Training & Nutrition - Recovery after workouts

I'm not sure how many times I have said this, but I do find myself recovering better after workouts that are high-intensity than low-intensity.


Energy System Used – Training sessions that tax the aerobic pathway of muscular energetics (oxidative pathway) will need longer recovery periods than sessions that tax the anaerobic pathways (ATP/CP and glycolitic pathways).

Got this somewhere on the net(http://www.protraineronline.com/past/may15/rnr.cfm). Is this true?

When I read the article, I came away with the idea that the above quote contrasts (for example) a long run vs a "work til failure" weightlifing workout instead of say LSD vs a tempo (LT) run/ride.

My guess as to why you feel better sooner after "high intensity" workouts is that cardiovascular fitness develops faster than muscular fitness in the beginning stages of an exercise program. You don't mention what a high intensity workout is for you, so I'll guess you mean riding faster than usual. Short quick rides tax your CV system, while long slow rides work your muscles more. You may just be unacustomed to using these muscles as much as you have been.

For runners (and to a lesser extent cyclists) this time after your CV fitness has improved and before your muscles and supporting structures get stronger is a period where the risk of injury is quite high. You basically have developed your heart and lungs to the point where they can beat your legs and knees to death. Rest is important to prevent injury.

Dan

Interesting article.

It seems to fit my experience. If I go ride with the hammerheads and finish a 1.5 hour ride with an AHR at or above my estimated LT, I can barely walk when I'm done, but I'm ready to go again in a couple of days. But if I ride like 80+ miles averaging at my upper aerobic threshold, it will still take a good 3 or 4 days 'til I'm 100%, well, 95% (I rarely recover to 100% ;)).

A quick look at this article- it's not a very good article. Badly written, in my opinion, and confuses the issues a bit.

When talking about recovery, really you shouldn't combine examples of weightlifting exercises vs. aerobic exercise, then use examples from each to prove a point. I am confused just reading the article- seriously, do not really look at that if you're trying to learn more about recovery in relation to your cycling.

One thing I do not like about the article is that it assumes that people who do LSD training do not replenish their glucose reserves (ie some kind of energy drink or other carb drink or food)- which means it can confuse the issues more about recovery of glucose reserves by claiming it takes longer to replenish glucose reserves in the case where you do not drink your energy drink after working out. While it does make a point- that you should definitely drink a carb drink or eat something with carbs after your workout to replenish the glucose lost, it just has a clumsy way of going about making the point. I'm not sure if it even makes that point, or if perhaps, it's explained better in the subsequent article, which is not linked on this page.

I'm not liking this article. I'm on my way to bed, but if someone sends me a PM, I'll remember do a search for a better article on recovery as pertaining to aerobic workouts and an article for recovery based on weight training. They really should be separated, unless you're doing both, in which case, it's good to talk about both, but at the same time, it should still be treated as two different topics in the same article so as not to confuse the issue.

I think the article has a point, but it just gets lost in the article, since it talks about two different methods of training, and I know people are primarily concerned with the cycling right now more than the weightlifting.

<sigh>

I'm not sure how many times I have said this, but I do find myself recovering better after workouts that are high-intensity than low-intensity

I don't know what you mean for sure, but the article sats, short workouts require less time to recover from than long workouts... Is that what you mean by "better" less time to recover?

It is actually that I feel better after anaerobic workouts than I do after aerobic workouts. Yeah, and it does take less time to recover from anaerobic workouts I feel. With long aerobic workouts, it just seems like I'm totally zapped of energy or something.