Races and hard training are an essential element in any training program, but to ensure that athletes absorb and maximise the benefits of these sessions, optimising recovery is important. There are several key areas that athletes can focus on to ensure quicker recovery, things that may lead to better performance from the same level of training - whether you are training 2 hours per week or 30 hours per week. The minute you finish a session your body starts recovering so what you do can make a huge difference to how long you need to wait before training hard again.

Nutrition
There are several aspects to nutrition that can be manipulated to ensure faster recovery and they fit into three broad categories: Macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein), Micronutrients (Vitamins and Minerals) and Hydration strategies.

After hard training one of the key factors determining when you can go hard again is the level of muscle energy stores, the main one being carbohydrates. Muscle cells can only store a limited amount of carbohydrate (approximately 600g in a 70kg person) and very limited amounts of fats, so once you have chewed through this (a hard 90min session will be enough) then your body needs to get the required energy from either the liver or fats cells or from food and fluids eaten - the rate of supply of these is much slower due to the time needed to activate the process and the need to transport to the working muscles. This means that you want to maximise muscle energy stores. The key to being able to do this is that muscles are designed to be able to absorb energy at greater rates after exercise, therefore the sooner after training you can eat easily digested foods, the quicker your muscles will be able to replace energy stores for your next workout. Generally if you work hard on optimal replacement of muscle energy stores you will still need 36 hours between very intense sessions. If you do a poor job, it could take as long as 72 hours or may never happen!

There are several key micronutrients: Anti-Oxidants (Vit A, C & E) help remove damaging free radicals produced from training - there is some evidence that shows this will not only help recovery from training but may add to your lifespan! Don't go overboard as too much can cause problems, eat your vegetables; BCAA's are a group of amino acids (protein) that help aid recovery and has been shown that a diet high in BCAA's reduces fatigue in the brain. Most health food shops stock BCAA's and can advise the best combinations.

Hydration is obviously important for recovery so starting a session hydrated is going to be a big help. It's a good idea to weigh yourself before and after a session (especially in summer) to measure water loss - once you have finished your session, aim to get back to your pre session (or race) weight as quickly as possible. I have found that I need to constantly push myself to do this as I often don't feel like drinking. For athletes who are preparing to race in the heat, there may be some benefit in becoming slightly dehydrated in training and remaining dehydrated for a period of 60min. So if you go for a 30min run and become 2% dehydrated and then drink again 30min after finishing you may find that your body overcompensates and you an start your event with more blood plasma, enabling you to sweat more in the competition. This strategy is great if you are going to do a Marathon or a long distance triathlon in the heat but I wouldn't recommend it for very hard sessions as you probably should aim to maximise recovery. Dehydration training is probably effective for short sessions in the last two weeks before races in the heat.

Ice and cold water
Cold Water is Magic! After a run you can run a cold hose over your legs (especially your shins) and this seems to really help reduce fluid build-up - this is a strategy that horse trainers use all the time. Ice is also very effective, just be careful to apply the ice in a wet towel to avoid a ice burn. Ice can be specifically targeted to a particular area.

Elevation
Elevation of your legs after training really helps reduce fluid build-up and combined with cold water is very effective for the injury prone athlete. Even 10 minutes makes a huge difference so if you can lie under a tree and put you legs up the side that will help a lot.

Relaxation & Sleep
There is no doubt that having to go to work and stand up all day after a hard training session is going to impact recovery. So too is a lack of sleep. Aim to schedule harder sessions on days when you can relax and aim to get enough sleep. There is some evidence that a short daytime sleep after training promotes recovery by increasing circulating hormones. Just don't let the sleep become too long, 20-40minutes is ideal - any longer and you may find it harder to sleep at night. This is a good reason to place a hard session on a day when you have the time to take a nap!

Contrast Therapy
Contrast therapy is basically a more aggressive method of ice and cold water. After you have placed ice or cold water on your legs (could be sitting in a cold pool or bath) you take a very hot shower or get into a Spa Pool. Once you feel hot and your legs are red with blood, you then go back to the cold water or ice. Repeat this several times. I think that this method probably also has benefits for the Central Nervous System as when you finish you will feel very awake and refreshed!

Recovery Runs
Short or easier runs on days between longer or harder runs helps to provide some more time to fully replace energy stores. This is why a hard day/easy day approach is so important for athletes.

Grass & soft surfaces
One of the keys to recovery is allowing your muscles and tendons to recover from the pounding and loading of running. Running on soft surfaces seems to reduce post training soreness. Just watch training when it becomes wet as you are more likely to slide and cause an injury from falling - a good off road training shoe should help here.

Swimming, Water Running
Exercise in water is a very effective method of promoting recovery. The water pressure helps to remove the waste products and extra fluids that often builds up in the legs after running. Swimming is great too because it will use the arms and not further deplete the legs of energy stores plus you don't have the pounding of the road on your joins and muscles.

Massage & Stretching
Most top athletes will tell you that they get a regular massage and stretch. Combined with contrast therapy, they are excellent, just watch that you only get a light 'recovery' rub after very hard training or races as hard massage may slow down recovery especially if you do not get regular massage.