Beyond General Fitness: Running: Recovery Experiment Final

So about a month ago I had read several articles about how compression gear could aid in muscle recovery.  The only thing was that the articles seemed anecdotal at best and didn't have me convinced that it was accurate.  So I decided to test it out on myself.  My first post about it was 03/22/2017, then I did a follow up post after testing compression gear 04/08/2017.

To recap my schedule from my earlier posts:

The test will be as follows.
Run 1:  7 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  No assisted recovery
Run 2:  8 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  No assisted recovery
Run 3:  9 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 4:  10 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 5:  11 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Epsom Salt bath post run.
Run 6:  12 mile road run on packed dirt and mud.  Epsom Salt bath post run.

So I have finished the final run.  Now the final run was supposed to be a 12 mile run, but I ended up doing 13.3 miles as I thought about how Spartan Beasts were a minimum of 13 miles.  So I decided to do more.

The only thing that might have thrown off the results of my experiment is that I did do a Leg strength day on Tuesday before.  I figured I would have been recovered by Friday, but as the run was hard from mile 6 on so I clearly wasn't recovered.

To recap from my prior runs I was sore for several days post no assisted recovery runs.  With the Compression socks post runs I had little to no soreness in the calf and feet the day after the run.  Although I did have knee and hip soreness post 10 mile run.

Now for the longest two runs to date.  After both runs I felt pretty sore by the end of the day.  The soreness was from the waist down.  I will say that after the Epsom Salt bath on the 11 mile run I wasn't all that sore the next day.  A little sore, but nothing to bad.  Although after the 13.3 mile run even with the Epsom Salt bath I was very sore come Saturday morning.  The soreness was better after moving for a bit, but any time sitting for a while caused the soreness to return.  Now the second day post run I will admit that the soreness has gotten quite a bit better.  The soreness after sitting for a bit seems to have abated and mainly the soreness I feel is muscular in the quads, hams and calves.  Very little joint soreness is felt.  It seems that my prediction on the post from 04/08/2017 was mainly accurate.  It seems that any recovery assistance is better the none at all.

In conclusion what I have learned and what I will do from this point forward on all long training runs is a combination of things.  It seemed that Compression gear seemed to enhance recovery at the location of the compression only.  Epsom Salt bath seemed to enhance recovery as well, but as the entire lower half of the body is covered in a bath it seemed to also be location dependent.  Doing both might provide additional recovery, but the most important thing I learned was to not do a leg strength workout the same week that I am going to run 12+ miles.

Beyond General Fitness: Running: Recovery Test 2

Well it has now been four weeks since I started my Recovery Test.  Part 1 is there and just to recap my schedule is:

The test will be as follows.
Run 1:  7 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  No assisted recovery
Run 2:  8 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  No assisted recovery
Run 3:  9 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 4:  10 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 5:  11 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Epsom Salt bath post run.
Run 6:  12 mile road run on packed dirt and mud.  Epsom Salt bath post run.

So now I am post Run's 1-4 and my schedule was altered because of life.  I was unable to do a trail run for my 10 mile run.  So the only thing that throws off is how I felt after Run 2. 

So after my first two runs I will say that I was sore.  My quads, calves and knees were sore for several days post run.  I won't say that I was in pain, but just sore like they had been worked. 

Now after runs 3 and 4 I have used my Mud Gear knee high compression socks applied post run and shower.  I will say that my calves and feet feel better then they did on the first runs.  I had no calf or foot soreness or stiffness even the day after my run.  I'm still having some knee and now hip soreness post the last two runs, but again it isn't pain.  The compression socks of course don't cover the knee or the hips so I am not really surprised that they would still be sore.

I am starting to think that my experiment will simply be that any post run recovery is better then no recovery at all, but as a fairly scientific minded person I'm going to see this test through.  So for my final two training runs I will finish the runs then before going to bed at night I will do a hot Epsom Salt bath before bed.  I'm not sure if this will throw off the results as I am not doing it directly post run, but I have a life and run in the morning.  I don't have time to do a soak until after my children go to bed.

We will see how the final few runs go.


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Beyond General Fitness: Running: Recovery Test Part 1

Well after reading several articles about long distance recovery strategies I decided to do the research myself.  I found that Epsom Salt and Ice baths both work fairly well, but the studies that talked about Compression gear aiding recovery didn't have me convinced.  It seemed anecdotal at best.  So instead of doing more research I just decided to test it myself. 

The test will be as follows.
Run 1:  7 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  No assisted recovery
Run 2:  8 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  No assisted recovery
Run 3:  9 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 4:  10 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 5:  11 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Epsom Salt bath post run.
Run 6:  12 mile road run on packed dirt and mud.  Epsom Salt bath post run.

As planned after my last two long runs I have done nothing except Ibuprofen and playing with my children.  I tend to take Ibuprofen for general aches and pains anyway.  So after my 7 mile road run I was sore more of that day and the day after, but by the end of the week I was fine.  7 miles isn't the longest run I had ever done, but it certainly was the second longest. 

Today however was my 8 mile trail run.  This is now the longest run I have ever done and I am feeling it already.  I have stuck with the experiment and will not use compression or Epsom Salt bath or anything for recovery.  I hope that it is the same as last time and in just a few short days I was ready for my next run, but we shall see.

The next runs will test compression gear and a known recovery aid in order to compare if compression is better then nothing, but is it better then a known recovery assisting plan.

I know that as far as science goes a test group of a single person isn't the most accurate test, but it is worth putting it to the test.  I believe I am a perfect tester for this as I am running incrementally longer runs and I have never ran these distances before in my life.  This should be a good test as my muscles should be more sore and fatigued then others that might have been runner for years. 

I am dreading the next few days after todays run of 8+ miles and 2k ascent, but I will be interested to know how next week will go.