This is part 2 of a three part-series of articles from our Tuvizo-sponsored athlete Andrew Tunstall.

HOW TO EASILY IMPROVE YOUR RUNNING PART 2: RECOVERY AFTER HARD TRAINING

Everyone knows that to get fit you need to train; and logic follows that the more you train, the fitter you will get. So imagine you could run flat out, all day, every day…. you would be super fit, right?

WRONG. You’d be dead probably, and it wouldn’t take too long either.

If you can get the timing right between effort and rest, the overall trend will be a steady increase in strength and durability (or ‘fitness’).

However, if you get it wrong, either you will break more than you build and the body will eventually fall apart; or you will wait too long between efforts and the body will never quite get the message and bother to make you stronger.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

• A few years ago I was training 16 to 20 times per week

• Massive loads, with 500km cycling, 60km running and 20km swimming

• All squeezed in around a full-time job

• With a couple of gym sessions thrown in for good measure

• I had gone 60 days without a single day off

• Then, in the last week before World Triathlon Champs, I backed off and did almost nothing for 4 days

• On race day I was tired, stiff, weak – and I completely underperformed.

WARNING SIGNS OF OVERTRAINING

• poor sleep

• Lethargy

• persistent aches and pains

• general lack of performance improvement

I was permanently shattered; falling asleep in any meeting after midday, and racing at the same speeds for months

ANSWER TO OVERTRAINING

• REST regularly between those hard sessions

• Training is the investment, but you cash it in by resting

• If you are tired, REST. If you don’t feel motivated to train, then DON’T TRAIN (and I don’t mean because of cold weather, or because you don’t want to miss a movie on tv – I mean if you are feeling tired, sore, stiff or listless). Your body knows better than you do.

• Chris Carmichael, the renowned triathlon and cycling coach, famously said “you don’t get fit by training hard; you get fit by recovering from training hard”

PARTING WORDS

• For the self-motivated, self-coached athlete, resting can take more discipline than training. It should be the first session you pencil in when you plan your training schedule.

• This article is brought to you by Andrew Tunstall, an athlete sponsored by Tuvizo, a night running gear and reflective walking gear company.