Training & Nutrition - Proper recovery

Question regarding recovery time -

I have a quite active job that requires alot of up and down stairs time - alot. Also, I work third shift which studies have proven to hinder body recovery time (which I have to agree with from the way I feel). I usually ride four days a week, two of them hard and the other two easy rides with the wife. There are more days than none that inflamation gets the best of me. When I take vacation time from work, of course I feel much better when riding - almost pain free, but then when back to work the pain comes back. In the winter months when I only ride moderately on the trainer I also feel better. To my question, how can I continue to ride hard and be able to recover with such an active job. Opinions and advice?

Just a guess but it sounds like you are over working the muscles. Since you can't slack off on the work, try slacking off on the riding. Maybe one hard ride and 3 easy rides per week and just see how things feel. Maybe no hard rides and just 4 easy rides. See if you can find something that will work for you.

Thanks for the reply, jim p. I wish I could slack off on the work and not the riding :) I'll try your suggestion of one less hard day and see how that goes. I'm ok if I take nsaids after the hard ride but I hate to just mask the pain...

You might try using a pain relieving cream like Flexpower (http://www.balmco.com/reviews/recovery-products/flexpower-pain-relief-cream/). That stuff literally gets down in there where it hurts. I train and then have a day job where I am on my feet running around all day (bike shop sales) and it is what I use to keep pain at bay. 2 hard days and 2 easy with rest days in between sounds like more than enough recovery from a training standpoint.

^^ Thanks, I'll give that a try...

Pain is there for a reason... I would imagine it would be better not to ignore it. It sounds like to me your job requires you to go up and down the stairs a lot. What happens when you can't do that? Priorities comes to my mind.

Third shift is a bear on the body. I've done it off an on for years. I definitely feel worse, more achy, when I work third shift. My observation is this...I think it's harder to recover when working 3rd shift because you don't sleep properly. Make sure you have a dedicated, quiet, DARK, place to sleep, with no interruptions. Get blackout shades. Turn off the phone. Life got a lot better after I started doing this, and everyone else will learn to deal with it.

What are you wearing for shoes.

You want arch support and cushioning, but not
a running shoe.

Could you wear a light hiker.