Rules of thumb to optimize post-triathlon B-race recovery

Hi everyone, I am on the Build HIM Mid volume training plan. I have got a B-race coming up in the few weeks. I’ll be in 4-week in the Speciality phase, so I plan to switch the 4th week of the plan with the 8th taper week. Before going back into my training for my A-race (which is 6 weeks later), I wonder what would be the main principles to organize my post-race recovery week, in order to be in good form the week after when I plan to start training up again. Any good advice welcome. Many thanks and good training to you all. A. from Paris

I usually take 1 to 2 days completely off, or fit in a swim on the 2nd day. Day 3 ez, day 4 bit harder then back to normal by Saturday in to sunday.

That’s really dependent on how you’re treating the race. A strong hard ‘A’ race practice? An all out race? Race distance will make a difference too, A sprint shouldn’t be too much more than a bump in the road, an Oly less so but again it will depend on how hard you go and what you’re hoping to achieve.

Unlike @Bioteknik I wouldn’t normally take any days off after anything other than an A race, an easy swim or spin on the bike the day after and judge what to do after that but I’ll do something everyday.

Neither approach is ‘wrong’ though and it really is an individual thing which you’ll need figure out what’s likely to work for you based on your previous training patterns and what has worked (or not) before.

Many thanks @Bioteknik and @JulianM ! My B race is a HIM in south of France. And despite being a B-race, I am likely to do it at the same intensity as my A-race.

So I’ll probably go for @Bioteknik’s approach with a full day of rest, a cool swim on the 2nd day, something like Pettit on Wednesday, a short 30’ EZ run on Thursday, Trulli-1 on Friday, and back on the workouts of the plan.

In any case, the best is to try to judge based your assessment of fatigue. It is not always easy to assess though, especially after a good race… Thanks again

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