BEST · OF THE · REST

Following a strict training plan togetfitter?You need to be serious about your recovery strategy too. Christina Macdonald explains why

If you take your running seriously, you might be following a strict training plan to help you achieve new personal bests. You might be consumed with every detail of how to structure that threshold run or hill session. It’s easy to get embroiled in the minutiae of your training plan, but how much thought are you giving to your recovery strategy after a hard session?

If you want to keep improving and reduce injury risk, it’s hugely important to plan your recovery and treat it with as much respect as your training plan. “Recovery is as important as hard training,” says physiotherapist Mark Buckingham from Witty Pask & Buckingham (wpbphysio.co.uk). “During the recovery process, your body is able to make the adaptations and gains driven by the hard sessions. If you skimp on the recovery you will not get the best from your training.”

Professor John Brewer, Head of the School of Sport, Health and Applied Science at St Mary’s University (stmarys.ac.uk) agrees. He likens not allowing adequate recovery time in between hard sessions to scratching a cut that hasn’t had time to heal. “If you don’t allow the skin to fully heal before you scratch it again, the damage is going to get worse,” he says. “Similarly, if you haven’t allowed the muscles to fully repair and then you go and exercise at a high intensity, the damage is going to be slightly worse by the time the exercise is finished.”