Maximising Recovery: Essential Tips for Runners
- georgestone029
- Jan 25
- 5 min read
Updated: May 24
Recovery is the cornerstone of athletic performance as well as injury rehabilitation. But often overlooked in the excitement of training or goal attainment. Proper recovery helps prevent injuries, improves performance, and ensures longevity of exercise engagement. Today’s blog explores the physiological processes involved in exercise and fatigue to then provide some actionable recovery strategies to cut through the noise.
Why should we prioritise rest days?
Recovery isn't just important, it is simply essential and yet often overlooked. Today I want to disassociate recovery from laziness.
You may already know this, but when you exercise, without trying to sound dramatic, you’re literally breaking down muscle fibres. Causing micro tears in muscle tissue. This means there is a proportional relationship between how hard you exercise and damage caused to your muscular system. We often refer to this as a training ‘stimulus’. Despite portraying this as a ‘bad’ thing, this stimulus is required to cause the adaptation or improvement in our strength and fitness. In addition to these micro-tears in muscle, over-exercising can causes undue stress to the nervous system, affecting your mental state and even your immunity leaving your body unable to run at full capacity. So not only will you see a drop off in performance. Over training can increase injury risk, negatively impact cognitive performance as well as run the risk of physical illness and burnout. More at play than meets the eye.
Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom today. The main take away from this is that there certainly is such a thing as overdoing it. Rest is truly where the magic happens, an opportunity for your muscle fibres to rebuild and your nervous system to decompress. A research study looking at athletes found, individuals who placed top three overall or top three in their division used significantly more recovery strategies than those who had not placed top three in competition, similar to past research [1]. This leaves us with a question. How much is enough? Or, how much is ‘too much’?
Now that we have a good understanding of fatigue and why rest is important here are 5 immediately actionable tips you can start today, to improving your recovery.
1. Embrace Rest Days
Don’t Skip It: Think of recovery days as part of your training plan. Recovery today means better performance tomorrow.
Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to how much and how often you need to rest as this is immensely individual. We really are all “running our own race” when it comes to this one. Recovery isn’t necessarily about adding into your training week, moreover, it’s the intentional subtraction from your training load. For example, reducing the duration and intensity of your workouts or in other words reducing the ‘stimulus’ during a particular week. In general, it would be good to aim for 1 or 2 rest days a week where at the minimum, you are only completing normal daily tasks or at the most, light active recovery activities and otherwise enjoying time off.
2. Prioritise Sleep
Sleep is widely recognised as the ultimate recovery tool. Sleep is essential for hormone regulation (such as adenosine) and replenishing energy stores. Aim for 7-9 hours each night to optimise performance and recovery.
Tips for quality sleep:
Maintain a consistent sleep-wake cycle
A consistent schedule, even on rest days, helps to support your body’s natural rhythm.
Seek day light
Exposure to natural daylight during the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm, making it easier to fall asleep at night. Aim to get outside, especially in the morning, for at least 20-30 minutes to reinforce your body's internal clock.
Limit light and noise at night
Reduce exposure to artificial light and noise before bedtime to signal to your brain that it's time to wind down. Use blackout curtains, dim lighting, and white noise machines or earplugs if necessary, creating a calm and dark sleep environment.
Caffeine
Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon and evening, as it can disrupt your ability to fall asleep. Caffeine's effects can last up to 6 hours or longer, so try limiting intake after 2 p.m. to promote better rest.
Meal times
Eating too close to bedtime can interfere with sleep quality. Aim to finish your last meal 2-3 hours before bed to allow your body enough time to digest. Having sugary foods too close to bed elevates your heart rate meaning you will get insufficient rest.
2. Refuel Post-Run
What you eat after a run matters.
Alongside sleep, hydration rated was also rated “important” as a recovery strategy in a recent study in high performance endurance athletes [1]. This is regardless of gender all level of participation (you can read that study here).
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking 5 to 12 ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes. This equates to 141ml-355ml of water. It is also important to replace electrolytes lost through sweat.
Fuel your workouts
During a run the ideal is 100 to 250 calories (or 25 to 60 grams of carbs) per hour, after the first hour of running. Around training you can utilise simple carbs such as: sports drinks, energy bars / gels.
Protein rich
A diet rich in lean proteins (chicken, fish, tofu, eggs) supports muscular repair by providing essential amino acids. Aim for 1.2–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily, depending on training intensity.
Carbohydrates Around Busy Training Periods
Carbohydrates are the primary energy source for endurance activities. Consuming them around your workouts replenishes glycogen stores. Target 1–1.5 g/kg of body weight within the first hour after intense exercise to optimise recovery. Aim to incorporate complex carbs into your main meals such as sweet potatoes and beans.
4. Listen to Your Body
As always a big tip is to listen to your body. No one can tell you how YOU are feeling. No one knows your body like you do. Persistent soreness, fatigue, or unusual pain can signal overtraining. Ignoring these signs may lead to burnout or injuries. If you are feeling fatigued, take a break.
Scale Back: Adjust your mileage or intensity if you feel off. Recovery is an essential part of progress, not a setback.
Incorporating periodisation alongside rest days allows for planned "de-load weeks," where training intensity is intentionally reduced. Periodisation structures training into focused phases (yearly, seasonal, monthly, or weekly) to enhance effectiveness and sustainability. Beginners may benefit from de-load weeks every other week (to begin with) to ensure recovery, while others may schedule them every 6-10 weeks based on training intensity and personal needs. Stay tuned for a dedicated post on periodisation!
5. Other Recovery Tools
A study took 1100 endurance athletes and look at the following tools:
Compression Gear: Can help to reduce swelling, circulation and subjective soreness after long runs.
Ice bath / cryotherapy: There is still a lack of consistency in the literature regarding the efficacy of this as a recovery strategy. Despite this, professional athletes still often use. There are other benefits to cold exposure which you may already be aware of and are worth exploring.
Foam Rolling: Can have subjective benefits on muscle tension.
Massage therapy: Has shown no benefits on recovery during research.
The Takeaway
Recovery is as important as training. Incorporating these strategies will not only help you bounce back faster but also build a stronger, more resilient system for the miles ahead. Treat recovery as a priority—not an afterthought.
Take the time to recover right, and you’ll run stronger and injury-free.
Thanks for reading,
George.
References:
[1] Recovery Strategies in Endurance Athletes
[2] Effectiveness of Recovery Strategies After Training and Competition in Endurance Athletes: An Umbrella Review
Comments