I would include walking in this list. You can never discount placebo so if you think it helps, it might actually help. Regardless, I'm a big fan of massage, self-massage, soft-tissue work like (Gua Sha), along with foam rolling, la crosse balls, peanuts and other balls. Yoga and mobility work are helpful. Recovery compression boots like Normatec/Air Relax are an easy tool that for athletes also gets them focused while at home. I don't really talk about this but there is something to be said for keeping the typical antsy athlete stationary for once. It is easy to get in the boots and then you aren't going anywhere and it relaxes you.

I think part of recovery is just finding recovery that fits your lifestyle. However, I am not so sure about always preparing you for the next session. That is a goal but at some level recovery is also about cumulative effect of weeks, months, and even years, just like training is. I might look as boots as helping to prepare for the next session but say a good solid massage as preparing for the week or month ahead.

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I like walking and soft tissue work, too, but I put them in a different catagory than basic recovery. I believe the benefit of walking is that it is a form of very low intensity training (endurance + cardio + muscle) that is in itself very easy to recover from. Soft tissue work is more for specific muscle/nerve complications beyond just "I trained and I'm sore".

At least that's been my perception.

Great feedback - thanks.

I remember some feeling that by using boots too much (whatever that is) you don’t get as much adaptation from your session.

I like the idea of using them after races to speed up recovery. Not sure if it actually works that way. Did some after Muncie last year and felt better than so did after Steelhead the year before, but no idea if that was correlation or causation.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

I bought the air relax & I tend to use it after long runs only. I don’t feel as sore the next day when I use it.

Funny - seeing this and Thomas’s reply on another thread, part of my reason for posting is because I will have access to an Air Relax now!

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

I recommend reading The Athlete's Guide to Recovery by Sage Rountree. It has a pretty good summary of the current thinking and research on recovery, with particular attention paid to endurance sports.

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Coach at TriForce Triathlon Team: https://www.triforceteam.com

There needs to be more research on this topic. Anecdotally, my start of boots (under my own protocol) lead to the greatest uninterrupted training block in my history. Unfortunately, it was not fully realized when I fell down the stairs at Eagleman and broke my toe in a couple of places and strained a ligament. With that being said, there is this study that shows a greater range of motion in lifters in the day following compression boot use versus not.

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I certainly find that leg stiffness/heaviness/fatigue is more of a limiter for me than any kind of cardiovascular fatigue, and that soft tissue work helps hugely with that. Haven't tried boots yet, but have the Stick, the Grid and a hand-held electric self-massager thing as well as an assortment of spiky balls all of which I use pretty much daily when training hard. Again anecdotally my quality of training and incidence of injury are both noticeably improved compared to when I don't do any kind of soft tissue work.

Can't justify the cost of something like the Normatec but have been eyeing up the cheaper alternatives on Amazon and might just have to pull the trigger at some point.

I’ve had a pair of NormaTech boots for about a year and find them relaxing. When I’m in them I tend to fall asleep even if I wasn’t tired just before putting them on. So I see the benefit as time off my feet and naps that I might not get otherwise. Beyond that I’m not sure if they help.

The Stick is one of the few products I gave up on. I probably would have kept it, had I had a place at the time to put all my stuff, but I didn't and in general I am a minimalist. I think honestly the best place for the stick is in the car. It is a great tool for just lightly freshening up the legs say on a long-haul car ride at the gas station. It might be nice too just before a run real quick, but I still prefer to use a foam roller and assortment of balls including spikey ones to get in a little deeper. As for boots, yes if you don't want to spend Normatec cash just go with an alternative like Air Relax. Keep in mind you can only get the smallest size on Amazon. I know someone people fiddle around with that but it doesn't make it clear. I have a picture of the size difference side-by-side of the 3 different Air Relax sizes in this post. Most people are not going with the smallest version these days. I would say most are going with size 3.

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Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

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I liked what this article had to say about stress and the mental aspect of recovery: https://www.outsideonline.com/...9f2801acb3-223248501

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Larry Lahodny
Owner, Gizmo Socks
Henderson, NV

Intuitively that makes sense - thanks for sharing!

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

I think recovery is where the magic happens. It builds volume without stress and strengthens the ligaments, tendons and muscles to support your body weight.

Recovery is a very underrated aspect of training. I think it's been one of the biggest barrier's to me effectively improving as an athlete. If I workout without enough recovery it starts a downward cycle where I fail the subsequent workout and lose motivation.

Really need to get better at monitoring my own physical state and delaying workouts when my body isn't quite ready.