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Recovery is slower than before Whole30


GoMommaGo

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Happily in the second week of reintroduction, and all goes well - I haven't found a food yet that causes specific problems, but I like the way I feel in general so much that I plan to stay whole30-ish for a while.

One thing that I have noticed in the past 3 weeks is that I am able to push myself during workouts (primarily masters swim) much harder than I could before, and I am much faster.  A good thing!  The flip is that it takes me a couple of days to recover after a hard workout.  Part of that may be that I am older than I used to be (!) when I last had this kind of intensity, or maybe I'm just not used to performing at the intensity I can now.  These days, I'm lucky to get a 3-4 mile walk with the doggies on the day after a master's swim.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Pre-WO meal is either a boiled egg and piece of bacon, or my normal breakfast (with no starchy veg).  Post-wo is a piece of turkey or a couple of boiled eggs, plus a bit of mashed sweet potato.

mb

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3 hours ago, GoMommaGo said:

Happily in the second week of reintroduction, and all goes well - I haven't found a food yet that causes specific problems, but I like the way I feel in general so much that I plan to stay whole30-ish for a while.

One thing that I have noticed in the past 3 weeks is that I am able to push myself during workouts (primarily masters swim) much harder than I could before, and I am much faster.  A good thing!  The flip is that it takes me a couple of days to recover after a hard workout.  Part of that may be that I am older than I used to be (!) when I last had this kind of intensity, or maybe I'm just not used to performing at the intensity I can now.  These days, I'm lucky to get a 3-4 mile walk with the doggies on the day after a master's swim.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Pre-WO meal is either a boiled egg and piece of bacon, or my normal breakfast (with no starchy veg).  Post-wo is a piece of turkey or a couple of boiled eggs, plus a bit of mashed sweet potato.

mb

You could try doing the lean protein and starchy carbs for the post workout instead of boiled eggs... yolk has fat and you don't want your post workout to have fat in it.  Do you do Post workout everytime you workout? It's possible that you need to play around with how much post workout food you need... maybe more than a bit of mashed potato... and make sure the turkey you're having is lean white meat and not brown, which is fattier... 

Try adjusting that but it could be that indeed you are just working out harder than you would have in the past, which creates more need for recovery :)

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1 hour ago, SugarcubeOD said:

Try adjusting that but it could be that indeed you are just working out harder than you would have in the past, which creates more need for recovery :)

Thanks, Sugarcube.  I'll see what I can scare up for tomorrow's post wo snack - I have some turkey breast in the fridge, and will prep a smashed sweet potato before I head to the pool.  It wouldn't hurt to skip some eggs now and then any way...I'm starting to cluck!

 

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I'm voting for the working-harder-means-more-recovering line of reasoning, as it just makes sense to me.  And if that's what's going on, then I would think hard about how you're recovering.  USA Swimming has a couple of articles about swimmer recovery, the best of which appears to be this one:

http://www.nycaquaticclub.com/The Art of Recovery.pdf

It is broken into sections -- cool down, refueling, stretching, massage, and sleep.  I think looking at two time periods would be helpful.  First, the time immediately after the workout, when cool down, refueling, ice, and stretching are useful.  And the a longer-term consideration of the next 24 hours, when more refueling, stretching, massage, and sleep come into play.  Maybe pick two things to change in each of those time periods and see what helps the most.  

For refueling in particular, I would also say yes, you should eat both protein and carbs.  As a swimmer, you are likely to need more carbs than non-swimmers would think.  Swimming is intense and for a masters workout refueling may need to start even before you get out of the pool.  I've seen plenty of swim team kids with chocolate milk at the end of the lane and in the showers, and though it's not Whole30 compliant, it is probably good fuel for them and for many swimmers.  Can't do that during a Whole30, of course.  But try some of the things that runners try -- dates stuffed with almond butter, boiled eggs, and lots of water for during exercise.  Right after, try potato salad (made with mustard) with extra mashed egg whites or tomato meat sauce with butternut squash, etc.  And lots more water.

So, how's the ice-stretching-massage-sleep part of it for you?

ThyPeace, limping her way through the day after a 10k.  Refueled okay, should have done ice on the hip and more stretching.  You live, you learn...

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