Feb

26

For those in serious training, over-training is often worse than inconsistency in training. Over-training leads to chronic inflammation due to lack of recovery.

There are several useful measures of recovery that endurance athletes use. Also, there are several variables that we consider in testing the stress and subsequent inflammation subjecting the body too. Finally there are several techniques that the athlete uses to combat inflammation and aid recovery from stress.

The three main measures that come to mind are the hours of and quality of sleep, the resting heart rate on waking up in the morning, and weight gain or loss. Often these measures are followed up by testing of the waters, on a hard workout. Say after the second interval or 5-10 minutes into the hard stuff if a noticeable difference from a norm workout occurs, it is wise to abandon the workout for the day.

A fitful night sleep after a workout reminds me of a choppy day where the bulls and bears tug at each other all day. While a day that only has one significant move remains low for the bears, or high for the bulls would be a good sleep could be a day of rest for one of the camps.

A high resting heart rate may be analogous to a volatile futures market before the open.

Sudden losses are almost always due to dehydration levels. Dehydration slows the recovery process and over-hydration can be due to swelling. Likewise heart-stopping moves in minutes could be a sign of liquidity exiting or entering a market. Gradual slow day after day weight loses (assuming you are fit) is usually muscle loss. You are not rebuilding your muscles.

Finally, an indicator of training stress that my coach was fond of was Sum of { Miles / (( Pace / race pace )^2) }for the week. Which may be interpreted to a market as sum of ( distance traveled / Volatility ).

I have written of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) to combat inflammation before, but clearly it is applicable.

First some things only time can heal. Often Inflammation in the body is one of those things..This has been a big lesson as I age, the simply takes longer than I am use to and expect. You can facilitate, encourage, healing and preventing further injury and destruction due to inflammation But some things simply take time… often longer than you want.

So rather than imply the shorter the better, I'd state that big difference is rebuilding recovery versus continued destruction. Rebuilding takes times. There are countless stories of career ending decisions to do that race or even workout you wanted too soon, when the coach said to wait, be patient. A lesson politicians, the public and traders should note.

Clearly good nutrition can improve this. One of the things I noticed about the elite runners versus good athletes was the elite always had food available as part of their workout gear. Drank carbs during workouts, and ate immediately after. Sugars, keep the brain working and coordinating recovery.

The temptation is to artificially speed-up the process rather than rely on the highly refined healing process of the body. As Vic suggest, mild stimulus by taking anti-inflammatory drugs can help an aged body. But extreme care must be taken, to not trade problems of one system for another or sudden short term benefits for significant long term system failures.

One would think to rebuild the credit and mortgage markets in particular, confiscation of contractual property would destroy chances of be rebuilding by giving immediate relief.

Ice can be an effective in speeding the healing by decreasing the inflammation, Ice baths can be terribly painful for 2 minutes. After that the legs will be numbed (of course care must be taken to avoid hypothermia). But many people don't want intense pain for quicker release of dull pain, that prohibits rebuilding

Compression, can be a simple wrap or keeping the ankle in the shoe after a sprained ankle. I can't tell you how many beginner, coaches and athletes I've seen pop the shoe off an watch an ankle swell that could have been prevented, Beyond wraps, pressure point massage works wonders for knotted muscles, but is also often very painful, especially in the leg muscles.

Elevation can let blood flow away from the inflamed area. The circulatory system is a two way street, too the body cells and away from them. Inflammation is often blood rushing to, but not away from effectively trapping it. While information like blood flow is good, excessive focus can cause paranoia. Remember this when analyst or traders talk… If you must watch or read these people yelling fire, clearly taking a break from it often is in order.

But I will leave the reader to test these ideas in life, in business and in trading.


Comments

Name

Email

Website

Speak your mind

2 Comments so far

  1. Tristram Shandy on February 26, 2009 8:23 pm

    Russ.

    Have you ever utilized ART (active release therapy) or acupuncture for recovery?

    I have found active release especially effective at reducing and eliminating scar tissue, as well as promoting healing after an inflammatory injury. This technique can be complimented by massage (especially deep tissue) and even acupuncture if this is used prior to the treatment.

    tw.

  2. Russell Sears on February 27, 2009 2:16 pm

    TW

    I believe, “pressure point massage”, is one of the technique utilized in ART. While not an expert, these techniques seem to have jargon to them that may be regional.

    But the purpose is to “eliminate scar tissue” and “promote healing” after overuse inflamation.

    I have never used acupunture, but known others who have successfully. Not sure I would know who to trust in this regard, acupunturist, specializing in sports, specifically runners, seem to be only in much more metropolitian areas than I have trained in.

    Russ

Archives

Resources & Links

Search