Recovery

No, I'm not in a "recovery week" in my skating training; that won't happen for another six days.  And in fact, I really don't care if it's six weeks until "recovery week."  I'm currently in the midst of the highest volume early-season training I've ever experienced--and I feel fantastic.  I have never, ever recovered from workouts the way I have the past two weeks.

I've never recovered well from workouts.  Even when I was young I seemed to have more difficulty recovering than other people.  In high school, I was always the one trying to convince the coach to give us the day off before a track or cross country meet; I just felt like my legs couldn't recover from the week's training without an actual day off.  And of course this has only gotten worse as I've aged.  When TieGuy started coaching me in 2006 he mentioned that I--like most speedskaters--would be doing two-a-day workouts when summer rolled around.  By June, though, he'd realized that I couldn't handle more than three hard workouts and one or two easy workouts a week.  Even during the long track season it was a struggle for me to complete the three hard workouts and one or two race days a week that he planned.  One year he put a "recovery" workout into the schedule every weekend, and I never did any of them.  To me there was no such thing as a "recovery workout" that actually made my legs feel better; a workout was a workout, no matter how easy, and the only way for me to recover was to take a day--or, more accurately, three to four days a week--completely off.

Recently, though, this difficulty recovering without time off has changed--and changed so drastically that I simply can't believe it.

It started during March, the long track skaters' "rest break."  Rather than doing my usual casual Dome or trail skates, I was forced (by the worst winter in history and an imploding Metrodome) to come up with another workout strategy for March.  I decided to go with two CrossFit workouts a week, although I was worried that this might be too much and that I'd start the new season in April with fatigue already setting in.  So I was pleasantly surprised that not only did the workouts go well, but that I felt really fresh and well-recovered throughout the week--even when I threw in a 5K race, and upped my CrossFit to three workouts a week during the last two weeks of March.

I expected that "fresh, well-recovered" feeling to change in April; to have my legs resume their usual April-through-February "I'm riding the ragged edge of overtraining and my legs are always faintly sore and tired" feeling that they've had for the past ten years, ever since I got really serious about my skating.  Hobbling around like an 80-year-old just went with the territory, I thought...and even more so as I approached 50 last year.  True, it did improve slightly when I added foam rolling to my life--but as delighted as I was with that improvement, it was minor compared to what I'm experiencing now.

Take, for example, the past nine days.  Last Friday I did a CrossFit workout, then Saturday was dryland and a six mile skate.  Sunday was a ten mile skate, then Monday and Tuesday were CrossFit.  Wednesday was dryland, and Thursday--which was supposed to be an off day--I ended up playing in the Hubster's "Beginner Friendly Hockey" game.  Friday I had off work, so I planned another 10 mile skate and CrossFit.  By Thursday night my legs were still a bit sore from cleans and deadlifts and dryland (if your hamstrings are sore from cleans, does that mean you did them right or you did them wrong?), so I was worried about how Friday would go.  But both the skate and the CrossFit went fine, and so I went ahead and scheduled dryland for this morning, with Mel and Inliner Boy.

When I woke up I expected to be a bit sore and stiff from the week-plus of workouts culminating in a two-a-day yesterday.  Instead...I felt fantastic.  No soreness, lots of energy, and more than ready to hit the dryland.  In fact, I felt so good that I'm afraid I was a bit obnoxious at the workout this morning, bouncing around and babbling like a sugared-up five-year-old at a birthday party (fortunately Mel and Inliner Boy are tolerant individuals).  No one is supposed to have that much fun doing dryland.

So what's made the difference?  Well...it has to be the diet changes that I made during the nutrition challenge that CrossFit SISU put on.

True, I've changed a lot of stuff in the past nine months.  I've added CrossFit and foam rolling; I've started making sure I have a post-workout protein shake; I'm doing more mobility stuff than I was before (in other words, I'm doing some versus none).  But all of these factors have been in place since the fall, and I only experienced a modest improvement in my ability to recover (which I attributed to the foam rolling) during the skating season.  And I know there's a mental component at work--I have a new obsession (CrossFit, for those of you who haven't been paying attention), and I'm always happiest when obsessed...but I've loved CrossFit almost from when I started it (I just love it more now that I don't suck quite so abysmally at it) so that's not a recent change.

So really, that just leaves the diet change.

Maybe it's the "crap-ectomy"--the removal of poptarts and diet Dew and donuts and...you get the picture.  Maybe it's the removal of inflammatory foods like grains.  Maybe it's the proper post-workout nutrition and the adequate protein and the actually eating vegetables more than once a week.  Actually, it's probably all of the above.  All I know is that I can't remember feeling this good, this energetic, this well-recovered and ready for the next workout, in...well, ever.  And to be able to say that at 50 feels pretty good.

Of course, the season has a long way to go, and I have to be careful not to get carried away this early in the spring--I can still get injured or overtrained if I overdo it (as evidenced by my current bicep tendon issue--note to self: if it hurts when you do something for a couple workouts in a row...stop doing it.)  But honestly, I can't remember feeling this good at the start of the skating season in the past 10 years.

Damn, I'm glad I decided to do that nutrition challenge!