Isn't recovery supposed to be relaxing?

Its the classic saying, that a real ahlete should be a "24-hour athlete". Its the awareness that everything one does throughout the day has an effect on future training or races. I think some people take this a tad too literally sometimes, to a level of obsession and paranoia. Granted, a certain level of this is probably what makes a great athlete really great, but for most of us mere mortals, we don't always have the apparati or facilities to do the ideal thing in every occasion. Which, coincidentally, brings us to the topic of this article:

Effect of immediate and delayed cold water immersion after a high intensity exercise session on subsequent run performance. Brophy-Williams, N, Landers, G. and Wallman, K. Journal of Sport Science and Medicine (2011) 10, pp.665-670.

I knew some skiers that lived and died by their ice baths. If they didn't get it, their races were ruined. If they didn't get it soon enough, also ruined. If they etc, etc,... ruined. But, this study is great, because it looks at how important it is to jump into that cold bath as soon as possible.

The study used 8 "well trained" athletes who performed a total of 6 trials, in 3 sets of two. They'd do one high intensity interval session, followed by one of three recover conditions, and then another trial 24 hours later, doing a "Yoyo Intermittent recovery test", which, after a quick googling, is very similar to a "beep test" or a "30-metre shuttle run", or "that test where you run back and forth based on a tape recording beep", or, "one of the most fun maximal tests you can do". Seriously, its a blast. In a masochistic sort of way.

The secret to a good result is the turn. I'm not even kidding. Master the turn, and you gain several levels. These guys fail.

Anyhow, the fundmental portion of the test was the recovery conditions. The first condition was an immediate cold water bath, submerging to mid-sternum in 15 degree Celsius water for 15 minutes. The second condition was cold water immersion 3 hours after the interval session. Third was that classic recovery condition, "quiet sitting" for 15 minutes.

Just in case you need more information on the subject.

Prior to follow-up test 24 hours later, the subjects did some subjective reporting first, on recovery perception and muscle soreness. They then performed the shuttle run, and the results were recorded.

Let's start with subjective measures. The authors actually found that there was no significant change in muscle soreness, but did see a significant effect on perception of recovery. Naturally, its hard to know exactly whether the athlete's felt better because of the physiological changes to their muscles, or just psychological knowledge of doing something that they  perceive is beneficial for recovery.

The performance measures, there was some real noticeable difference! In...a person's ability to run back and forth. Yes, this does not necessarily have earth shattering all-world applications. But, the number of shuttles complete for the quiet sitting, the immediate cold water immersion, and the three hour immersion was 32.4, 37.9, and 35.7, respectively. In all cases, the finishing blood lactate and heart rate levels were very, very similar. So, similar effort, different recovery protocol, noticable performance difference!

Now, to all us mere mortals that don't have instant access to a means for cold water immersion after a hard exercise, the most relevant result is is the impact of cold water immersion after 3 hours. And, good news! Its still useful. Its not quite as useful as immediate, but the results are significant enough (10% performance enhancement) to still consider doing it!

I make no promises it will improve brain performance.

The authors also point out the other studies that agree, to a certain extent, on their premise. One study showed that doing a swimming recovery session 10-hours after intense exercise improved performance in a time to fatigue run 24 hours later. 10 hours later, and making efforts to recover were still applicable!

The ultimate conclusion? The sooner the better, but better late the never!


So, how does this apply to orienteering?

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Orienteering race weekends really do take their toll on an athlete, probably more so than in many other sports. 3 races in three days, or even 2 days, at least one being as long as 90 minutes, requiring total focus, both mentally and physically. Its intensive stuff.

First, and most obvious, is that the specific recovery protocol in the study above, cold water immersion, still appears to have some effect quite some time after competition. So, you can still compete, warm-down, change, eat, chit-chat, drive home, winge about something on Attackpoint, and then an ice bath. Its still somewhat beneficial! If you want to perform at your best, but still have a real life, then a compromise is still possible.

Now, here's another thought, remember how the cold water immersion had a significant effect in the perception of recovery? I think this is also an important point. Like I said above, its hard to know whether they were sensing actual recovery, or just feeling like they must be recovered, because they actually did something to improve their recovery. Never underestimate the power of the placebo! There are so many claimed ways to improve recovery. To a certain extent, who cares if they don't necessarily work? An important aspect is your belief that it is effective. Wear compression? Elevate your legs? Have a nap? Self-massage? Cry? Shoot terrorists in Call of Duty 3?

On those weekends of multi-race days, everyone needs to develop some vices to make one feel as though they are recovering. Clearly, this study has shown that cold-water immersion appears to be one effective method. But, if you can't do that, you should find your own thing. A calming, relaxing situation that makes you feel recovered.

Which is ironic, because sitting in an ice cold bath is neither relaxing nor calming.

This video is also neither relaxing or calming, because its hilarious.

"To me, it look like a leprechaun to me."