Multisport Life

Working Stiff Recovery Guide

If you’re like me, training is squeezed in between work and family commitments. Oh, for the life of a pro where I could take a nap between hard sessions!

In my world, however, I’m up at 5 a.m., train and/or write articles, and then haul my butt to work from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Then I haul my butt across town to sit in a biology or chemistry class until 9 p.m. Once that’s over, I get home at 9:30 p.m. and if I’m lucky, get a chance to unwind a bit before hitting the rack. If I’m really lucky, the boss doesn’t take me to a last-minute lunch meeting and I can sneak in a training session on my lunch hour.

I’m sure I am not alone in my juggling act to find time to train for triathlons. This gets even more challenging when winter comes around and I’m training for four sports instead of three as I gear up for the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Let’s not even go into the fact that I live in Las Vegas which is not known for its great ski areas.

The point is, it’s tough to make the time to bike, run, or swim when you have a gazillion other commitments…or even balance the equation out a bit by adding in yoga, meditation and strength training. But what happens when you are injured? How in the hell do you make the time to heal when you feel you barely have enough time to train?

A nagging calf injury last season brought this subject to the forefront of my life. Since I can’t take ice baths at work, or soak in the jacuzzi, or more importantly, take power naps, I had to resort to some creative recovery techniques for those of us age groupers who have to work for a living.

The Working Stiff’s Office Recovery Guide

• Stock a Fuel Drawer. If you train at lunch, have your recovery drink and/or post-workout nutrition ready to go. In my desk, I have a drawer dedicated to nutrition so I can have quick access to my stash of goodies. What’s in my drawer today?
  • 3 ZonePerfect Chocolate Mint bars
  • 1 tube of NUUN Hydration Tablets (Kona Cola flavor)
  • 2 packets of Sunrider’s Vita-Shake
  • 3 packets of Sunrider’s Fortune Delight (anti-oxidant tea)
  • 1 sample packet of Starbucks’ Berryblossom White tea
  • 1 bottle of Sunrider’s Sunnydew (contains stevia as a sweetener and antioxidant boost for the teas)
  • 1 Trader Joe’s dark chocolate, raisins & pecan bar (not healthy, but I’m counting the raisins as fruit, the nuts as a source of healthy fat and the dark chocolate as an antioxidant!)
  • 2 cans of tuna
  • 1 tub of Biotest’s Surge Recovery powder
• Keep an ACE wrap (elastic bandage) and an ice pack handy. When my calf was torn, the ART practitioner had me ice it 4-5 times per day for 20 minutes at a time. I would hike up my pant leg, wrap the ice pack on my calf, and then roll the pant leg down. The ice pack was hidden and no one was the wiser that I was in “full recovery mode.”
• Learn the art of the sneaky massage. Since I also work behind a desk, I was able to give myself a quick massage without drawing unnecessary attention. That was critical to helping the recovery process speed along.
• Use the secret power of the bathroom. One of the great recovery tips after a hard run or bike is to lay on the floor and prop your feet up on the wall. Unless you want to get fired, this is probably not a great thing to do in the office. However, if you have a clean single-stall bathroom, go in and lock the door. Prop your feet up on the wall and relax for five minutes. Hey, Bob down the hall takes his magazine collection in there for 20 minutes every day. You can at least spend five minutes helping your legs recover!
• Keep protein nearby. Always, always, have a source of protein that you can lay your hands on. If you’re nursing an injury, those cells need amino acids to repair themselves. You can give it to them with extra protein or an amino acid supplement.
• Swap some focused breathing for a nap. While it would be nice to turn your cheap office chair into a La-Z-Boy recliner, you’re a working stiff and will have to make do. Head to the bathroom again and take a seat on the porcelain throne. Close your eyes and focus your attention on your breath. Deep inhale through the nose, long exhale out the mouth. Do this for a minute. Next, keeping your attention on your breath and your posture (i.e., don’t slouch), breath in through your nose and out through nose. Nice and gentle. Count each inhale as 1, and work your way up to 10, and then back down to 1. Just keep your focus on your breath and all of that mental garbage will start to dissipate. Five minutes of this is equal to a five-minute power nap.
• Stretch your bod. Take your favorite stretch and go do it. The more times you can get this in during the day, the better. You may have to run off to the bathroom again if you need privacy. Since my area of focus is my calves, I will often do a soleus stretch once or twice a day to keep everything nice and limber.

If you have any other recovery tricks for the time-challenged, please share them in the comments section below.

Find your edge and dance upon it.

hak