A Little R and R

My wife and I just recently celebrated 5 years of marriage and we decided to take a week vacation to Las Vegas and Reno to treat ourselves. While in Vegas, we lived it up, staying up late dancing, eating at really great restaurants, getting massages, and lounging in the pool. Once we got to Reno, we became a bit more active, taking leisurely bike rides and walking the dogs with my brother and sister-in-law who live there. Even though I am in the middle of my triathlon season, I didn't do any serious training and I allowed myself to rest and relax.

As an athlete, we are always trying to find an edge in order to increase our performance. The same goes for parents of athletes. You want the best for your child and you will look for ways to separate them for the rest of the field. However, what we sometimes forget is that having proper rest and recovery is crucial to success and may even be the most important part of the training regimen.

When you train, whether it be in the weight room or on the playing field, your muscles get fatigued. Your coordination, speed, and power are decreased after training and your muscles are actually broken down. In order for your muscles to overcome fatigue, increase performance, and actually grow, adequate rest and recovery is required.

One of the best forms of rest and recovery is hydrotherapy. When you train, your muscles produce lactic acid, which is a waste product that is best associated with stiffness and soreness in your body. Simply taking a hot shower or sitting in a hot tub for 8-10 minutes is a great way to increase bloodflow to your muscles which will remove the waste products that have been generated by your training.

Stretching is another great form of recovery that you can utilize. Once your training session is done, performing some light stretching exercises has a number of therapeutic benefits. It can increase local blood supply to the muscle which can potentially reduce our soreness, increase range of motion, and it can produce muscle relaxation. Pick the muscle groups that you worked the most and stretch them for 20-30 seconds. The stretch doesn't have to be painful to be effective. You should feel just a minor pull on the muscle to know that you're getting something out of the stretch.

And finally, sometimes the best form of rest and relaxation can be just sitting around and doing nothing! If your body is constantly being pushed to the limit, you may really need to just take some time off. Any good strength and conditioning professional will work at least 1-2 full days of NO training into their schedule to ensure that their body gets a break. I always take Wednesdays and Saturdays off from triathlon training so that my body stays as fresh as possible. The training I do is intense and sometimes, I train twice a day. By using hydrotherapy, stretching, and taking days off, I can maximize my performance when it comes time to particpate in a race.

So, even though I called it a vacation, one could argue that my anniversary trip was just another part of my training routine!