RRRrrrrrr! The three Rs of recovery

Rrrrrr! Living in France, Rs have taken a whole new significance in my life. I am learning to rrrroll my rrrrrs on the back of my tongue in the French classes that I started last week. Jackson often corrects me as his rrrrs just rrrroll off quite naturally now. His 7yo mouth seems far more adaptable to the new sounds required of it than mine. Possibly a good analogy for general adaptability of kids!

A bit burnt out: time to regenerate

Now with the tri season over a few other Rs have become highly relevant in my life too. These are the various stages of post season recovery.

Most athletes are aware of the importance of adapting the mind and body to increased training loads as you go into a new season or set up for a new goal. What is equally important for long term sustainability in the sport is the adaption to lower loads and a good recovery period at the end of the season.

For simplicity I have summarised these into three stages that each have two elements. Conveniently for my theme of this blog, they all begin with R.

1. Initial stage: Rest and recover
2. Secondary stage: Relax and recuperate
3. Third stage: Reinvigorate and refresh

How long you could/should spend at each of these stages depends on a lot of factors including; the extent to which you have depleted your energy through the season/race, your age, any pre-existing injuries or illness,
basic nutrition and any specific deficiencies, previous experience at that level of the sport, sleep patterns and other significant life change/stress.

I was in need of recovery
It had been a very full on 12 months for me, truly rewarding but physically, emotionally and mentally challenging and tiring.


Bright eyed and bushy tailed
Perth Oct 2009

It was almost exactly a year ago (Oct 25) when I raced the Long Course Triathlon World Champs in Perth, Australia. It was after coming third there that I had the idea put to me of moving to Europe and racing triathlon here based in the French Alps. At the time I was enjoying getting back into tri after a very long break, but had all the usuals trappings of a relatively happy, normal suburban life; husband, kids, two interesting careers to juggle, good schools, friends and family, mortgage, etc. We knew it would be a big move with lots of challenges, some foreseeable and others to be found along the way. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Rob and I decided that it would be a good idea to take a year or three out of our "ordinary" life, take some risk, but also open ourselves to the opportunity to experience something a little more extra-ordinary.

Well a year on from that decision and 6 months into the new adventure, I have few regrets. To use a quote I read today;

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.                                                                                            Douglas Adams

In short, it was a very big year, including two tri seasons back to back, a quick trip to France in the middle to discover the area, finishing up two jobs, shutting down a life (emptying, cleaning and renting out houses, selling cars and other stuff no longer needed, boxing for storage or shipping the rest), then the move and starting again; renting houses, buying cars, setting up a home, setting up kids at new schools, slowly establishing new connections with parents, tri team members etc and of course all in a new language to be learned while training, travelling and racing. By the time I had finished my last race, the Challenge series ironman in Barcelona, I was in desperate need of rest and recovery.

Initial stage: Rest and Recovery
The goal of this stage is initially to recover from the event (rehydration and nutrition, removing any inflammation or tightness) followed by letting the body heal any injuries, rebuild some energy and generally come back to a state from which, if it were mid season, you could contemplate training again without risk of any injury or illness.

For me it took two weeks with lots of sleep and very quiet days to get through the fog of exhaustion. I was not just tired from one race, but a full year of change. I really didn't feel like seeing anyone other than my kids and husband and just enjoyed introverting for a while, sleeping, reading, spending time making our home a bit homely, organising photos or slowly working through all those things that got left for later while I was mid-season. I did almost no exercise, just occasional swims, yoga, easy easy rides and walks in the mountains to assist my body remove residual tightness and tension.

Practicing my barista skills for Rob

Interestingly I actually felt worse for a while before my energy started to regenerate. It was as if by saying to my body and mind, "it is now time for a rest", it responded with a "Thank God we're in need of a shutdown!" and turned off all systems. For someone who usually bounces around with too much energy, I had become someone with just enough (and sometimes not enough!) to make it through a day consisting of the absolute bare minimum. In this early stage while I felt really tired and flat and it was easy to want caffeine and sugar to give me the energy I was missing. I can't say I abstained entirely but I limited my coffee to two a day and really tried to eat nutrient rich food to assist the body get back some energy from within as well as through sleep.

Recuperate and relax
After I felt some physical energy slowly seeping back in, I was still pretty mentally and emotionally exhausted. In this second stage I held back from using the physical energy too early and took time to just enjoy simple activities each day as well as take stock of the achievements of the season and the learnings from it. To use a good analogy, I took some time away from the dance floor, in amongst the crowd, instead viewing the action (both past and present) from the balcony. A better place to get some perspective and see the patterns.

Enjoying the mountain trails 

For me this was a great time to get back into a regular yoga and meditation practice. In the recovery stage I was just too tired and the body too tight to want to practice every day. Once the flat out physical exhaustion had disappeared, I was ready to let the mind and heart have some space to repair. The yoga mat is a great place for that.

I also took to the mountains (another great healer of mine) and walked and/or jogged along trails through the autumn leaves, mud or snow enjoying the well known trails and finding dozens of new ones around the Aravis Valley.

For me, the key for this stage was reducing the noise of the years' events. People talk about the tapestry of life. In this phase I looked at each of the significant threads of the year so that I could settle them more comfortably into the overall weave that is my past, without the noise of all the initial excitement, disapointment or other attachments to them. I am no Dalia Lama, and can't say I do this for 100% of the noise, but look to accept what was and try to only carry forward what can impact the future positively.

Refresh and re-invigorate
So the past is let go as best I can, the current day is back into full technicolour and the body and mind are relaxed and ready to look forward again. Time to get excited about what is yet to come. A funny indication for me that I was ready to look forward again was when I got sick of the girly novels I was reading and started picking up more challenging and interesting brain food instead.

So enter the dreamtime. This is fun, looking at the world of options and opportunity possible to us as a family and me as an individual and deciding for the 40th (or maybe 140th!) time what it is that I would like to be when I grow up. Then working out how to make the dreams real. I have a little card in my wallet with my three major goals for 2010 on it. Along with the goals I have 4 key values written underneath that I wish to maintain in the achievement of these (or any) goals. After reviewing these in the recupe stage, it was time to let these go and start to consider what my 2011 card would look like. My values, although reviewed don't change year to year usually, but the goals all needed to be reset.

I have now had some time to work out my tri season goals for next year which I am really excited about. To do so I applied for and have been granted a professional licence from Triathlon Australia so I will be able to race in the pro ranks at both the WTC and Challenge races I am targetting. I have some new sponsors I am really looking forward to working with, I'll do more writing over the winter season possibly also for some tri and fitness publications and am also looking forward to training with teammates from my club, TMT, using and extending my French.

Additionally I have started working to establish a new business and have some really exciting plans to unveil shortly. Stay tuned! In order to do all this of course I need to focus on the last of this year's goals yet to be achieved and so I am back at school learning French 5 days a week.

To set these goals I needed to have my energy back and my head and heart clear or otherwise I would likely set unrealistic goals (as not carefully enough considered or discussed with others) or goals that would not stretch me as fully as is realistic and achievable.

So here I am 6 weeks on and enjoying my latest challenge of learning a new language. I won't pretend I am back to 100% tiggerishness at all times, as I have moments of needing to go back a pace and rest, relax or reprioritise. Generally though I am feeling ready for my next adventure...or three!

Enjoy yours.
A bientot