How much of Recovery ISN'T about muscles, bones, joints, etc.?

Training Advice/Discussion

8 years ago 08/25/2015 12:53pm EDT

A lot of people are relatively well-versed on what happens to their legs after a race or hard workout. You break down muscle, your connective tissue is damaged ever so slightly, etc., and you ultimately come back stronger.

What I, along with a lot of other people, don't understand is what happens to the rest of your body in the hours and days following a very hard effort. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer. Even if you can only answer one or two, that will be greatly appreciated.

-Can the heart muscle be damaged by back-to-back hard efforts, or too many hard efforts?

-If the body can continue to adapt and get stronger after six (or so) weeks of hard training, why does it eventually get overwhelmed?

-If you feel completely fine after a very hard effort -- say a half marathon -- several days after the fact, is there anything beyond your legs you have to worry about damaging by undergoing another hard effort?

-Why do aerobic bases take so long to kick in?

8 years ago 08/25/2015 3:41pm EDT

re: RecoveryTalk

RecoveryTalk wrote:
A lot of people are relatively well-versed on what happens to their legs after a race or hard workout. You break down muscle, your connective tissue is damaged ever so slightly, etc., and you ultimately come back stronger.
What I, along with a lot of other people, don't understand is what happens to the rest of your body in the hours and days following a very hard effort. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer. Even if you can only answer one or two, that will be greatly appreciated.
-Can the heart muscle be damaged by back-to-back hard efforts, or too many hard efforts?
-If the body can continue to adapt and get stronger after six (or so) weeks of hard training, why does it eventually get overwhelmed?
-If you feel completely fine after a very hard effort -- say a half marathon -- several days after the fact, is there anything beyond your legs you have to worry about damaging by undergoing another hard effort?
-Why do aerobic bases take so long to kick in?

I'm sure cortisol and blood pH levels play a role in your answers but I don't know the specifics

8 years ago 08/25/2015 8:32pm EDT

The interplay between the endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, and the musculoskeletal systems are complex and have significant individual variability. That's why no one plan will work for everyone.

8 years ago 08/25/2015 9:08pm EDT

re: RecoveryTalk

RecoveryTalk wrote:
A lot of people are relatively well-versed on what happens to their legs after a race or hard workout. You break down muscle, your connective tissue is damaged ever so slightly, etc., and you ultimately come back stronger.
What I, along with a lot of other people, don't understand is what happens to the rest of your body in the hours and days following a very hard effort. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer. Even if you can only answer one or two, that will be greatly appreciated.
-Can the heart muscle be damaged by back-to-back hard efforts, or too many hard efforts?
-If the body can continue to adapt and get stronger after six (or so) weeks of hard training, why does it eventually get overwhelmed?
-If you feel completely fine after a very hard effort -- say a half marathon -- several days after the fact, is there anything beyond your legs you have to worry about damaging by undergoing another hard effort?
-Why do aerobic bases take so long to kick in?

1. No

2. Lack of sugar intake.

3. Glycogen stores.

4. They don't kick in, they gradually grow.

8 years ago 08/25/2015 9:13pm EDT

re: PoisonIvy

PoisonIvy wrote:
The interplay between the endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, and the musculoskeletal systems are complex and have significant individual variability. That's why no one plan will work for everyone.

This is the only correct answer.

8 years ago 08/25/2015 10:11pm EDT

re: Shush

Shush wrote:
RecoveryTalk wrote:
A lot of people are relatively well-versed on what happens to their legs after a race or hard workout. You break down muscle, your connective tissue is damaged ever so slightly, etc., and you ultimately come back stronger.
What I, along with a lot of other people, don't understand is what happens to the rest of your body in the hours and days following a very hard effort. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer. Even if you can only answer one or two, that will be greatly appreciated.
-Can the heart muscle be damaged by back-to-back hard efforts, or too many hard efforts?
-If the body can continue to adapt and get stronger after six (or so) weeks of hard training, why does it eventually get overwhelmed?
-If you feel completely fine after a very hard effort -- say a half marathon -- several days after the fact, is there anything beyond your legs you have to worry about damaging by undergoing another hard effort?
-Why do aerobic bases take so long to kick in?
1. No
2. Lack of sugar intake.
3. Glycogen stores.
4. They don't kick in, they gradually grow.

The "burn out is only due to lack of carbs" argument is BS. If it were true, you could spend all day, every day training as long as you were stuffing your face the entire time.

8 years ago 08/25/2015 10:55pm EDT

re: RecoveryTalk

You bring up some interesting topics that I have wondered about myself and although I am not and expert here is what I have observed with young runners as it relates to question number 2.

First of all everyone is different and everyone reacts differently to stress.

Athletic, strong, flexible athletes seem more prone to over training or getting overwhelmed as you put it. That is because their strength, coordination, and flexibility keeps them free of injuries and consequently don't loose training time. The not so gifted end up injured and never run enough to over train.

So what I have observed is that these athletes pile on the mileage, pile on the intensity and do well for some time but many get overwhelmed. Swollen lymph nodes, sunken eyes, dead legs, and slower times.

I don't know why this happens but Lydiard and Noakes allege that systemic acidosis (prolonged lowering of the blood's pH) is the culprit. From experience this seems plausible but I have no scientific proof; I have seen it on a few occasions though. .

8 years ago 08/25/2015 11:44pm EDT

re: El Jefe

Sleep, it's all about sleep.

8 years ago 08/25/2015 11:50pm EDT

re: Far Out West

Far Out West wrote:
Sleep, it's all about sleep.

A lot of truth to that.

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How much of Recovery ISN'T about muscles, bones, joints, etc.?

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