Recovery: The Whole Nine Yards

I just wanted to inquire about your thoughts on recovery practices.
The training volume right now is incredibly high, and though I am
happy to bear some soreness and have been sticking to my
activation/stretching/soft tissue stuff, I wonder about cryotherapy or
contrast showers, foam rolling post-training and any other stuff I can
do to keep the lactic acid flushed out.

MR: If you're experiencing a boat-load of soreness/inflammation
post-workout, an ice-bath may not be a bad idea. It sounds like your
training volume is through the roof, so an ice bath may help keep things
under control.

Another idea that may help is just some very light hurdle or squat-rack
mobility drills. Obviously you don't want to increase fatigue, but one of
the best ways to maintain mobility and flush metabolic waste is movement.
You've already picked several M2 drills to incorporate pre-workout, so this
may be a time to do some different ones and just move around a bit.

I usually foam roll before practice or sprint work/fitness stuff, will
it really help me to do more after training? I'm actually feeling
quite good despite some moderate soreness, but I just want to maximize
recovery options since I'm training almost 5hrs a day right now. I've
been eating a TON of food, taking my few but trusted supplements and
taking contrast showers. Think I should hit up the ice bath, or do
anything else?

MR: Again, the ice bath may not be a bad idea. Some other ideas:

I've always found Epsom salt baths to help speed recovery (i.e. reduce
muscle soreness) and just in general "feel better." Don't discount the
psychological effect of feeling good!

Another option that's not as sexy is some old-school static stretching
before bed. It may have an acute change on flexibility, but again, it also
feels good and I think it parlays into some good results w/regards to
improving tissue quality.

In other news, I posted the fastest times on the 20, 40, 60, 80 and
100m tests today. I'm really enjoying my time on the field and am
looking forward to being part of a team again!
Funny how we sometimes underestimate ourselves, despite knowing that
we can be limitless in our dreaming. Funny eh?

Have a nice night..and thanks so very much!

MR: I'm really glad to hear you performed that well! I knew that as we
worked to improve your efficiency, your performance would follow along. It
seems as though you're already starting to see some improvements in just a
few short weeks - GREAT WORK!

Mike Robertson