COACH’S CORNER – RECOVERY THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF YOUR TRAINING PLAN, WITH ISOBEL ROSS

Kate Dzienis • December 11, 2021

Coach’s Corner is a feature for our AURA members, where qualified trained professionals provide you with advice and tips on improving and enhancing your ultra running performance.

Isobel Ross is a Level 2 Recreational Running Coach at Peak Endurance Coaching and accredited with Athletics Australia. She is also a UESCA certified ultra running coach, a Running Revolution certified coach and a qualified personal trainer. Isobel works with athletes of all levels at all distances and she is also the host of podcast Peak Endurance. Isobel is a 3-time Australian long distance mountain running representative at the World Championships with a best finishing place of 10th female. Twice Australian trail champion, she has won Six Foot Track marathon, run a sub-3-hour marathon, and won a 24-hour track race overall with a distance of 198.7kms.

RECOVERY THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF YOUR TRAINING PLAN

So many people believe that it’s when you’re running and training that you are getting stronger and fitter. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you are training you are actually breaking the body down. It’s when you rest or focus on recovery that your body is repairing and rebuilding to make you a stronger, more robust athlete. For this reason, resting is your key to becoming the runner you’ve always dreamed of becoming!

Let’s look at the different components of rest and recovery.

RECOVERY

The dictionary definition of recovery is: ‘a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.’ This is a very important meaning! And it’s definitely what we want to achieve with recovery. Recovery itself has many modalities.

Recovery runs:

These are not junk miles! These are easy runs (max 1 hour) the day after a harder session/long run. They should feel easy, a shake out run. You should not be running to get Strava segments, or with faster people. This needs to be easy to enable recovery.

Active recovery:

Active recovery involves participating in cross training activities. This may be an easy walk with friends, an easy bike ride or swim. It means you are moving but not running. In this way, the body is de-loaded from the impact of running, but still benefiting from moving and/or being in fresh air.

Sleep:

Sleep is the most important tool in your recovery toolkit. Sleep will improve your running like nothing else can. You need to aim for 8-9 hours in bed to ensure you get 7-8 hours sleep. It always takes some time to get to sleep, and we all have wakeful moments during the night hence the need to be in bed longer than the hours of sleep required.

The sleep preparation cycle is something to be considered. Set up your phone so it goes into ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode 30-60 minutes before your planned bedtime. No using your phone to read, etc during this time. If you really want to disrupt your sleep, read the news before bed!

Sleep hygiene is important to ensure good quality sleep. Phones on airplane mode, no glowing lights from TVs, other plugs or electronics. Blackout curtains or blinds to keep streetlights or morning light out. A window open for a cooling breeze. Try to keep the room cool as this promotes deeper sleep.

Nutrition:

Nutrition is another way of helping the body to recover. Processed and ‘junk’ foods increase inflammation in the body, which then leads to injury or ill-health. Good quality proteins help the muscles to repair. Fresh fruits and vegetables help to reduce inflammation and provide essential vitamins and minerals. Water is essential to keep the body hydrated and working well and allow digestion of your quality nutrition. I truly believe excellent food is vital if you want to be an athlete who performs at their best.

Massage:

I think runners should get a massage (and I’m not talking relaxation ones) every 1-2 weeks. Massage helps to keep the body loose. It also allows you to avoid injury as your therapist should be able to find the sore spots! I also really believe it keeps you in good communication with your body so you are more aware of how it’s feeling. I have always prioritised massages. And as good as rollers, etc are, they are no substitute for the real deal.

Other modalities:

This is where things like compression tights, compression boots, ice baths, cryo-therapy, etc come in. Although these may make you feel like you are doing something to aid your recovery, they don’t compare to sleep and good nutrition. Even massage comes further down the ladder than these two. Focus on perfecting your sleep and nutrition before worrying about spending money on any other recovery modalities.

Similar to recovery, but more difficult for runners to embrace is the notion of rest.

