The Best Recovery Tool

​In this episode I explore the single best recovery tool a hiker can use, to aid their training and hiking. 

​EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Introduction to Episode 5: Lessons from Training

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And in today's episode, we are on episode number five of this 20-episode miniseries, which is all about 20 lessons I learned from 20 weeks of training.
And essentially what we're talking through today is sleep is the best recovery tool.
So basically the story for this particular episode is looking at this training process I was doing.

[0:25] When we were going through the training, it was a lot of work and there was a lot of hard training.
Essentially what we were doing we were doing five mornings a week every single morning from 5 a.m to 6 30 a.m monday to friday doing that now on top of that you know i was on you know on extra beyond those sessions doing other things for myself i was going through practicing the sort of stuff we did i was doing extra cardio sessions some extra strength sessions extra classes here and there so i was having a mammoth and massive training week and it was something that was a bigger training week than I'd done in like 10 years, 15 years, or whatever it may be. It was huge.
And basically, obviously going through such a big training week and so much going in, my body was going through periods of being tired, pretty normal, pretty typical.
And one concern I did have initially at the start of the program and the very, very, very beginnings was I was a little bit worried about getting run down and getting sick.
Because Because prior to when I had started this program, one of the reasons that kind of gave me, you know, a bit of kick in the bum to do it, was prior to that, you know, I was going through a bit of a run where I seemed to just be getting sick semi-regularly.
Like nothing too major, nothing too, you know, crazy, but just like this little cold or just getting run down.
And I was just having lots of recurring bouts of illness.

[1:43] And obviously, you know, there was something going on with my immune system.
I was getting a bit run down. I wasn't super healthy or whatever it may be.
So from the get-go I was a little bit worried about look even if I'm just doing five days in a week and I'm doing in the morning um.

[1:56] I need to take my recovery seriously because I don't want to get sick. I don't want to fall out.
And from the very, very get-go, I was like, you know what? Recovery, that is going to be a big priority.
And at first, in the first, say, four, five, six weeks, when the training wasn't particularly hard, we were doing a lot of learning.
There were kind of easiness in the things. I wasn't doing a huge amount of extra sessions.
I felt okay. You know, I was kind of, you know, getting through my days.
I was doing a bit of stretching. I was making sure I was on top of my nutrition.
I was making sure I was, you know, sleeping relatively well.

The Battle of Fatigue and the Basics of Recovery

[2:24] And I was kind of doing in okay. But as we ramped up and as we got into the meat of the program and as we started doing harder and harder things and I started exerting more and more effort and getting more and more tired during the sessions, I was in a bit of a constant battle of fatigue.
Not fatigue in the sense that I was doing too much and absolutely overtraining or I was getting sick.
It wasn't to that extent, but it was really a delicate balance between me working hard and not overdoing it.
So whether I was going to really, really push sessions in the morning or whether I was going to to do extra things or whether I was going to, you know, take it a little bit lighter or maybe have, you know, a day off from the extra stuff.
And as I was going through all this and as I was kind of fighting this balance, in the back of my head, I was like, all right, you know what, I'm training hard. I should be recovering hard as well.
You know, we all think, you know, that's sort of something that a lot of us will naturally go towards.
And as it always happens, you know, as you start thinking about these things, I was just starting to start thinking about all these these different bits and pieces i could do and i could experiment experiment with and try which may be able to help with my recovery i could do cold water immersion and go down the beach you know in the middle of winter and get in the water there i could try infrared saunas there's a couple of places locally that popped up that are doing things like that i could look into like compression recovery boots where you basically go to these things and they put these particular boots on you and you can sit there which can potentially have some great effects and there's a couple of gyms locally that did that even things like cbd oil where like you know there's some research search comment on that and all these like you know kind of.

[3:53] Not-so-typical ideas that I was kind of looking into.
And pretty much as anything goes, as you start to express interest in one thing online, you just start getting bombarded on Instagram and Facebook and Google and all of that with all these different ads about these different recovery protocols.
And I was looking at all these things. I was like, you know what?
Some of this stuff may be worthwhile looking into.
Some of this stuff may be the difference. And some of this stuff, maybe I'm happy to put a bit of money towards.
But then I had a bit of a realization. realization. Well, not so much of a realization, but just like a reminder.
And essentially, this was a case of doing what I say as opposed to what I do.
And this is something I tell my clients all the time, but I found myself falling out of this.
And I had this realization, this reminder that before I went down this route and started putting out money for all these other bits and pieces, I really needed to stick to the basics, make sure I'm nailing the basics on my my recovery, and that is where I'm going to get the best results from.
I knew that, and I had to remind myself that.
And essentially, when it comes to the basics of recovery, really the two big, big, big things here are nutrition and sleep.
They're the two major things when it comes down to recovery.
Now, for my nutrition, I was pretty on top of it. I was doing really well.
I was eating really healthy.
I was fueling enough, and I was pretty confident I was doing that well.
But I did realize when I really thought about it that my sleep could probably do with some work.

