Whether trying to run your first 5K or a marathon, you will have to do some running. There is no way around it. But is it the running that is making us better?

When we run, we are stressing the body. We create little micro-tears in the muscle fibres. Muscle fibres are made up of blockchain amino acids. So, when we get these micro-tears, you can view it as a link in the chain being broken. It is only when we consume amino acids (which are found in protein) that the chain is repaired and restored. Once the repairs have taken place, that link is now stronger, which can be seen in an increase in muscle resistance as well as visually in the form of hypertrophy.  However, if we were to keep stressing the body without taking the time to recover, the body wouldn’t have the time to repair the blockchains. Meaning they would be constantly broken and progressively weaken the muscle as a whole. It is this that leads to chronic fatigue, injury and illness.

In addition to this, when we run, especially at high intensities we deplete our body's glycogen stores. Glycogen is the body's source of energy and is the power horse of all that we do. Glycogen stores are built through the consumption of carbohydrates. It is for this reason that some marathon runners “carb-load” before the race to ensure that they don’t run out of energy! You can view this store similarly to your phone battery. We are constantly using our phones throughout the day and as a result, our battery begins to run out. It is only when we plug it in at night that it recharges back to its full capacity. This is similar to our body and the glycogen stores we have. We use it all day and it is the act of recovery that causes it to recharge back to its full capacity.

From a physiological perspective, recovery is the most important part of training. So, why do we have such a hard time doing it? I believe that there are a couple of reasons behind this.

Firstly, it is how we are programmed as a society. We have been told from a very young age that it is all about hard work. “No pain no gain” and “No days off!”. It is this kind of language that has influenced our belief system in a damaging way. I know this because I was one of those people that had this mindset. You push and you push, squeezing every last percentage out of yourself until… boom the wheels fall off.

Secondly, recovery is not flashy. It is not gratifying it is very tedious and, in most cases, you can’t see the difference it makes. Whereas doing a big, flashy session you will. You will receive external gratification as well, in the form of kudos and likes. You’re not getting any of that from wearing compression boots for half an hour. It is those who are disciplined enough, and willing to do the boring work that will reap the benefits.  

Once we stop viewing training as a means to make us faster and start seeing training as a means of adaptation, we look at things through a completely different lens.

Now I am not saying that you won’t have to work hard, of course, you will and every athlete is different, so recovery rates vary from person-to-person. But you make sure you recover just as hard next time!

If you’re looking for more advice and guidance with your training be sure to head over to our services tab and check out the coaching services I offer. Or you can contact me, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Thanks for reading!

Take Care and Happy Running :)