REST

The dictionary definition of rest is: ‘cease work or movement in order to relax, sleep, or recover strength.’ (Are you seeing the theme here where it’s all about regaining strength within the body and mind?)

Rest days:

There is only one modality for rest: rest. This means not running. It’s important for your physical and mental health to have rest days. Rest days should be renamed rebuild days. These are the days when your body repairs the micro damage that you can neither see nor feel but that should be respected. Depending on your schedule/needs this may be once or twice a week, or once a fortnight. I tend to have a rest day once a fortnight because this is what works for my body. You need to find what works for you, but it is an essential part of the training plan. Rest allows the body to have a break from any activity and to focus fully on repair. Use this time to get a little more time to sleep in the mornings or spend more time with loved ones in an evening.

Rest blocks:

Blocks of rest from training within the overall program are also important. This may be a week of no running for a week after a miler. Maybe some recovery walks, rides or swims but no official training. Then slowly easing back into running. Not only is this important for the body, but it is also essential to recharge mentally. If you never have a break from running it is highly likely you will become burnt out and lose the fire and drive for running. Having a break re-invigorates you and stokes the fire so you can push through the hard months of training to come. It is also a good time to work on your goals for the upcoming season and to get excited about them!

As you can see there are many different components to the concept of rest and recovery. If you do not build these into your program you will pay through injury, burnout or sickness. As runners we always like to focus on how hard we can push ourselves, but sometimes we need to focus on doing as little as possible. In this way we will become balanced runners, and balanced humans. Enjoy your rest and recovery! You will be a better runner for it.

I would love to hear how you get on with some of these ideas. Email me isobel@peakendurancecoaching.com.au to let me know!

PEAK ENDURANCE COACHING - AN AURA ENDORSED COACH

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AUTRA News Report 19-02-2025

By Kate Dzienis • February 19, 2025

The latest in race results, covering Cradle Mountain Run, City Run, Oscars 100 Hut 2 Hut and Yaberoo Trail Ultra.