[5:17] Because you know these morning sessions they were very early we were starting at 5 a.m or basically entering the gym at 5 a.m so essentially I was getting up at about 10 past four five mornings in a week because I wanted to get up I wanted to you know um you had to get down the gym I just wanted to have like a little bit of food in my system um so I was up pretty early and you know know, through the weeks and as we were getting into things, you know, I was typically going to bed around, you know, 9, 9.30, 10, sort of typical bedtime. And that was all good.
But as I started to kind of get into the crux of it, and as I started to realize, look, this battle of fatigue, I was like, you know what?
I need to take this sleep more seriously because there's so much evidence.
There's so many studies.
There's so much common sense that goes into if you can get eight hours sleep or more when you're training hard, it makes such a significant difference to your recovery.
And looking at my week, I was like, you know what, I'm kind of getting eight hours on the weekend, maybe getting seven hours, you know, or six hours during the week. I could probably do a little bit more work here.

[6:19] So, essentially, what I thought sat down, I was like, you know what, in all honesty, I'm taking this training process really, really seriously.
You know, this is a big deal for me. I'm training really hard.
I'm putting a lot of effort into it. So, I need to be serious about my recovery as well. I need to be serious about my sleep as well.
So, I started bringing my bedtime forward a little bit earlier.
And I started getting into bed, you know at 8 30 at 8 even on the day some days that i was like absolutely knackered i even got into bed at like 7 30 which is a bit crazy but because i was up so early because i was training so hard.

[6:47] It was needed sometimes. And in all honesty, this one simple change, just trying to get an extra half an hour, an extra hour, you know, through most nights, it made such a dramatic difference for me.
You know, in a couple of weeks, I noticed a massive change. I could push harder.
As I sort of got into like the really tough bits where we were so, so, so tired towards the end and just ready for the program to be over, I know that played such a significant role in getting me through it, keeping me healthy and keeping me in recovery, purely just getting those hours of sleep.

The Importance of Sleep for Recovery

[7:16] Sleep. And for me, you know, I knew, you know, going to bed at 7.30 at 8, it's not really sustainable long-term.
Ali, my wife, was very, very patient with me and not seeing a huge amount of me during weeknights because I was getting to bed so early.
And I know that's not super practical for a lot of people. You may have young families or whatever it may be, but the lesson stands just how important sleep is.
And essentially, you know, that story really comes into the crux of this episode and the lesson of this episode, because this is exactly the same for hikers.
If you are training hard, if you're putting a lot of effort into your training, into your hiking, if you struggle with fatigue, whether from your training or just day-to-day life, you need, need, need to make sure you're aiding your sleep where you can.
Before you start thinking about all these fancy recovery things, before you start thinking about different protocols, different places you can spend your money, getting massages, getting, you know, sitting in saunas, doing cold ice plungers, whatever it may be, sleep is free and it's going to be the most significant thing you can do or one of the most significant things you can do.
So if you're struggling with your recovery or you want to increase it, this is something you want to consider.

Three Areas to Improve Your Sleep

[8:25] Now, before you start, you know, when you are looking a bit really sleep, there's kind of three big areas, at least in my opinion, which can make a dramatic difference.
Some people may be able to work on all of three areas. Some people may be able to only work on one of these areas.
So, you know, it's worth considering. Now, essentially, the three areas we want to look at or, you know, that fall into this category is the amount of sleep, your quality of sleep and your routine of sleep.
Now, your amount of sleep is typically how many hours you get in a night.
Now, in the ideal world, as you've heard a million, million, million times, getting like eight hours of sleep a night is great.
And if you're training even harder, super hard, and you're really, really tired, even getting a little bit more, maybe nine, maybe 10, there's some studies that show that can be pretty good for a lot of people.

