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Active Recovery for Runners
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Recovery is just as important for you as your running. Especially active recovery. And water-based workouts, as well as cycling and a little spell in the sauna, are really good options to help repair your muscles faster.
We spoke to our experts to find out which are the best active recovery workouts for runners.
Why is active recovery important?
First, let’s do a rundown of why active recovery is so important as a runner. It may seem counterintuitive to prioritise rest days when you could be adding more miles to your training. But without recovery, you could actually see plateaus in your performance. That’s because of overtraining and pushing on through muscle fatigue.
Sitting on your sofa is one way to rest and active recovery is another. So what’s the difference? Active recovery involves gentle, low-intensity movement, like cycling or swimming. Through the movement, you’re increasing your blood flow which gets the oxygen to your muscles and helps to remove waste products from your runs. This reduces pain in your legs - which you might know as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS - and speeds up your muscle recovery. The science behind it suggests that you’ll feel more able to run the next day than if you did absolutely no movement at all.
Cycling and swimming for running recovery
Cross-training is way of getting your muscles moving without the impact through your body that you get when you run. That’s why cycling and swimming are great options. They provide low-impact, gentle movement that helps your body recover without adding extra stress. Here’s why they’re so good:
Improving blood flow: Keeping your heart rate up to improve circulation which delivers oxygen and nutrients to tired muscles and clears out metabolic waste products, like lactic acid
Reducing DOMS: Moving through water provides a gentle resistance while also massaging your muscles to reduce stiffness and inflammation
Low-impact movement: Cycling keeps your body in motion allowing you to stay mobile without strain and swimming and aqua jogging cushion your movements to reduce stress on your knees, hips and ankles
Keeping your range of motion and flexibility: Staying active with cycling and swimming stops your muscles from tightening up, maintains flexibility and reduces the risk of stiffness which gets you ready for your next training session
Helping you relax: Finding gentle ways to move your body on rest days will give you all the mental health benefits that you enjoy on your runs.
A top tip from our Virgin Active experts:
“For your training, we’d recommend adding these recovery sessions 1 – 2 times a week, especially after long runs or tough speed days. You could also mix them up based on how your body feels — a gentle pool session if you’re really sore, or an easy spin when you just need to shake out some stiffness.”
Heat therapy for runners: does it really work?
You probably don’t need another incentive to jump in the sauna. But we’ll give you one anyway.
Heat therapy really works for runners. It increases your circulation, boosts your blood flow, helps to release muscle tension, removes metabolic waste through sweating and can even increase your endurance.
A good idea is to pop 2 - 4 of these sessions in your week after your workouts or on your rest days. You only need between 15 - 30 minutes to feel the benefits. Just remember to stay hydrated with 250 - 500ml of water before and after. And if you’re new to heat therapy, why not start with 5 minutes and gradually build up. You can also take breaks whenever you feel like it.
How to use massage guns for recovery as a runner
Another great way to reduce tightness in your muscles and speed up recovery is with a massage gun. If you’re in one of our clubs with a Recovery Zone, you’ll find Hyperice percussion therapy and Normatec compression boots.
Massage guns help to reduce muscle tightness by improving blood flow and giving you deep tissue vibrations. On the other hand, leg sleeves use air compression to flush out lactic acid, reduce swelling and improve your circulation.
Our advice is to use massage guns daily (or as much as you need) for 1 - 2 minutes per muscle group and try compression boots up to three times per week for around 20 - 30 minutes.
What about recovery runs?
Recovery runs are also another way of getting in movement doing something you love. They are low-intensity runs done at a difficulty of around two or three out of ten for 20 minutes.
Just like swimming and cycling, they’re great for getting the blood moving around your body to remove lactic acid build up, reduce muscle soreness and deliver nutrients to your body.
If you’re used to running quite a lot of miles per week, you might prefer to do recovery runs on your active rest days. But if you’re new or quite prone to injury, then cross-training like swimming and cycling alongside the sauna can help you keep all the same benefits without straining or overtraining.
You’ll find everything you need for your active recovery days at your local Virgin Active.
Ready for your next workout? Check out all the group exercise classes available at Virgin Active.
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