Client message about rest & recovery · General Physical Preparation

Client message about rest & recovery

I have a client training for a swimming race and they messaged me this:

Client: Hey, one for next week when your back (feel free to ignore for now) but i want to please ask your advice on recovery and rest. This week im swimming 11k in training (which is c. 44k in running terms, and have hit the gym twice) and i am knackered. Today I felt like the water was treacle! I’m planning to up my training 1k a week until the race in September. This week has also been very busy with work and life too. I’ve been prioritising sleep as much as I can and eating pretty well but just feel it is a lot to expect each week. Any tips on knowing when to rest and how to prioritise recovery would be amazing as today’s session felt sore for the full 90 mins (and I need to hit the pool again tomorrow too). Advice would be very welcome 🙏

My response was:

Recovery is tricky to address without knowing how much you’re eating and resting. However, we can control exercise volume, energy intake (food), and sleep. Stress from work and life is harder to manage.

Here are my suggestions:

Nutrition: If you’re doing more, your body will need more energy. Increase your carb intake to fuel the extra work.

Training: If you’re getting good sleep (7-8 hours and feeling refreshed), your training in swimming and the gym will still demand a lot of energy and feeling fatigue iwillnbe part and parcel, but if you're regressing in performance you will likely need to reduce the amount you're doing somewhere to recover properly. For gym sessions, if you’re feeling a 6/10 in energy, reduce the reps, sets, or weight.

Aim for a comfortable 6/10 effort so you leave the gym feeling good, not exhausted. Apply the same principle to swimming. Increase gradually, but listen to your body and adjust based on how you feel.

Recovery: As race day approaches, ease off on both swimming and gym sessions to allow for maximum recovery.

Wondering if I could provide better advice, what are your thoughts?

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