Final 2024 Points Competition Results

By Alexis Oosterhoff • January 30, 2025

Results for the 2024 AUTRA Points Competition have been finalised, and are available on our Points Competition page. Full details of the top 10 (as shared on Facebook during January) are detailed below, and results for all participating AUTRA members can be found in the documents at the above link. It was a real battle throughout the year between our top two finishers, Phil Gore & Kevin "BK" Matthews, with both giving it their it their all at events, and through contributions to the community - volunteering at multiple events, and submitting articles to our monthly newsletter, Ultramag. They finished within 2km of total distance for the year (Phil on 1203.087km, and Kevin on 1205.510km), and it was only Phil's final volunteering effort on 6 Inch Trail Marathon in December that gave him the that very narrow victory. As you'd be aware from previous communications, this marks the end of the Points Competition. With trail running (of all distances) now incorporated into AU T RA's constitution, and after careful consideration of the costs of the competition payouts in it's current form, the committee felt it was time for it's retirement. This marks my seventh and final year of delivering the points competition to membership (2018-2024), after taking on the role from Cheryl Symons. It has brought me great joy in doing so, and I feel like I've had an opportunity to get to know so many of our members through seeing their race (and volunteering) performances over the years! I'm continuing in my role as the AUS/NZL statistician for DUV (from whom we shared the data for the points comp), and you can expect to continue to find your ultra-race result on their site. 1st Place - Phil Gore (WA) - 86 points Phil's achievements this year have included a massive 265.653km (and 2nd place) at the IAU 24h Asia & Oceania Championships, wins at the Red Dirt Backyard Ultra (33 laps), the Australian leg of Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship (96 laps), and the Soochow/Taipei 24h Ultramarathon (270.826km). He also knocked out an easy (!) 72km at the Light Horse Ultra 24h in between supporting his amazing wife Gemma. Those two 24h wins netted Phil new Oceania 24h Open Male records, IAU Level 1 qualifiers, and pushed him to the top of Australia's 24h trophy board (with only the great Yiannis Kouros having run further). Phil topped-up his points by contributing one article to Ultramag, worked as an Event Director at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, and volunteered at a further five events through the year. He finished on 86 points. 2nd Place - Kevin Matthews (WA) - 84 points Finishing in 2nd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Kevin Matthews. He monstered his way through the year with finishes at Australia Day Ultra 100km, Delirious WEST 200mi, 24 laps at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, 190km at Light Horse Ultra 24h, 23 laps at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, and also completed Feral Pig 100 miler, Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km. And to top things off, he contributed five articles to Ultramag, and volunteered at five events. BK ran 1205km in Ultramarathon races this year, all of them AUTRA-listed, and surpassed 100 marathon finishes (including 51 Ultramarathons!) Kevin finished the year on 84 points, a massive 34 points ahead of our 3rd place finisher Sue Robertson. 3rd Place - Sue Robertson (WA) - 50 points Finishing in 3rd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Sue Robertson. Sue completed the Ultra Series 100 miler trilogy of Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST, and rounded out her year with the Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km races. She received 30 points from the racing at AUTRA-listed events, and was awarded a further 20 points by volunteering across eight events and contributing two articles to Ultramag, for a total of 50 points for the year. Thank you Sue! 4th Place - Margie Hadley (WA) - 47 points Finishing in 4th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Margie Hadley . She was the top-female finisher at both the No Time to Die Frontyard Ultra & Wild Dog Backyard Ultra, 2nd at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, ran 182km at the Australian 24h Track Invitational and placed 3rd at Coast to Kosci. Margie received 47 points in the competition 5th Place - Melissa Robertson (NSW) - 44 points Finishing in 5th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Melissa Robertson. Melissa took out 1st place at Irrational SOUTH 200 miler, 2nd place at Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place at Hume & Hovell 100 miler, 3rd place at Rumble in the Jungle and 6th place at Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko 100 miler! She also volunteered at the GNW 50km event, receiving 44 points in the competition! 6th Place - Aaron Young (WA) - 42 points Finishing in 6th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Aaron Young . Aaron finished in 1st place at each of the Ultra Series "Triple Crown" of 200 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), 55 laps at Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship, and rounded his year out with Feral Pig 100 miler. Aaron receives 42 points, just nudging ahead of Maree Connor (who also finished on 42 points) on a count-back 7th Place - Maree Connor (NSW) - 42 points Finishing in 7th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Maree Connor. Maree had an outstanding year, achieving 2nd place with 221km (and an IAU Level 1 qualifier) at the IAU 24th Asian and Oceania Championships, 1st place at the Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place with 67km at the Southern Sydney 6h race, and 1st place with 116km at the Narrabeen Allnighter 12h. Maree also competed at Spartathlon race this year (for which she contributed an article to the September Ultramag on her experience), receiving 42 points in the competition. 8th Place - Darren Linney (SA) - 41 points Finishing in 8th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is SA's Darren Linney . Darren completed 34 laps at No Time to Die BYU, 199km at the Adelaide 24h race, and 814km at the Australian 6 Day race, for a total of 1241km raced and 41 points . 9th Place - Tristan Cameron (WA) - 40 points Finishing in 9th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Tristan Cameron. Tristan completed the Ultra Series Triple Crown of 200 mile races (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), along with Feral Pig 100 miler, for a total of 1154km raced and 40 points. 10th Place - Jen Millum (WA) - 39 points Finishing in 10th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Jen Millum . Jen finished 1st at all three of the Ultra Series Trilogy of 100 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), and was 2nd female with 35 laps at the Wild Dog Backyard Ultra. With a volunteer stint at the Yaberoo Trail Ultra, Jen finished the year with 39 points in the competition. To view the complete list of members who secured points in 2024 click here and then follow through to Points Summary under the 2024 tab. All winners have already been contacted, with cash prizes distributed for 1st - 7th places, and AUTRA Store vouchers sent for 8th, 9th & 10th.