On March 15, I did my last long workout before my race. “The two red days before May were the result of a brick workout (around 100 miles cycling followed immediately by 17-20 miles running), and then an Ironman I did on April 22. I have noticed over the years that when I deviate a few hours from my schedule, my performance in workouts, as well as my overall health and sleep quality, degrades. A routine allows my body to learn when to recover and when to perform, so I eat, workout, and sleep at generally the same time each day. “The pivotal action to my recovery is sticking to a routine. Stewart makes recovery a big part of his training, with a 3-month average of 71%. RELATED: A Simple Guide to Heart Rate Training “I try to follow the 80/20 rule: Only 20% of my training per week is high heart rate, while the other 80% is spent in my endurance zone.” This has been tough to learn, as is the case with many athletes, but knowing the WHOOP data has my back allows me to go easy or enjoy an off day. The biggest thing the Strap has taught me is to let go of my ego. I’ll either do a greatly reduced activity day, or take the day off from training completely. If I have a long day at work, my WHOOP knows it. “I really like seeing my strain from workouts, or sometimes more importantly from daily life. I take advantage of my green days by going for a longer or harder ride.” Besides getting the sleep I need, I take a day off from working out when I drop into the yellow for more than one day. The WHOOP Strap has been a great tool for me to learn how to balance my fitness and recovery. I went from training 12-15 hours per week to barely being able to do 6 hours some weeks. “Being overtrained or under-recovered is one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. He’s also never had a single red recovery in that time. What did I eat? Was there anything else unusual going on? Then I’ll make adjustments.”įor the past 6 months, Chris has has an average daily recovery of 75%. “On bad recovery days I’ll go back and evaluate my yesterday. I did an 8-mile run instead of 12 miles to help get my recovery back on track.” I’d been out the night before, didn’t eat well, and went to bed later than usual. “On the morning of May 28 (the lone red recovery pictured above), I was scheduled to do a long run. Sometimes I reschedule appointments or shift my workouts to the evenings so that instead of getting up at 4 am I’ll get up at 6.” If it’s low, I’ll adjust runs and rearrange my work schedule to accommodate sleep. “In the past, I let 5 or 6 hours of sleep dictate my life. I also eat differently depending on my workouts, with more carbs on more strenuous days.” One thing I’ve found is that eating processed foods and carbs from sugar can lead to lower Recoveries. Drinking water and a healthy diet are key. I teach people how to get the most out of their bodies. “I really love to geek out on my data and I’m a personal trainer as a secondary business. Jeff has maintained a 92% sleep performance in the last month, and recorded an average recovery of 69% in that time.
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