Recovery is not rest, it is part of training itself

Dr Harini Muralidharan

CHENNAI: When people picture an elite athlete recovering, they usually think of an ice bath or a massage table. In elite sport today, recovery is much more complex than that, it is planned, monitored and treated as part of training itself.

As I tell players, training creates the stimulus, and recovery is where your body actually adapts. Skip it, and all you collect is fatigue.

Two kinds of load

We look at load in two ways. External load is the work done: overs bowled, kilometres run, kilos lifted. Internal load is how you respond to that work—stress, anxiety, mood, pressure and poor sleep all add to it. It shows up as a raised heart rate and sessions that feel harder than they should.

Two players can do the exact same session and carry very different loads. A bowler worried about selection or missing home is working far harder than the numbers suggest. That is why we monitor both, every day. A morning wellness questionnaire helps, but some of the best information comes from something simpler: a smile, a genuine "how are you doing today?" and "did you sleep well?" Dropped shoulders or a flat voice often say more than any score on a form.

When and why elite athletes recover

In elite sport, recovery is timed. Right after a session, the priority is refuelling and rehydrating. That night, it is sleep: still the most powerful recovery tool we have, and it costs nothing. Across the week, heavy days are followed by lighter ones. The payoff is fewer injuries, more consistent performance and a longer career.

Fuelling is recovery: Many athletes still don't eat enough, especially women. Carbohydrates restore the energy you used, protein repairs muscle, and fluids with electrolytes replace what you lose in sweat. In Chennai's humidity, that matters enormously. Chronic under-fuelling affects hormones, bone health, immunity and mood, and no ice bath can fix that.

What the recreational athlete can borrow

You don't need a fifteen-member support staff to recover like a professional. It is much simpler, starting with respecting both loads, a stressful week at work and five hours of sleep will make your Sunday long run cost more. Sleep seven to nine hours, like a training session.

Eat within an hour or two of training, it could be something like curd rice with dal, or idli, sambar and an egg, whatever does the job. Add electrolytes on long, sweaty sessions to keep yourself hydrated. Plan easy days, take at least one full rest day a week, and keep checking in with yourself. Lingering soreness, poor sleep, irritability and low motivation are your body and mind asking for a break.

Whether you are chasing a World Cup or your first 10K, the people who keep improving aren't the ones who train the hardest. They're the ones who recover the best.

Story is written by Dr Harini Muralidharan, a sports medicine physician