One of the simplest and most attainable ways to immediately gain improvement in your speed training is to begin practicing daily rituals of active regeneration.
The definition of regeneration in the Merriam-Weber online dictionary says “to change radically and for the better, to generate or produce anew” and my favorite is “to produce again chemically sometimes in a physically changed form”.
I found the definition of regeneration helpful when trying to best describe the implications of routine generation for your existing speed-training program if you add small amounts each day.
A priority trick you must learn is to install various methods of regeneration into your existing plan, as is, if you want to see improvement.
The simplest methods of active regeneration are repeatable at home and are not expensive. The best way to practice and benefit most from active regeneration is to remember small amounts performed routinely on a schedule works best.
Here are some great ideas to get your started
- Get some mason jars, fill 3 up on your kitchen counter and make sure you drink that amount of water every day. If you are travelling for training or comp buy a few days supply of bottled water ahead of time for the trip and take them with you don’t get dehydrated (if you are flying, buy some as soon as you land)
- Epson salt baths, as soon after your speed training has been completed as possible, to begin the cycle of your body healing
- Epson salt baths done before bed might also help you sleep.
- If you have not yet tried contrast showers, today might be a good day to start. If you have concerns about health always check with your medical doctor. Begin your shower as hot as you are able to tolerate it and follow with cold. Alternate 3 minutes of hot with 1 minute of cold ensuring your head is getting wet. Repeat so this water circuit takes 12 minutes and always end in cold. The first time you perform this will be hard. The more you do it the more you will enjoy it.
- Clean up your diet. If you are going to training hungry and tired or finishing training too early as you need to eat, something in your diet is not working well. Craving sugar and fat both indicate issues as well. Athletes put extreme demands on themselves both physically and mentally. For this reason the room for error is amplified.
- Exercise on your off days on a stationary bike for tempo or in a pool. Water has incredible healing properties. Bike training can ease joints and help accelerate circulation to speed up the rate at which you recover.
Speed Training taxes the body in an intense way. Achieving balance between work and rest in speed training takes time to learn. Learning to rest and recovery actively, even a little bit each day, will help you consistently make gains and actively regenerate your speed training.
2 comments
I had the pleasure of training with Charlie for a short time. His understanding of the importance of regeneration was one of the things I carried with me my entire career. When I came to the US for college I was the only person on the track team using the hot/cold tubs after workouts for contrast bathing. It wasn’t long before others followed and all of a sudden the teams performance increased and the little nagging injuries went away. Charlie was way ahead of his time. Order his books and use the knowledge, I can personally guarantee you and your athletes will benefit.
Solid advice here and recommended for our group this summer. We consistently came off better doing pool work as opposed to the Bike. Though I could imagine in another region it being different.