Recovery time

I did my first Oly almost two weeks ago and I'm still feeling really sluggish.

I wasn't really expecting this, but hopefully it will pass quickly.

How do you suggest getting back into things? I didn't have any issues after my spring International (1500m; 45k; 10k). I raced on Saturday and rode with my tri group on Sunday. I recall being nauseous for several hours after the race, but I was fine the next day and subsequent days.

I have a 70.3 race next Saturday.....and another 70.3 seven weeks later. My plan was to have a very light week after the first race......do a 4 week block and then taper 2 weeks (50% volume in 1st week and additional 15% reduction in second week of taper). I don't plan to taper my swimming at all. I'll do a 60-70 mi. ride a week out from each and maybe a mid-week 25-30 mi ride......and call it good.

I wasn't really expecting to be at a reduced energy level for more than 1 week. But, I'm in uncharted waters. I'm also 51.

I'm at the same point as you are (HIM last Sunday; another one Sept. 4) and I'd say where you are is very normal. For me, the progression is pretty much like this--it's varied and gotten a bit faster as I've gotten more experience with longer races, but not much--

First Day--Forget it. I'm not doing anything. Maybe an easy walk or 20 minute splash int the water something. I usually feel a bit sick. Sometimes I DO get sick (cold symptoms). I can do an easy swim but I will just feel tired, tired, tired all day.

Second Day--Still sore (sometimes more than the first day--but this varies a lot). Swimming feels normal. Probably wouldn't be enthused about a hard workout, though. Forget about bike or run. Don't even want to look at my bike!

Third to Sixth Days--I generally feel fine until I start to run, or try to do a hard effort on the bike. Running just feels like a lot more work than usual. Not sore, but speeding up would be ugly.

Second Week--I can gradually get back from recovery-type workouts to real training. Swimming is generally the first to feel "normal" again. (Actually I've gone to masters and had average workouts later in the first week after a HIM.) Then biking, maybe a week to ten days after. Running usually comes last. Last year I did my best time for an Oly 13 days after a hard HIM. In those 13 days, I had 4 or 5 good swim workouts, two decent rides where I was back at normal speed, and only one semi-decent run, two days before the second race.

Even after I otherwise feel back to normal, I tend to sleep about 1-2 hours more per night than normal for the first 10-14 days after a HIM if left to my own devices. So I could guess at some level my body is still recovering from it.

Even if you tend to recover fairly quickly, I would focus the first week on just recovery-type efforts (getting the blood moving and loosening up) rather than building or even maintaining fitness; the second on transitioning back to "real" training. And be ready to adjust that by another week if your body is not happy about things--better to really recover than to enter another training/taper cycle with an illness, injury, or major physical/mental fatigue.

Edited by Hot Runner 2016-07-28 9:23 AM