Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: cole18msu on 2009-06-30 12:06 PM

Which one works better for you? 

Recovery:
Completely off, no excercise

Active Recovery:
Light excercise, perhaps swimming or biking, on your "off day" to get your blood flowing and supposedly help your muscles heal and recovery better.  I guess a lighter version of this would be going on a walk for a few miles.

Does your mind/body respond to one better than the other?

 

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: MaesMama on 2009-06-30 12:10 PM

My body responds better to an active recovery. I raced on sunday, was pretty sore yesterday and rode last night for 15 miles. Rode again today for 8.
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: Gritty on 2009-06-30 12:17 PM

I have one day off per week and its no exercise on that day.  I generally look forward to these days off when I first wake up (I also sleep in that day), but get a little antsy towards the end and feel very refreshed for the next day's workouts.

This is my coach's idea and I follow his recommendation.  Here's the standard verbiage on Trainingpeaks for my day off:

"Actively focus on recovery today: 1) stay off of legs all you can, 2) watch nutrition closely (healthy carbs, lean protein, and good fats), 3) stretch, and 4) drink when thirsty. Other common recovery aids include massage, napping, elevating legs, floating in water, and listening to music."

The rest of the week includes 4 days with AM and PM workouts plus one long bike (usually a brick) and one long run.  I don't think I would want any light exercise on my days off. 

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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: gopennstate on 2009-06-30 12:21 PM

Physically I prefer active recovery.  Though mentally knowing a full day off is coming and planning to sleep in and put other things you just don't often have time for in there can be pretty great! 

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: popsracer on 2009-06-30 12:43 PM

No doubt, active recovery. I am not very diligent about stretching (ok, I admit, I do almost no stretching) and I tend to tighten up if I do not stay in motion. If I don't at least go for a walk on my recovery day I will come back into it stiff and sore.

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: Detroit Dan on 2009-06-30 12:54 PM

um... I work (6 days a week for life) On my off day I make sure I train hard.
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: newbz on 2009-06-30 12:57 PM

unless something is wrong, active, day off only about every 14-18 days or so.
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: juniperjen on 2009-06-30 1:07 PM

Well, i do both.  I LOVE knowing I have a rest day coming up (Friday) but most training plans have some kind of active recovery or easy day to give the body a rest.  Like yesterday I had a 30 minute easy ride already in my plan. Now if i was feeling fatigued or super tired I would have grudgingly gone with a rest day.  I hate not to follow the plan ...

And post race is different. If i have a goal race then I take a week off afterwards.  By that time I am usually finishing a 16 week cycle so taking that week is a great break.

But then I am weird and I don't own a car so i have to be active to do regular things like get groceries and commuting to work so i already have a fairly high level of non training activity in my life.

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: JorgeM on 2009-06-30 1:18 PM

there are studies suggesting the latter however both work under the right circumstances and depending on your choice. As GPS said, sometimes active recovery works better to get the body back to feeling normal but a complete day off every noe and then helps the mind and life balance much more.

The key thing to remember is that activer recovery has to be indeed light exercise and if the athlet choose to do s, b or r the intensity should be low (< 55% of threshold pace/power) and short (20-30 min) otherwise it wont be active recovery but training instead
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: Bill on 2009-06-30 1:32 PM

One thing I've come to believe over the years is that if you have a run-related or run-exacerbated injury, if you are new to running, or if you are significantly over-weight, it's probably a good idea to avoid trying to include any "recovery" runs in your training. Recover with a light swim, a spin at light effort on the bike, or walking. But don't run and expect to get a recovery effect out if it if any of the above apply to you.


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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: cole18msu on 2009-06-30 2:52 PM



I think you hit the nail on the head for me Bill.  I had a long (for me) ride Saturday (50 miles) and was due a day off soon, so I figured I would do a light jog Sunday with my wife and think of it as an active recovery day.  I do not really fit into the categories you mentioned above, but judging by the way I felt Monday, it was not a recovery workout.  My legs were shot yesterday, and I was thankful for a storm yesterday afternoon that rained out my workout so I could have a day off.  Granted, I probably did a mile or so more than I should have, but I felt good while running so I kept going. 

I think I need to be more disciplined regardless of how I feel in the middle of the workout and make myself stop.  There are probably several of us that fit into this category.  But I do know that I will go with a swim or bike for an active recovery day from now on rather than a run.

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: Daremo on 2009-06-30 2:58 PM

Depends.  Usually active recovery.

But in marathon training I will specifically try to make sure I have one day completely off and it usually follows my long run on Sunday (so every Monday off, or at most just a light swim).
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: GrilloOriginal on 2009-06-30 3:05 PM

I do recovery days completely off as far as planned activity goes.  BUT if I am doing something fun that happens to be active, that's a different story.  I've been known to go on long walks with the pup or easy hikes with the Hubby on off days and I usually feel really good after that kind of rest. 
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: rottieguy on 2009-06-30 5:05 PM

While I'm new to training for the IM distance this year my plan calls for a day off once per week and I take it and enjoy it and I'm still getting plenty of training time in and like the break.  At most I may fit in a swim if I missed one early in the week but that is rare.

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: Bioteknik on 2009-06-30 8:14 PM

my recovery ability isn't quite there, but I do think any swim workout in itself can revive some dead legs

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: newbz on 2009-06-30 10:57 PM




after a real swim workout my legs feel anything but revived;-)
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RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: agarose2000 on 2009-06-30 11:34 PM

I tried both styles of recovery during some serious higher-volume marathon training the last 2 years. I pretty much knew from research that active recovery would be far better, and in practice, it certainly was. 

At least for me, during serious run training (70+ mpw), every day off made my legs feel a good deal fresher for the next run, but for sure, this didn't correlate with improvement as well as doing a slow VERY easy 5-7 miler for an active recovery. At least for running, you can put in 2-3 of those active recovery days (often as doubles) and instantly add 15 miles per week. For sure, they make a difference - the junk miles theory absolutely did not hold true for me. Every single bump in volume correlated with an improvement in my running performance, even when I ran 10+ minute miles due to fatigue on my recovery runs. (I then raced a Half marathon at 6:25/mi during that training phase.)

I know it's important not to "overdo" it and get injured, especially for beginners or early intermediate athletes, but I found that pushing into 'dead leg' territory was pretty frequent, even with my plan's pullback weeks. For sure, I improved most on those periods of fatigue, but also admittedly, it can be a fine line between overdoing it when you're really cranking up volume. Fortunately, triathletes don't have as much of an impact issue due to the 3-sport thing.

Edited by agarose2000 2009-06-30 11:36 PM

RE: Recovery vs. Active Recovery
BY: newbz on 2009-07-01 12:04 AM

on a side note, walking that fine line between over doing it and not breaking can be a key factor in really hitting your athletic potential is really is a serious mix of art and science.

very few people ever see that place, (i know i have not even come close with triathlon, rowing was a diff story and i hit the national team standards once i finally figured this place out).

knowing when to push it, add a little more, and when to back off is one of the key things that seperates good athletes and coaches from the ones that are really going somewhere.

just my .02
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