Runners Recovery and Rest:
Key to Injury Prevention and Performance
Runners often focus on logging miles, hitting personal bests, and pushing to run faster and longer. But one key element of training is often overlooked: recovery.
Recovery is just as important as running itself. It helps prevent injuries, improves your performance, and keeps you healthy for the long run.
Why Recovery Matters
When you run, you’re not just getting stronger—you’re also putting a lot of stress on your muscles, joints, and bones. Your body needs time to repair itself so it can come back stronger.
If you don’t give your body enough recovery time, you risk overuse injuries like shin splints, tendinitis, and stress fractures. Without recovery, your muscles don’t get the time they need to heal, and you can become too tired or injured to continue training.
Proper recovery helps your muscles rebuild and get stronger. It also helps you move more efficiently, have more endurance, and perform better on race day.
The Power of Rest Days
A rest day is when you take time off from intense physical activity to let your body recover.
It might seem counterintuitive—after all, aren’t you supposed to train hard to improve? But rest days are when a lot of the magic happens!
Here’s why:
- Muscle Repair and Growth: When you run, you create micro-strain in your muscles. Rest gives those muscles time to repair and rebuild stronger.
- Prevent Overtraining: If you push your body too hard without enough rest, you can get tired, burned out, or injured. Rest days prevent overtraining and help you stay strong.
- Mental Recovery: Running is as much a mental sport as a physical one. Taking rest days helps prevent burnout and keeps you motivated to run.
Active Recovery: Moving Without Overdoing It
Rest doesn’t always mean doing nothing.
Active recovery is a great way to help your muscles recover without putting too much strain on them.
Low-impact activities like walking, swimming, or cycling can help keep blood flowing to your muscles and reduce stiffness. Yoga and stretching are also excellent for maintaining flexibility and improving your running form.
For example, a light walk or gentle bike ride helps with blood circulation, which speeds up the recovery process. Yoga can improve your flexibility and help prevent injuries by keeping your body aligned properly.
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Sleep and Recovery
One of the most important aspects of recovery is sleep. While you sleep, your body works hard to repair muscles, tissues, and even your brain.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, your muscles won’t fully recover, and you may feel more tired or prone to injury.
Most runners need more than 7 hours of sleep per night to fully recover.
Deep sleep is when your body releases growth hormones that help repair muscles. Poor sleep not only affects recovery but can also impact your mood, motivation, and performance.
Managing Mental Stress
Mental stress can also affect your recovery. Things like work, school, and personal life can cause tension and make it harder for your body to heal properly.
Chronic stress increases a hormone called cortisol, which can interfere with your body’s recovery and even lead to injury.
To manage mental stress, try practices like mindfulness, meditation, and deep breathing. These activities help calm your mind, reduce cortisol, and allow your body to recover more effectively.
Activities like yoga and relaxation techniques are also great ways to keep both your body and mind in balance.
Nutrition: Fueling Your Body for Recovery
Nutrition plays a huge role in how well you recover and how easily you can avoid injuries. What you eat after a run is just as important as the training itself.
- Carbohydrates: When you run, you use up energy stored in your muscles. After your workout, you need to replenish those energy stores by eating carbs, like pasta, rice, or fruits.
- Protein: Protein helps repair muscles that are broken down during running. After a workout, try to eat protein-rich foods like chicken, eggs, or tofu.
- Fats: Healthy fats (like those from avocado, nuts, and olive oil) help reduce inflammation and support long-term recovery.
- Micronutrients: Vitamins and minerals are essential for overall health. Calcium supports your bones, iron helps carry oxygen to your muscles, and magnesium prevents muscle cramps. Eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains ensures you get these important nutrients.
- Hydration: Drinking enough water is essential for muscle recovery and to prevent cramping. Electrolytes, which you get from sports drinks or foods like bananas, help maintain balance in your body.
Avoiding RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport)
RED-S stands for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, which happens when your body doesn’t get enough energy from food to support your training and daily activities. This can affect your recovery and even your overall health.
If you don’t eat enough, you might feel constantly tired, have trouble recovering, or even get sick more often. In the long term, this can lead to injuries, muscle weakness, and other serious issues.
Signs of RED-S include:
- Constant fatigue
- Poor performance
- Increased risk of injuries
- Hormonal imbalances (for example, missed periods in women)
- Sleep problems
To avoid RED-S, make sure you’re eating enough to support your training. If you’re unsure, a Registered Dietitian can help you create a meal plan that meets your needs.
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How Physiotherapy Can Help
In addition to rest, sleep, and proper nutrition, physiotherapy can play a big role in helping you recover and prevent injuries. Our clinic, Fit For Life Physiotherapy in Burlington, Ontario, is a great resource for runners looking for expert guidance. We have physiotherapists with a special interest in, and additional training in treating runners.
Physiotherapists Miriam Mulkewich and Natalie Lehto are avid runners and help runners stay on the road, trails and tracks!
They can help with:
- Injury Prevention: They assess your running form and movement patterns, suggesting exercises and running cues to reduce imbalances, weaknesses and awkward loads on the body that might lead to injury.
- Customized Training Plans: Physiotherapists can help you design a training plan that balances running, recovery, and rest to avoid overtraining.
- Manual Therapy: Techniques like massage or joint mobilizations can help release tight muscles, improve mobility, and assist healing.
- Strengthening and Mobility Exercises: Physiotherapists can design exercises to strengthen key muscles (like your hips, core, and legs) to prevent injury and improve running form.
- Rehabilitation: If you do get injured, physiotherapists can help you recover through targeted exercises, treatments like ultrasound or cold therapy, and advice on how to safely continue or get back to your running goals.
How to Combine Rest, Nutrition, and Physiotherapy
To get the most out of your training and avoid injuries, it’s important to balance rest, nutrition, stress management, and physiotherapy. Here are some tips:
- Plan Regular Rest Days: Schedule at least one or two rest days a week to give your muscles time to recover.
- Prioritize Sleep: Aim for 7 or more hours of sleep each night.
- Eat Well: Make sure your diet includes enough carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and micronutrients to support your recovery.
- Manage Stress: Use techniques like mindfulness, yoga, or deep breathing to help you relax and recover.
- See a Physiotherapist: Regular check-ins with a physiotherapist, like Miriam Mulkewich and Natalie Lehto at Fit For Life Physiotherapy, can help you stay injury-free and improve your running performance.
Recovery is just as important as training. By prioritizing rest, nutrition, sleep, and mental well-being, you can help your body recover properly, avoid injuries, and perform your best.
Don’t forget to listen to your body and take the time to rest and recover—your body will thank you!
Fit For Life Physiotherapy and physiotherapists Miriam Mulkewich and Natalie Lehto are here to help guide you on your recovery journey. With their expertise, you can ensure that your body stays strong, healthy, and ready to run.
Happy running, and remember: rest, recover, and refuel!
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Natalie Lehto is a registered physiotherapist with 20+ years’ of orthopaedic clinical experience and a passion for helping others achieve their physiotherapy goals. She is also Rostered with the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario to provide Pelvic Health Physiotherapy. Natalie has a special interest in working with runners to help them feel their best and reach their goals! Interested in working with Natalie? Book in here. |