the one suggesting that ice baths are bunk. I know that many of my RW colleagues swear by ice baths after a long run or race. Not me. I still maintain that ice baths are an elaborate practical joke being played on runners: "Dude, you know what you should do after your run? (snicker) Go sit in a tub full of ice water. (snicker) No, seriously, it'll be great." I'm not falling for it!

Q: The running tips speak to experienced runners, novices and non-runners. How hard was that to pull off?

A: Well, that's gratifying to hear, because it's just what I was aiming for. Not that hard, really. As a former non-runner and novice, and current "experienced runner," I like to think I can relate to all three groups. Although I'm apparently still unable to refer to myself as an "experienced runner" without putting that phrase in quotation marks.

Q: Are you tempted to kindly tell people running in place at stop lights to relax?

A: Sometimes. Then I remember Rule 1.13: Keep Unsolicited Advice to Yourself. And I move on.

Q: What is the most annoying running habit?

A: Oh, boy. That's a subjective thing, I think — a dozen runners will have a dozen different answers. For my money, though, the most annoying habit has got to be overall obliviousness — runners who, for whatever reason, behave as if they're running in a vacuum. That's a broad, catchall habit that manifests itself in all sorts of annoying and even dangerous ways: sudden stops during a race, weaving around, cutting other runners off, etc. Pay attention to your surroundings!

Q: Why do you love running so much?

A: Where should I start? I love running's simplicity. I love the fact that it hurts sometimes. I love that our sport's stars are so accessible, and so down-to-earth. I love how a 45-minute run on a bad day can act like a "re-set" button, leaving me refreshed and energized. I love how each time I run a marathon, I swear them off forever — then keep signing up for marathons. I love that when I ran my first Boston and made the final turn onto Boylston Street to the finish, I cried. (What other sport packs that kind of emotional punch?) I love being part of such a fantastic global community; as a group, runners are the nicest bunch of people I've ever met. And I love being able to eat ice cream pretty much with impunity.

Q: Finally, thanks for the Farmer's Blow (aka Snot Rocket) instructions. I can never quite get it right.

A: You're very welcome. Just give me some distance until you've perfected it.

Becoming Your Own Massage Therapist

This is something I've wanted to write about for a while. And here it is, and article in the NY Times! I'll post later some of my favorite self massage moves and tools. But the foam roller rocks - especially on the IT Band! -L

Photographs by Darren Hauck for The New York Times

THE THERAPIST CAN WAIT Michael and Briana Boehmer use foam rollers for a do-it-yourself massage that helps prevent sore muscles from workouts.

By DIMITY McDOWELL

Published: December 1, 2009
NYTimes.com

AS a former cross-country runner for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where a free massage was part of an athlete’s weekly schedule, Briana Boehmer remembers the benefits of having qualified hands work her sore muscles.

(December 3, 2009)

Happy Muscles: Suggestions for Quick Relief

Now that she is 30 and starting a corporate wellness business with her husband, Mrs. Boehmer no longer enjoys such a perk, so she massages her muscles herself. She works out about seven hours a week, training for triathlons and duathlons, and begins and ends each session by kneading her back and legs on a foam roller, which she calls her “best friend.”

“It’s like getting a massage without having to pay $85 an hour,” she said. “I can’t afford the real thing right now.”

Devices for self-massage have become more common as more people compete in endurance sports and, more recently, as the recession has made professional rubdowns look prohibitively expensive. Trainers usually recommend a massage every week or every other week for people who are training for a marathon or triathlon, but the costs do add up: according to the American Massage Therapy Association, the average price of a massage is $63 an hour.

Though a massage may sound like a luxury, it can become a necessity as part of a training regimen. When the same muscles are forced to do the same motions over and over, they become tight and injury-prone.

For instance, “riding on aerobars on the bike sets up a huge muscle imbalance in the upper back and shoulders,” said Tim Crowley, a triathlon coach in Marlboro, Mass. “Hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes become extremely tight and immobile from running.”

While it’s hard to say how many people do self-massage, many athletes swear by it, and a growing range of products and how-to videos is available in stores and online. A foam roller, which costs about $25, is just one of a family of products, manufactured or improvised, that can relieve tight muscles.

“In the late ’90s, you could only find foam rollers through physical therapy catalogs,” said Keats Snideman, a massage therapist and conditioning coach in Tempe, Ariz., who produced a DVD about self-massage. “Now you can buy them anywhere, and exercises with them are all over YouTube.”

In addition to the many name-brand products that are sold specifically as massage aids, old-fashioned household objects will do, too. Most small balls, including golf, tennis, baseball and lacrosse balls, can unkink sore muscles.

