Moorland Ramblings

I have to admit something… I’m not as young as I used to be. Now, growing older has a load of benefits, but within these, recovery from exercise definitely isn’t one. My body has taken a bit of a battering over the years, and I’ve been unfortunate (or stupid) enough to suffer through a number of injuries in my younger years. I’ve ruptured my biceps, had a syndesmosis injury, torn my hamstring and been run over with the broken bones associated with that. Following each of these, I was able to recover quickly and get on with my life (following a lot of moaning and sympathy searching). Those days are long gone, however. No more can I run a half marathon, have a few beers and then run to catch a train home (although I will admit standing up after a couple of hours on the train was difficult – instead of getting off at Southampton Central, I ended up at Totton – big thanks to the staff there who helped me get home). Moving from my bed to the sofa holds the possibility of injury these days! Each day my body fails me just a little bit more, and in more unusual ways (the other day my thigh decided to cramp up as I was climbing the stairs). OK, ok, I may be exaggerating a bit, but it’s for good reason.

Over the last couple of years, the benefits of stretching, rest days and being a little less “gung-ho” with my approach to exercise have really become clear to me, no-more-so then in the last week when I stopped doing this. I had a week’s leave, and my birthday fell in the middle of it. My natural instinct to hike as much as possible, break this up with a few hill runs, and recover with a few beers and pub lunches took over. By the end of the week my legs were heavy and tired, by the time I was going back to work a few days after that, I could barely walk.

I have always understood that exercising creates micro tears in our muscles, and that it is during the healing phase that they grow bigger and stronger. I have also always known that this process occurs during recovery. What I’ve never really done however is apply this knowledge into theory. In short, I didn’t know “how” to recover and often, where I don’t understand something, or don’t know how to do it, I just avoid it. This is what I did with exercise recovery, for me, recovering was going to a pub or sitting on a sofa. I didn’t have any real strategy to it and certainly didn’t apply active thought to “doing” it.

I want to be able to hike as long as I want and when I want. I want to be able to hike pain free and without gasping for breath. I want to be able to get about my normal day to day, like playing with my daughter and going to my job without running the risk of another torn hamstring or shin splints. In order to do this, I need to recover properly, and you will too (especially if you’re no longer in your twenties). Research will tell you about active vs long-term recovery, talking to others will help you understand how certain movements/actions are done and experience will tell you about what works best for you. For me, I have found a combination of stretching, massage guns and rest days (days when I completely switch away from any type of active exercise and jut focus on normal activity) work best. Not only do these help me physically recover, but the opportunity to think and reflect (for example during a stretching workout) offers psychological recovery (over and above the reflections from being out in the hills) also.

I think it important to recognise that exercising isn’t the only form of stress your body experiences. Stresses through work, family and other physiological processes (i.e illness) all have an impact on your bodies ability to recover. For this reason, each person should create a recovery plan bespoke to them and the situation they are in.

I guess what I’m saying, whilst I understand the temptation (and have fallen foul to it many a time), don’t spend every day charging about the hills and pushing yourself to your limits. Spending some time working on your physical and psychological recovery will ensure you get the most out of the time available to you to get out and about. Doing the support work through warmups (maybe not for a hike but a run/cycle etc), cool downs and stretching creates the environment in which the primary work of the exercise and recovery of the body (and I will also say mind) can be done to its fullest potential.