General Discussion Triathlon Talk » What's the point of a cool down? Rss Feed  
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2014-09-17 1:31 PM

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Subject: What's the point of a cool down?
Someone please educate me on why I need a cool down after a training session. I generally do them (if my plan includes one), although I don't really know why or how they help my training.


2014-09-17 2:11 PM
in reply to: drfoodlove


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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
I don't know if it 'helps' training.
Looks like there's scant or contrarian evidence that cooling down leads to improved performance or reduction in soreness.
At least when digging through articles that quote scientific research.

As for its importance...for me who's prone to elevated BP (no longer hypertensive after losing a lot of weight), at any rate....
There's plenty of articles out there that talk about blood pressure, blood pooling, and the effects of rapidly decreasing heart rate leading to dizziness.
I've certainly experienced that at the end of a workout. Backed up with conversations with my doctor...

I use the cooldown to combat those effects. It clearly works for me. I'm much more conscious about it and force myself to do it at the end of a race when I'd rather look for friends/family get something to eat, etc. Since consciously using a cooldown, I've not experienced the dizzy thing in a year. Prior to that, when I neglected to do it, I could almost count on varying degrees of dizzy/funky vision/etc. I don't mess around with heart stuff. Those are generally bad signs.
2014-09-17 2:14 PM
in reply to: drfoodlove

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
Really, just allowing your body to get back to a normal physiologic state after high exertion exercise. Putting the horse away wet is not a good idea.
2014-09-17 2:28 PM
in reply to: drfoodlove

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?

My wife who has low BP and is a runner has to slow down at the very end and then walk or she gets really dizzy.  Myself I can go hard then stop and be fine but I always slow it down at the end for a few min then walk just to bring things back down closer to normal and feel better. 

2014-09-17 2:35 PM
in reply to: drfoodlove

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
Without much additional effort, the cool down usually adds 10 or 15 minutes to the time I can tell some one, "I ran/biked/swam for XX minutes today!"
2014-09-17 2:47 PM
in reply to: Donto

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
Originally posted by Donto

My wife who has low BP and is a runner has to slow down at the very end and then walk or she gets really dizzy.  Myself I can go hard then stop and be fine but I always slow it down at the end for a few min then walk just to bring things back down closer to normal and feel better. 




Some days...I too get pretty dizzy after stopping a hard workout. Usually it is really hot and I am probably dehydrated as well. If I just stop and plop on the couch, it is not good. In those instances, I try to grab something to drink to go and walk it out a bit.

Otherwise, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that a cool down is super important, but plenty of studies that say otherwise: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17535144(this one is cited a bit). At least there isn't any real reasons not to do it, other than it taking time out of your day.


2014-09-17 4:07 PM
in reply to: dfroelich

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
Originally posted by dfroelich

Originally posted by Donto

My wife who has low BP and is a runner has to slow down at the very end and then walk or she gets really dizzy.  Myself I can go hard then stop and be fine but I always slow it down at the end for a few min then walk just to bring things back down closer to normal and feel better. 




Some days...I too get pretty dizzy after stopping a hard workout. Usually it is really hot and I am probably dehydrated as well. If I just stop and plop on the couch, it is not good. In those instances, I try to grab something to drink to go and walk it out a bit.

Otherwise, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that a cool down is super important, but plenty of studies that say otherwise: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17535144(this one is cited a bit). At least there isn't any real reasons not to do it, other than it taking time out of your day.


That study just relates it to muscle soreness which really is low on the priority list of reasons why to cool down. Getting back into a parasympathetic state (resting state) where recovery starts is important. Not allowing for this to happen keeps the body tense long after the exercise.
2014-09-17 4:18 PM
in reply to: #5051325

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
I donut for the reasons Ben states. If I don't I am more prone to post exertional headaches and migraines. I reduce speed and effort and keep moving until my breathing rate is back to resting, which is usually longer than 10-15 minutes for high intensity training like crit racing or cyclocross.
2014-09-17 5:08 PM
in reply to: drfoodlove

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?

I don't notice any particular difference.  I'll 'cool down' after a short race... but that's mostly just to log more miles for the day.

I don't believe anyone is sure that cooling down has any specific training value.

What does have value is "volume".  And, when it comes to running, the training mantra is "Mostly Easy, sometimes hard".  So, adding more miles at an easy pace... has value.  Call it a cooldown, or call it part of your workout- not sure it matters.

2014-09-17 6:17 PM
in reply to: bcagle25

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
I can't find any papers on that. Could you share? I'm also interested to hear the justification that the body needs some intermediate intensity (cool down) to know it can rest/recover vs. a hard stop (plop on the couch).


I did find one that reviews a few good sounding positives: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-004-1098-1"An active recovery following exercise could also result in altered post-exercise fibrinolytic response. Increased blood flow (Prowse and Cash 1984) and plasma catecholamines (Chandler et al. 1992; Rennie et al. 1977) affect release of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) from endothelial cells. Since both blood flow and catecholamine clearance are increased by an active cool-down (AC), the incorporation of an AC could theoretically increase or decrease fibrinolysis. "
2014-09-17 7:40 PM
in reply to: dfroelich


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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
As you get older it will be pretty obvious. At 60, if I go hard and just stop, the recovery is much more brutal and long than if I "cool down". I suspect this is true at younger ages, just not as obvious, but maybe nearly as important. What's an extra 10-15 min?


2014-09-17 8:07 PM
in reply to: MikeD1

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?

I cool down to prepare my body for food and beer.

2014-09-18 11:55 AM
in reply to: AdventureBear

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Subject: RE: What's the point of a cool down?
Thanks everyone for the responses! Like I said, I do the cool downs listed on my training schedule, I just wasn't ever sure why I need them. Now that I've been doing this whole endurance sport thing for a while (2ish years), I'm starting to question things instead of blindly following.
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