Stretch
Whilst our muscles are warm, it’s the perfect time to stretch to avoid cramping and maintain flexibility. We particularly love the hip-flexor stretches specifically for running and cycling. Notice how much lighter and more free your body feels after a few good stretches have been done.
Why? Without flexibility, the muscles actually shorten and become tighter so we can’t perform the movements we need to when we return to training. It’s a recipe for disaster and a great way to develop an injury as the muscles are being forced to tear apart if they aren’t stretchy enough! Ew gross even just the thought – so hey, keep that in mind next time you think to skip that post-workout routine!
Eat some protein and carbohydrates within 45 minutes
The hard part has been done. Don’t ruin it now. Take in the right nutrients and let the body do the rest to get stronger, recover and repair. It’s recommended to take protein to rebuild muscle and carbohydrates to replace glycogen all within 45 minutes from training.
What you actually eat is so personal, but just as an example, we might grab a yogurt or some rice cakes and avocado.
Drink up baby, rehydrating is 200% important
We know water is vital for everything, from helping your brain to your skin to the energy you have – we all learned in school most of our body is made of water! Even if we don’t feel thirsty, we keep on sipping (well, try to!) We discovered that to really hydrate your body it’s best to drink warm or room temperature water with a little bit of salt so that it can really help your body to absorb water at its best.
Why? For so many reasons, to give your body the energy it needs, to replace all the sweat you lost and to avoid lack of concentration and…wait, the list could go on, so we’ll stop there!
Keep it clean and rinse off your heart rate chest strap
Yea come on, it’s gross if you don’t! It’s the item of clothing that’s going to absorb your sweat, so rinse it off. How about jumping in the shower and washing it immediately so you don’t forget (if it’s a chest strap that is machine-washable, otherwise use cold water!)
Why? Other than because it’s gross, if not rinsed, the salts will build up and affect the performance results given by the strap.
How? If you’ve got garmin, here’s a link to how to keep it clean!
Relish a cold shower!
What a beautiful thing! A shower, yes. But a cold one, not so much because it’s just uncomfortable and unpleasant, we hear you! But why have we started taking them? Because so much research says that after a hard workout, the cold water will help the muscles to relax and therefore you might not find yourself so sore the next day. It gets the blood moving quickly and therefore helps to pump it to all those vital muscles that need recovering!
So here we go by the motto, no pain, no gain – because without that cold shower, you’re not going to help those muscles get stronger!
Check out those stats and feel proud
Some of us are more dedicated to data analysis than others. For us, it depends on the day. Sometimes, if we feel good about the workout we have just completed, we are happy and leave it like that. If we feel good, and that’s one of our principal reasons why we took up triathlon (always come back to why), then there is no need to look further.
Sometimes, however, we do like to take a look to see if we have improved from a few weeks ago when we did the same training session. At times, the data can motivate us. We don’t feel we did that well, but actually having looked at the data, we did better than the last time. We see gradual improvements which helps to keep that motivation, to keep working because we see our hard work is paying off.
Plus, if we are together, we discuss how we felt, what was hard and what we want to concentrate on next time. We talk forever about this…and the conversation never ends. Until, oh wait, until it’s time to head back home before our ’10 pm Italian curfew’ – thanks Covid!
