Muscle Recovery

[SouthernBelle]

I did not know about the cold water soaks (I've been doing a hot soak) nor the half hour window. I also have been doing self massage at night rather than right after. Hopefully these things will help since I cooked my quads at the gym last week.

BTW, for massages I've used my grandmother's rolling pin. Keep it off the boney areas. Wash it up before making biscuits or pie crust.

[OakLeaf]

What everyone else said about protein and self-massage.

The only time I did a cold soak, I wound up with hypothermia and had to spend a half hour in a hot bath I think that pretty much defeated the purpose

[Eden]

Hot water really doesn't work the same way cold does....
You can't do it for a long time - about 5 minutes at a time.
The theory goes you are sore because when you do a hard workout you are creating all sorts of little micro tears in your muscles. All that damage causes swelling and soreness. Soaking in cold water is like icing an injury. I can vouch that it really does work. I do a 3 day stage race in June. I've tried the cold water soak inbetween the days and I've started the last day without sore legs. I don't find it pleasant enough to want to do it all of the time though....

As far as the 30 minute window goes - its pretty well agreed upon that immediately after exercise to 30 minutes is the best time to refuel. You don't have to get fancy - you can use chocolate milk if you want to, just be sure what you use has a mixture of carbs, proteins and a little fat. I'm not sure what this will do for the soreness, but it really should help with tiredness and the heavy leg feeling.

[Thorn]

At some point we just don't bounce back like we used to. What works for some, might not work for others. We started make a concerted effort for post ride protein and have good results. That could be anywhere from finishing up the sports drink with a big handful of almonds to a protein recovery bar or recovery drink. In fall and winter, we've stretched it to stopping for a hot chocolate or a chai at Starbucks (hey, if chocolate milk is supposed to work, then I fgure hot chocolate works, too -- of course, I'm not sure there is support for chai, but any way I can justify it, I will )

I also read somewhere that elevating the legs also helps--keeps the circulation running. I'm a little skeptical on that one, but trying it gives you a good excuse for lounging around after a ride.