Recoverate - Thoughts on My Taper and Post-race (ITU San Diego) Recovery

(If you just want to cut to the chase, scroll past the first 4 paragraphs.)

I raced the San Diego ITU triathlon (did the Aquabike) last Saturday. A perfect taper for me would have been about a week long, containing reduced volume as well as reduced intensity load. I had made sure to up the intensity on one bike and one swim workout each week during my build up. I also cycled through 4 phases of strength training over the previous months, dropping weight training for the 3 weeks prior to race day.

My taper turned out to be less than perfect, although it was very enjoyable!  3 weeks out we went to England for vacation. I took tri shorts, Speedo, goggles, and rubber tubing with me, hoping to get a smattering of workouts in. I pretty much knew swimming would be unlikely so rubber tubing with handles was the plan. I also thought I might get on my sons trainer 2 or 3 or 4 times. The pool and the trainer were not in the cards because I wanted to make sure this was a NON-triathlon vacation. The tubing got used just once because I lacked a good anchor point where we were staying and doing it outside in 0 to 4 degrees Celsius was out of the question! So my 2 weeks of "training" were comprised of lots of walking and standing, as well as some core work and push ups! Endurance didn't suffer but sharpness did.

There was a week left pre-race once we returned home. I went for some endurance effort stuff on Sunday and Monday and added some speed and tempo efforts Tuesday through Thursday. It seemed like the best I could do under the circumstances.

Saturday's race went well. It amounted to a 1500 swim at a strong effort followed by a 40K time trial (hard effort) on the bike since I didn't have to run off the bike. The next day I certainly felt it in my calves, quads, and lats - DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. I committed to swim with my buddy, Italiphil on Sunday so instead of taking the day off I swam 2800 yards. It took 1500 before I could get any speed going. I got to work on my "drafting" as a result - my buddy pulled me along as I swam by his hip or behind him for much of 600 yards post-warmup. On Tuesday I swam again, eased back into strength training (1 set, slightly reduced weight), and took a spin class with too much intensity (backed it off to zone 1 recovery 30 minutes in).

While I didn't injure myself I did stupidly put myself at risk. The smart things to do?

• Take Extreme Endurance magnesium supplement - check
• Take in carbs and protein (including amino acids) for tissue repair - check
• Take supplements to aid with reducing inflammation and help with immune system (Omega 3s, Vitamin C, etc.) - check
• Wear compression socks post-race and next day - didn't do it
• Do an EASY bike ride the day of or day after the race - didn't do it
• Swim EASY or not at all the day after the race - didn't do it
• Use a foam roller - check
• Elevate feet and legs for 10 or more minutes a few times a day for a couple of days - didn't do it
• Get plenty of sleep - maybe, maybe not
• Do not charge into a high intensity workout until you've recovered from the race - didn't do it

Recoverate? Yes, recoverate is my new, made up word to emphasis what you need to include in part of your training. It's a combination of the words Recovery and Recuperate. Maybe next time I'll take my own advice! Recoverate!