Laura's Top Three Tips For Full Race Recovery

Top tips for full race recovery

It’s May, it’s sunny (sort of!) and race season is upon us. While most will have already put their training to good use and had a speedy start to the season, others may have their first race coming up.

Hopefully, you’re in a position where you are feeling strong and ready to race. After all, an element of training is, of course, having adequate rest and recovery to get to the start line feeling your fittest.

And post-race recovery is equally important.

1.       Get a sports massage

A sure-fire way to get the muscles loosened post-race is to have a sports-massage.

If you opt for a sports massage immediately post-race (as soon as you’ve finished), you’ll most probably have a lighter massage, mainly using the effleurage technique, to treat the muscles and cool them down slowly.

A maintenance sports massage can also be highly beneficial 24-48 hours post-race. We all know that feeling in the morning when you wake up and your glutes are firing at you when you take your first few steps. And then we start on the first set of stairs of the day…

A maintenance sports massage works into the deep tissue of the muscle, incorporating effleurage, palpation and pressure points to work the muscle and loosen any adhesions or areas of tightness.

What sports massage does not do is treat injury. Any condition ending in “itis” should be seen by a medical professional, ideally a physiotherapist and if you experience swelling or have taken a knock, sports massage is not the best recovery.

Perfect for athletes who have raced Saturday or Sunday mornings with muscles that need loosening to train hard again, Laura is offering sports massage sessions 6.30am and 7.45am on Monday mornings.

Swap that early morning session for a recovery sports massage post-race: 

BOOK NOW.

2.       2. Rest and stretch.

Resting after racing is important. It means that our body has a chance to recover and make fitness gains from the race effort. Once you have crossed the finish line, the glycogen stores in the body are depleted and since this is the main energy that runs the body you can be at risk of a weakened immune system and injury.

A full and proper recovery, including stretching.  Post work out static stretches for 30 to 90 seconds depending on your needs is best. the type of stretches and time spent doing them will depend on your body) is vital. You may prefer to opt for static stretching post-race and dynamic stretching at the beginning, or vice versa.

3.       3. Make sure you are hydrated and eat post-race (ideally in the first twenty minutes!).

If you haven’t had enough water during the race make sure you sip water steadily once you have crossed the finish line. Be aware that there may be a choice of energy drink at the finish line so if you’re after water, double check that water is what you are getting!

It is important to replenish the muscular system with carbohydrate, protein, fats and micro nutrients for restoring and repairing the muscle.

In addition, it is important to eat well in our daily diet, not just while training and racing. Those of us that like to push our bodies harder, it is important that we consume the right sort nutrition to replenish and repair after our efforts.