Coach Yam Says Q&A: Recoveries During Sessions

Author: Yamuna Thiru

Question
What’s the purpose of the recoveries between the efforts?
Should we be standing, walking or jogging?

Answer
The recoveries give time for the heart rate to come down a little and the body to mobilise other energy sources and use up any lactate that may have built up. Ideally, the recoveries should be a slow jog or maybe a walk. The take home message is: keep moving.

Club sessions: when the whistle blows, stop briefly, jog to regroup and continue gentle jogging until it’s time for the next rep.

If you go to the track and see sprinters in action, they spend a lot of time sitting down during their recoveries, which can be very lengthy.  Meanwhile the long distance runners are going round and round the track with relatively short but active recoveries.

The sprinters are running at close to their maximum speed i.e. using their anaerobic energy system.  They need time for lactate to be utilised before they can go again. In the animal kingdom, the equivalent is the lion; they run at max speed for the chase and then asleep for the rest of the day. Not sure if the lioness has the long rest option when there are cubs to look after!

We are training more aerobically but are pushing towards the lactate threshold.  Our bodies have to adapt to the workload and, as you get fitter, you will be able to run the efforts at your target pace and jog the recoveries.  Think gazelle rather than lion.

You should aim to complete the session and run the efforts at a consistent pace.  It’s not how you start, it’s how you maintain and finish that counts.