Rich Poley, author of the book “Self-Massage for Athletes,” favors using your own hands. But he is also a fan of the Knobble II, a mushroom-shaped device that can be used to press on muscles at specific trigger points to try to break up knots, and the Thera Cane, a hook that can be used to reach points on the back.

For all its advantages, self-massage has its limitations. Cassidy Phillips, founder of Trigger Point Performance Therapy, considers it the equivalent of oral hygiene. “You brush away some plaque yourself,” he said, “but you still go to the dentist for a thorough cleaning.” His company, based in Austin, Tex., sells self-massage tools for athletes.

Clearly, a massage from a trained therapist can be more effective — and relaxing — than a self-administered massage. A therapist also has a comprehensive knowledge of anatomy and can help with injuries, like muscle strains, that may not respond to self-massage.

“A foam roller can’t alleviate deep trigger points the way an experienced thumb or knuckle can,” said Collette Glass, a sports massage therapist in Atlanta.

Yet Mrs. Glass, whose livelihood depends on athletes who need her care, is a proponent of self-massage. She and her husband, Dr. Josh Glass, a sports chiropractor, hold self-care seminars in the Atlanta area several times a year. “The message we stress through the whole demonstration,” she said, “is that self-massage keeps you out of our offices.”

Any kind of massage —the professional type and the D.I.Y. — can stimulate blood flow and break up scar tissue, thus reducing an athlete’s risk of injury, Mrs. Glass said. “In massage, shortened, overworked muscles get flushed out and return to a normal length, which helps them properly recover,” she said. When she was training for Ironman triathlons in 2006 and 2008, she said, she used a roller every day to soothe her iliotibial bands (tendons that run along the outside of the upper leg).

Jenni Gaertner, a physical therapist and competitive cyclist in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, also advocates a combination approach. “I go to a massage therapist only during racing season, because it can be so expensive,” she said. “But I use a foam roller year-round and prescribe it to patients and teammates.”

ABBY RUBY, an athlete and coach from Manitou Springs, Colo., massaged her muscles daily while training for a 100-mile trail run in Leadville, Colo., this year. She doesn’t leave home without her tools: half of a foam roller and a small ball from Trigger Point Performance Therapy. “I sit on the ball on flights to release my piriformis,” she said, referring to a muscle deep within the hip and buttock region.

Convenience and affordability are the selling points for Ms. Ruby. “When I need a massage, I need it now, not next Wednesday at 3 p.m.,” she said.

Heat vs Ice

Good article from the Running Doc at runnersworld.com. It was posted September 8, 2009.

Acute Injury: Heat or Ice?

Although there appears to be a controversy about heat vs. ice, there really isn't. Most who treat athletes on a regular basis agree that from the first day through the first 24 hours, ice is the treatment of choice. Heat tends to further injure friable blood vessel walls thereby promoting leaking of fluid and increasing swelling. Ice, on the other hand, also vasodilates and does not injure the vessel wall, and, in fact, helps its integrity. Ice is truly a great vasodilator. Although initially vasoconstricting in the first few minutes, it then promotes vasodilation, as evidenced by the red area on the skin after icing.

After 24 hours we want to continue vasodilation to bring in blood flow with nutrients and cells to promote healing. The vessel wall has regained its integrity and both ice and heat work: after a 20 minute treatment, both result in an area that looks red due to increased blood flow. Which should you use then? I prefer ice because it temporarily deactivates receptors in the vessel walls, thereby keeping the vessels open for an additional 45 minutes following a twenty minute treatment. When heat is applied, as soon as the heat comes off, the vessel area begins to cool the receptors and the vessel walls are reactivated to normal blood flow. Therefore, ice gives you a longer treatment for a 20 minute application. Contrary to grandma's old advise of doing contrast ice then heat, etc., ice works better, 3 times a day for 30 minutes. The contrast baths only had you doing more treatment. And more treatment is always good to a point. You can ice up to six 20 minute treatments a day for the most effect.

Be careful of burning the skin with either treatment. My favorite way to ice is with a zip lock bag filled with ice and water. The water raises the temperature to 32 degrees so no need for a cloth between the ice and the skin and no freezer burn to the skin. I have also found using a bag of frozen peas useful but just as those frozen chemical packs, they can get too cold so be careful about having a cloth between your skin and the pack.

Enjoy the ride.

Ask the Running Doc
Dr. Lewis G. Maharam is the world’s premier running physician. He is medical director of Competitor Group’s Musical Marathons and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, and serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors, International Marathon Medical Directors Association. He is former medical director of the New York Road Runners and ING New York City Marathon.