Recovery: adapt to and prepare for training

The Recovery Session is an essential part of any athlete's training. Recovery is where your body adapts to training you've completed and prepares for future training. In the REAL Training diagram Recovery Sessions are depicted by the green outer circle. If you are in a recovered state, you are ready to improve!

There are two types of recovery: active and passive. Active recovery sessions are short in duration and low in intensity Passive recovery involves complete rest, such as taking a rest day or a morning/afternoon off training for those who routinely train twice a day. Passive recovery also encompasses multiple weeks of complete rest at the end of a season.

In the REAL training framework, rest days are considered an integral part of training. Passive and active recovery are considered Training Sessions and should be incorporated into one's training plan at least once a week.

Active Recovery sessions should be performed when you are significantly fatigued but still want to train. If you have completed a Limitless or Accumulation Training Session it makes sense to follow up with a Recovery Session. Our bodies need a chance to adapt to the training that has been done and prepare for future training. Without recovery Endurance and Accumulation training sessions are pointless.

Athletes need to understand, that training doesn't always have to be intense or demanding to be beneficial. Active Recovery has many benefits, including maintaining metabolites and agility, reducing soreness, helping you preserve your exercise routine, building volume, and supporting mental health.

Recovery Sessions and recovery days have two crucial roles: to prepare for training and to adapt to training Before undertaking Endurance, Accumulation, or Limitless training sessions, an athlete needs to be in a recovered state. Attempting these sessions when your body and mind are not fresh enough to perform them appropriately will only result in sub-optimal performance and potentially lead to over-training.

It is during recovery that adaptions take place. If an athlete never takes the time to recover they will never gain all the possible adaptations. Eventually, their fitness level will stagnate, and in the worst situations, it will deteriorate.

Duration

Recovery Sessions should be between 30 to 90 minutes in duration depending on the athlete's fitness & exercise modality. In general, the fitter you are, the longer a recovery session can be. Importantly, high-impact sports like running tend to favour shorter sessions.

Effort

Recovery Sessions should be physically and mentally easy to perform. The intensity should be below one’s aerobic threshold. Athletes often complete Recovery sessions at too high an intensity. Sometimes “easy” can just feel too “easy”, and an athlete drifts above the aerobic threshold. Sometimes when training with friends ego can take over and effort levels pick up and get out of control. Athletes need to be strict and make sure "easy is easy."

Frequency

Recovery sessions should be completed whenever an athlete is significantly fatigued. This will probably work out to be around two times per week and remember we consider a complete rest day to be a Recovery Session. Accumulation, Endurance, and Limitless training will be performed better following a Recovery Session.

If you plan to have two important Accumulation sessions in a week, knowing these are best performed following a Recovery Session, you can start to see a training plan for the forming.

Of course, consecutive days of hard training and racing are possible, and essential in certain training phases. However, every athlete eventually has to balance such training with recovery. Balancing Endurance/Accumulation and Limitless training sessions with Recovery Sessions is extremely important. Training and adaptation take place over weeks, months, and years. Pushing training without adequate Recovery Sessions is counterproductive to long-term goals.

If you train two sessions a day, many of the sessions should be Recovery sessions. You may do an Endurance/Accumulation session in the morning and follow up in the afternoon with a Recovery session. You could even do 2 recovery sessions in a day. Sticking to one type of REAL training session per day is a great strategy

A planned active Recovery Training session can always be replaced by complete rest. This should especially be the case when exercising at what is normally an easy pace becomes struggle. There is no shame in having an unscheduled day of complete rest. There is also no shame in cutting training short.

It is however a big mistake for an athlete to opt for complete rest too often, rather than heading out on a Recovery Session. Recovery sessions do contribute to an athlete's overall training volume and durability. If planned Recovery Sessions start to become too demanding this is an indicator that one's other training sessions, Endurance, Accumulation, and Limitless are being performed at too high of an intensity, too long in duration or too frequently.

Additionally

A recovery session can be used to add volume to a training plan, especially for runners. One could complete an Endurance session in the morning and then add a recovery session in the evening. This increases volume and develops the durability of the athlete. In this case it should be remembered it does not mean the athlete will be 100% recovered the next day.

A recovery session is a great opportunity to work on drills, cadence, strength, and technique. Just ensure that intensity does not rise beyond one’s aerobic threshold.

Recovery sessions can also take the form of different training modalities, for example, a runner could go for an easy bike ride, and a cyclist could go for a swim. Even going for a walk or completing a stretching session can be considered an active recovery session.

Summary

Recovery training sessions usually take the following form:

• 30 to 90 minutes long {dependant on athlete fitness & exercise modality},

• below the aerobic threshold,

• generally a minimum of 2 Sessions per week, with 1 Session representing a complete day of rest

• can be followed by all REAL training sessions

The Recovery Session is the most important of the Four REAL Training Sessions. Nonetheless, it is often the session that most athletes neglect. It is essential to recover after completing Endurance, Accumulation, and Limitless sessions to ensure optimal adaptation. It is equally essential to be in a recovered state before attempting these sessions. Otherwise, they will not be performed optimally.

In short, recovery is where you adapt to training and prepare for training.