Recovery

[morite]

After some time off I am struggling to recover from a ride ready for the next week and I have been thinking about how to improve my recovery.

How soon after do you start massage?
I have a handheld massage roller and normally start to use it 2 days post-ride as that is when my legs feel the worse

Electrical stimulation
I have a six pad that I bought a few years ago and I have the arms/leg pieces. What are your thoughts about using these on a low level as part of active recovery

anything else that I should be doing?

[CaptainVolvo]

You do more than I do. Not sure how long and hard your rides are, but I’ve never massaged following rides of up to 400km. Just make sure you eat properly afterwards.
If you’re still struggling a week after, then I would suggest that you’re going too hard on your rides and the muscle tears aren’t repairing in time.
DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) can be uncomfortable, but steady riding with it should be ok as long as you warm up gently on the bike.


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[CaptainVolvo]

I’ve never heard of anyone using the electrical stimulation pads to recover from a ride. Massage usually is used for pro riders to stimulate the removal of lactate from the muscles and also keep the muscles long and smoothly rolling across one another, particularly in the legs where imbalance and tension can cause the knee to track incorrectly and give issues.


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[morite]

I have never heard of the electrical stimulation helping sore/tired muscles either but wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something or if somebody has found benefit from it.

I am only doing rides around the 200km level but struggling to complete some of them. I know I need to just keep riding and increase fitness but just looking at anything that may help me with that

[Phil W]

Are you going for an easier pootle on the bike a day or two later?  I find a bit of active recovery like that does a world of good.

[hellymedic]

Can't say I've ever used anything other than a hot bath after a long ride....
... and the Experts told me that was Wrong too!

[LMT]

Eating the right food and staying hydrated goes a long way towards recovery ime.

[hellymedic]

Indeed and glycogen synthetase is maximal in the first two hours.

A high-carb snack (and a BIG pot of weak tea) on arrival, followed by a shower/bath, rest and big meal are great low-tech 'fixes'.

[Sebo]

I am only doing rides around the 200km level but struggling to complete some of them. I know I need to just keep riding and increase fitness but just looking at anything that may help me with that

If you are struggling to complete 200km rides, it could be fitness or it may be your fueling.  If you are borderline on your fueling, then that isn't going to help your recovery (as presumably you will be starting from a greater debt than if you'd been sufficiently fueled?).  This of course may not be an issue at all, how do you feel on the 200km rides?

I cycle 100km Monday's, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and find that on Wednesdays and Saturdays, I really need extra calories to help me refuel my legs for the next ride.

I tend to use a foam roller on my calves, ITBs and quads once or twice a week and do calf and quad stretches most days to keep things working but honestly, a properly hot bath and a decent dinner really does help me!   

[Sebo]

Can't say I've ever used anything other than a hot bath after a long ride....
... and the Experts told me that was Wrong too!

I presume the experts suggested an ice bath?  If so, sod that!

[hellymedic]

I think it was a 'warm' bath but I Did Not Fancy.

I wanted HOT. I ran hot, loved it, slept like a baby, did not ache, did not die.

[Greenbank]

Having done a reasonable bit of running training in the past I was surprised just how bloody amazing I felt after a cold bath following a long run.

I wouldn't dismiss it until you've tried it!

(Cold bath for 5 minutes or so, just the legs in, and then a normal shower.)

[hillbilly]

I find that having a decent stretch routine after a ride (and the day after) helps.  The basics.  Quads, gluts, lower back, shoulders.

As does use of a foam roller, when I get the technique right.  Particularly on the quads.

I didn't find a TENS machine helped. 

I've not tried a massage for short-term sports recovery purposes, so can't comment.

I've not tried an ice bath.  That said, on multiday walking holidays, I have found hot/cold dips of muscles helps (in my case, at a hot spring spa with a plunge pool).  A runner friend swears by something similar (in her case, the hot dip is at home in a bath with magnesium salts, and the cold is washing down in a cold shower).

All anecdotal of course.  It may be some of the benefit I feel/felt is psychosomatic.

[The French Tandem]

A high-carb snack (and a BIG pot of weak tea) on arrival, followed by a shower/bath, rest and big meal are great low-tech 'fixes'.

I usually try to keep the carb intake very low in the hours after a ride, in order to force the body into fat burning mode. Admittedly I need to lose weight, and what you need for losing weight is probably in contradiction with what you need for recovering quickly.

A

[SR Steve]

I make myself a chocolate protein milkshake as soon as I get home after a 200+km ride and then have a high protein veggie meal. Ideally this would help growth and repair of my muscles, but at age 55 it’s more about stopping my muscles wasting away.

I occasionally do a few stretches but have no massages etc. and just have a warm shower. On the few times I’ve done a short, easy recovery ride the next day it has definitely helped, but I rarely have the time or motivation. Fortunately, six days off the bike, just pottering about has a similar effect and then I do another 200+km ride and repeat.

[Martyn Wheeler]

A few pints of beer often helps!

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[quixoticgeek]

I find a foam roller helps. I'm not great at remembering to use one, but I even have a really light mini one that is bungeed to the to tube of my bike and I took it on the TCR with me to roller my calf muscles and glutes. It does help. Not always pleasant, but it helps.

But it's pointless without stretching. Which again is something I am not great at doing, but it really helps when I do. I'm often knackered at the end of the ride and just want to goto bed, so remembering to stretch for 10 mins first is often right down the todo list.

And of course, don't forget, drink more water...

J