Everybody can train hard but can they ‘do’ the recovery? What I mean is can you get 8 hours of sleep each night and organize your life to not be stressful?
The biggest recovery tool after 8 hours of sleep in my opinion is time and patience. Fortunately your training plan or a well designed one has the time built in (# of recovery days balanced to the amount of training).
After #FtFP’ing and getting 8 hours of sleep each night here’s 6 more ‘things’ you can do to recovery better (listen, watch & read our training tip):
I went to a running shop with my wife who was looking for something or another, and found they had a great selection of recovery/torture devices. I found a gizmo called the R8 that is a double roller system mounted in a spring-tensioned cage. It’s mildly intense with the default rollers but a few passes feel like you spent a lot of time on a foam roller. “sweetspot” rolling?
One thing relevant to November is that the roller is FDA approved so you can use your FSA/HSA accounts to buy it if you need to burn some before the end of the year.
I am generally good about using compression and foam rolling on recovery days, in addition to doing some light yoga.
Question: Once a month I get a massage on a recovery day. Would it be advisable to do a short 30-45 minute Z1-2 ride a few hours before or would a light 30 minute yoga be better to flush out stiffness from the previous 3 days of riding?
I think that tends to be individual on what you find most beneficial for you. I have athletes that really enjoy doing Yoga, recovery spins, or just entirely off for a mental break. If you do a recovery ride then stick to Z1 only on that to really make sure you are not adding any fatigue at all.
