Cleansing your system and Recovery
Too many athletes race in training and do time trials to convince themselves that
they are on track. The body has a limited supply of ‘competitive juices’ and
you can either utilize them in the big event itself, or waste them. I have had
great results from athletes, once they have followed a training programme after
a rest, be it a planned rest, or an enforced rest. So cleanse your system by
giving your body a break before embarking on your programme!
After your Goal Race, or after a period of consistent running, you should be looking at a 2 week recovery period, before getting back into the routine of training. Most of us are so motivated the week after a race, that we start too soon and get sick or injured, or we lose our motivation within a few weeks. The reason being your body needs Rest and Recovery!
Once you have started your preparation and you are following a training programme, which should include mandatory recovery days and/or weeks, it is vitally important that you don’t get sucked into racing in training. Stick to the plan, it will pay dividends in the long run and believe in your plan, don’t commit the cardinal sin of testing yourself in the build up to the big day, or you will leave your best race on the training turf. (Do not dig up the potatoes, you may ruin the crop)
Rest is an integral component of a training programme. I liken the body to a sponge.
If you treat it well, it will always return to its original shape (after
training) and if you abuse it (overtraining), it will wilt. Most South Africans train too hard, too long, too fast with insufficient recovery and I have had the most coaching success with enforcing less over more.
Ockkert Brits once said embrace ‘recovery’, it is the only legal steroid available!
The Riddle of an Ironman's Life 
As a total beginner, how do I know how much to push? Some are saying run the distance first, then work on speed.
Hi Andrea…. I expect you will find the guidelines/answers to your questions in the 6 next postings. I will be posting the next tips daily over the course of this week and I cover base training, steady state running, hill training, faster work, etc. All the best, Alec
Awesome tips. Kenny’s old bunch never implemented the rest part. No wonder no one carried on for much longer. I will try and train to win my age group at IM PE 2013. Then i am 40. Do you think you’ll be able to help me here and there Alec?
Hi Colyn…. I hope you’ve become a follower of this site, as I’m hoping to be able to impart/share what I’ve learnt over the years through this medium, from a physical, mental and racing perspective. If you believe something, it can be achieved and I’m sure I can help here and there. All the best Colyn.
Colyn, please feel welcome to comment and engage in discussion from time to time, as you also have a lot to offer. The purpose of this Blog is to try and help people doing Triathlon/Ironman and who are looking to improve themselves.
Reblogged this on The Riddle of an Ironman's Life.
What you posted made a ton of sense. However, think on this, suppose you added a
little content? I am not saying your information isn’t
solid, however suppose yyou added a postt title to possibly grab people’s attention? I mean 7 tips to Ironman running Tip #1 (Rest and Recovery) | The Riddle of an Ironman’s Life is a
little boring. You could look at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they
create post titles to get people to open the
links. You might try adding a video or a related picture or two
to get people interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it would make your blog a little livelier.
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