Recovery - Regeneration
By Peter Lawless
January 2002

Recovery is a vital part of every athlete's plan. Without planing for recovery an athlete may find themselves overtraining or worse, suffering a preventable injury. Recovery activities should be built into each training session, each phase of the training year and into the entire yearly plan. We can divide recovery and regeneration activities into four broad categories: Nutrition/Hydration, Work/Rest Ratios, Physiotherapy, and Psycho-regulatory training.

1. Nutrition and Hydration

It cannot be stressed enough that an athlete that eats properly and stays hydrated will not only perform better but will recover from a race or practice quicker and therefore be able to benefit more from training than an athlete that eats fast food and guzzles soda pop all the time.

The following guidelines should be followed with respect to Nutrition:

- Eat three full meals and two snacks per day;
- Refer to the Canada Food Guide for the different food groups;
- Ensure you eat a full breakfast particularly when your event is in the morning;
- Balance your meals, eat from all the food groups; and
- If you are going to deviate from the plan only do so once a week.

The following foods are recommended as snacks:

- bread, peanut butter;
- dried fruits, raw vegetables, bananas;
- nuts, granola;
- cheese; and
- cereals & milk.

With respect to hydration the following guidelines should be remembered:

- The body cannot adapt to dehydration - the only response is a decrease in performance;
- Caffeine and alcohol are the "enemy";
- If you feel thirsty it is already too late - you are already dehydrated;
- Drink water, it is best for exercise lasting less than 3 hours;
- Sport drinks are designed for endurance athletes. If you really feel that you need to drink a sport drink dilute it with at least half water;
- Drink one glass of water when you wake up and at least one full glass with every meal and snack.
- Your goal is to have clear, clean urine; * Attempt to drink between 1/3 cup and 1 cup of water every 15 minutes while exercising;
- If you are in a race where there is a water station - take water! You will lose less time by drinking than you will by dehydrating!

2. Work/Rest Ratios

This can be planned as part of a training session or as outside of a training session. Within a training session it is often seen as pauses between activities. Outside of a training session it may be seen as scheduled rest days or days where the training activity is a light jog (active rest). A good indicator of the need for more rest/recovery time is the athlete's morning resting heart rate. To monitor this the athletes will be asked to record in heir training diary, as part of their everyday routine, their resting heart rate upon waking. This information will be used by the coach to determine whether the days scheduled activities should be maintained or, in the interest of promoting recovery and avoiding overtraining, should be modified to allow for more rest.

3. Physiotherapy
This category contains a number of other sub-categories including hydrotherapy, Massage, stretching and active cool downs.

One effective method of physiotherapy is Hydrotherapy. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. A common occurrence of this is to use hot/cold hydrotherapy. To accomplish this place a bag of ice on tired or sore muscles for 10 minutes and then remove it for 10 minutes. This is repeated several times. A similar method is to use contrasting showers* or by alternating between a whirlpool and a regular pool.

Massage may be accomplished using either a masseuse or by self-massage. It is used to assist the body in flushing out waste and increasing blood supply to tired muscles**. It may also be used to activate or relax an athlete prior to competition.

Flexibility training is also a useful aid to the recovery program. The program is described in detail in the article entitled "Flexibility Training".

Active cool downs are another form of physiotherapy used for aiding in recovery. These may be seen at the end of most training sessions and involve the athlete cooling down by travelling a "long slow distance".

4. Psycho-Regulatory Training

This category consists of strategies that will be used to allow the athlete to mentally recover from an event or training session. For a more complete description of this please see the Article entitled "Mental Training".

5. Sample Recovery Plan

The following is an example of recovery activities that may be used following one training session:
- Active cool down - 20 minute slow jog;
- Post work out stretching;
- Re-hydrating as the athlete transfers out of the racing chair and cleans up her or his equipment;
- Eating a granola bar or piece of fruit in the change room;
- A contrast shower;
- Self-massage;
- Proper meals for the rest of the day;
- Relaxation exercises in the evening; and
- A good night's sleep

*If this is to be used as a recovery technique the athletes need to be aware of the need to not shock their core with a cold shower and to alternate hotter and colder water about every minute.
** It should be noted that massage for this purpose is beneficial in general to persons with an SCI as increasing blood supply to immobile limbs will also reduce the chance of developing a pressure sore.