I've spent the last month training for my first half marathon, which has me thinking about recovery a lot more than usual.
Not just what works, but what endurance athletes are actually doing between training sessions.
Spend five minutes on Instagram and you'll see recovery routines that look more complicated than the training itself. Ice baths, compression boots, massage guns, red light therapy, supplements, wearable recovery scores, and enough gadgets to fill an entire room.
So I was curious.
What do endurance athletes actually use? And does it line up with what the evidence suggests?
A recent survey of more than 260 endurance athletes provides an interesting snapshot.
The Four Recovery Strategies Everyone Agrees On
Despite all the recovery technology available today, the most commonly used strategies were surprisingly simple.
- Sleep
- Hydration
- Nutrition
- Rest
Not only were these the most frequently used, they were also rated as the most effective.
That shouldn't be surprising.
These are also the pillars with the strongest scientific support.
Before spending hundreds of dollars on recovery technology, it probably makes sense to ask whether these four are consistently in place.
Recovery is Part of the Plan
One interesting finding was that higher-performing athletes tended to use a greater number of recovery strategies than lower-performing athletes.
That doesn't necessarily mean more recovery methods caused better performance.
More likely, successful athletes are simply more intentional. They train with purpose, and they recover with purpose.
Recovery isn't something they think about after training. It's part of the training plan itself.
How Do Athletes Know They're Recovered?
Wearables dominate today's conversation around recovery, but athletes still rely heavily on something much simpler.
They pay attention to how they feel.
The most common indicators of recovery included:
- Feeling energetic
- Less muscle soreness
- Feeling mentally ready to train
- Normal heart rate
- Simply feeling like themselves again
Technology can provide useful information, but it shouldn't replace body awareness.
The best athletes often use both.
Coach's Takeaway
After spending the last several weeks running more than I ever have before, one thing has become increasingly clear.
Recovery isn't about finding the perfect gadget.
It's about consistently doing the basics well enough that tomorrow's training session can be productive.
If I had to prioritize recovery for an endurance athlete, my list would look something like this:
- Sleep enough to support adaptation.
- Eat enough carbohydrate and protein to recover from the work you've done.
- Stay hydrated before worrying about fancy recovery tools.
- Listen to subjective feedback alongside objective data from your watch or wearable.
- Add recovery modalities only after you've mastered the fundamentals.
Recovery isn't where fitness is built.
Recovery is what allows you to keep building fitness, day after day, week after week.
I hope this helps,
Ramsey
Reference: Trocchio J, Graybeal A, Harrison KP, et al. (2022). Current Implementation, Beliefs and Sources of Information on Recovery Strategies in Endurance Athletes. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 7(22).