[9:11] However, you know, it's not set in stone because we know people live busy lives.
We know people have social lives.
They have young families, a busy work schedule or whatever it may be.
And sometimes just fitting in eight hours is just not realistic.
Realistic so typically what i sort of recommend here as opposed to sort of saying hey good eight hours bad less than eight hours is using a bit more of a sliding scale in regards to better or worse and just ask yourself where are you in regards to average hours per night at the moment are you doing eight hours great fantastic that's all good are you doing seven hours okay you know that's all right are you doing six hours five hours four hours where are you on average at the moment and just ask yourself how can i make this just a little bit better, Now, for some people, this may involve getting an extra hour of sleep a night.
Maybe that is actually doable.
You just need to go to bed earlier, and that in itself could make a dramatic, dramatic, dramatic difference.
For some other people, it may be a case of just an extra half an hour.
Maybe it's an extra 15 minutes, and you're like, you know what?
I'm just going to get into bed 15 minutes earlier than usual, and over a week, that'll actually add up, or whatever it may be.
So, as much as in the perfect world, getting your eight hours plus is ideal, if you're not in that situation or it's just a bit far off from it, just think about, out, what can I do to get a little bit more sleep?
What can I do to add this up? Because it really does make a difference.
​
Enhancing the Quality of Your Sleep

[10:25] Now, the second thing area you can look at is quality of sleep.
Essentially, how much of your sleep is going to be quality sleep as opposed to you sitting in that surface level sleep, tossing and turning or whatever it may be.
And there's some really, really simple things that anyone can do that doesn't cost any money, which can enhance the quality of your sleep.
Now, first and foremost, one of the most significant things you can do is getting getting off electronics like an hour before you go to bed.
So instead of lying in bed, scrolling on your phone or watching TV or being on your laptop, an hour before you go to sleep, or ideally two or three hours, but let's be realistic, that may not be doable.
An hour before you go to sleep, get off electronics, get off screens.
So no phone, no laptop, no computer, no TV, and just do something that's going to give your eyes a bit of a rest.
Get away from that blue light. Maybe read a book, listen to some music, do some stretching, do some journaling, whatever Whatever may be, just get away from that blue light, you know, an hour beforehand.
Other things you can do to help with your quality of sleep is just having a little bit of a wind down routine.
So, you know, before you go to bed, you know, a little bit of stretching, five minutes of that can be really, really useful.
Or do five minutes of deep breathing or do a little bit of meditation or do a bit of journaling or write a gratitude journal or really anything that just can help the body calm down, relax, and kind of be ready for sleep.

[11:42] Now, there's other things like sort of supplements or bits and pieces you can use to help with your sleep.
Lavender oil. I used to use this all the time and just a little drop of lavender oil on your chest or on your pillow can help you fall asleep a bit quicker and have a bit of a deeper sleep.
Having some magnesium or I typically have a chamomile tea every single night and that can help you get a little bit deeper.
There's a million and one things you can do here and you can basically just help type into Google how to get a good night's sleep and you'll pop up with a million and one things.
But that's the second area you can consider, quality of sleep.

[12:16] And then the third area you can consider is routine of sleep.
And what this basically means is do you have a set routine and a set kind of schedule in regards to your sleeping hours?
Because regardless of your time of sleep, regardless of your quality of sleep, just having consistency in your sleep can go a long way.
So, for example, are you waking up, you know, going to bed all these different times through the week?
One night's 8 o'clock, one night's 12 o'clock, one night's midnight, one night's, you know, whatever.
If so, it may be worthwhile just trying to consolidate that a little bit, bringing it into a little bit more consistent sleep schedule.
Same thing for the weekend. Sometimes people will be going to bed at eight o'clock during the weeks and then on the weekends end up being midnight.
Obviously, we want to have a social life and we want to live our weekends and all of that, but it may be worthwhile consolidating a little bit if you're in the middle of a tough training process.
I know shift workers and people on different schedules and young kids and all of that, that's not realistic, but it's another option to consider.

[13:15] But basically, you know, full essence of this story is if you are going through a training process and a serious training process, you want to take your recovery seriously.
And one of the best things you can be doing for your recovery is looking at your sleep and essentially looking at the time of your sleep, the quality of sleep, routine of your sleep, choosing working on all of those or two of those or one of those or whatever it may be.
But whatever you can do to shift this needle a little bit, because I'll tell you right now, compared to all the things you can spend money on in the world of recovery, this is free.
It's pretty simple. It'll have a million carryover effects and positive carryover effects into your life.
And it's definitely worth putting time and attention into.
So to wrap things up, take your sleep seriously. If you want to help your recovery, it is going to be the best tool for you.
And really just have a think about how you can shift that needle, get it a little bit better, maybe getting a little bit more time, or just get a little bit bit more consistent and it will serve you very, very well.
So with that being said, I think I've hammered home this point well enough.
Hope you've enjoyed it today. Hope you got a little bit out of it.
Hope it helps a few people. I hope you have a lovely, lovely, lovely day and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

​

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