4 tips to quickly eliminate post run fatigue

Entering a busy month of frequent races, all of which happen to be on weekends, can be quite taxing for novice runners. Completing a full marathon can be physically and mentally exhausting, requiring a quick recovery to be fully recharged for work on Monday.

Fatigue is a complex process that inevitably arises from exercise training, significantly impacting running performance and technique. Severe fatigue can affect overall health. There are many methods to eliminate and recover from fatigue, which involve understanding the causes of exercise-induced fatigue and making adjustments to achieve the fastest recovery.

Exercise-induced fatigue

After running, the body experiences fatigue, primarily manifested as decreased muscle strength, slower contraction speed, muscle stiffness, swelling, pain, uncoordinated movements, sluggish brain response, and lack of concentration. Timely elimination of fatigue after running is crucial as it ensures the continuity of exercise and is essential for improving athletic performance.

Fatigue is a normal physiological phenomenon, a change in physiological function that inevitably occurs at a certain stage of exercise. Exercise-induced fatigue is a temporary decline in physical ability and body function caused by exercise.

Non-exercise-induced running fatigue

Reason 1: Sleep

Many people do not realize the importance of sleep for running training and often sacrifice sleep time for work and life. However, data shows that adequate sleep can improve training and performance, while lack of sleep exacerbates running fatigue. Increasing sleep by an hour and a half per night can significantly reduce fatigue. Recent studies indicate that sleep helps runners recover quickly; therefore, adding some extra sleep time on weekends might be beneficial.

Reason 2: Nutrition

Many people choose running to lose weight and often diet before running to achieve the best weight loss results. However, long-term insufficient calorie intake can lead to amenorrhea (or reduced menstrual cycles) in women. The balance of nutrition and energy plays a significant role in running training. Using low-grade fuel will make your engine run poorly. An early sign of insufficient energy intake during training is fatigue. The key to weight loss is balancing intake and consumption.

Reason 3: There are always some unhappy things

Life is full of disappointments, and small issues can disturb your mood, often becoming a potential factor for running fatigue. These troubles could be a declining stock market, relationship issues, or office politics, all of which can hinder running training. When you push yourself to be a superman in work and life, running in such a state increases fatigue. Therefore, while striving for progress, you also need time to relax, reduce stress, and enjoy a good run.

Methods to eliminate fatigue If fatigue is not eliminated in time, it will accumulate, leading to sports injuries, mental exhaustion, loss of enthusiasm for exercise, and in severe cases, overtraining. Common methods to eliminate fatigue after running include:

Warm water bath

Taking a warm water bath after running is a simple and effective way to eliminate fatigue. A warm water bath stimulates blood vessel dilation, promotes metabolism and blood circulation, and facilitates the transport of nutrients and the elimination of metabolic waste in the body. The water temperature should be around 40°C ± 3°C, not too high, and the duration should be 10-15 minutes, not exceeding 20 minutes to avoid increasing fatigue. Additionally, it is important not to take a warm water bath immediately after exercise but to rest for more than 40 minutes until the body calms down before bathing.

Massage

Massage is a common method to eliminate fatigue. It not only promotes the conversion of excitement and inhibition in the cerebral cortex, normalizing nerve regulation and energy supply, but also promotes blood circulation, enhances local blood supply, and eliminates fatigue.

Generally, massage refers to manual massage, which can be full-body or localized. Full-body massage should be done 2.5-3 hours after training; localized massage can be done during or after training and can be performed mutually between partners as part of the cool-down activities, lasting 10-15 minutes, mainly to eliminate muscle stiffness and localized fatigue. Besides manual massage, there are also specialized vibration massage, air pressure massage, and water massage.

Traditional Chinese medicine for anti-fatigue

Regarding the classification of exercise-induced fatigue in traditional Chinese medicine, it is generally believed that exercise-induced fatigue should be divided into physical fatigue, visceral fatigue, and mental fatigue. However, this method is relatively complicated and cumbersome compared to others, but it is effective.

When selecting traditional Chinese medicine formulations, it is necessary to identify the type of fatigue based on the athlete's symptoms and the causes of fatigue, and then prescribe the appropriate treatment according to the athlete's specific situation. This may involve replenishing qi and blood, supporting yang and kidneys, regulating qi and relieving depression, or nourishing the spleen and kidneys, or calming the mind. It is important not to prescribe blindly. The principle of symptomatic treatment includes reasonable drug selection, as traditional Chinese medicine is extensive, and only reasonable combinations can achieve efficacy or maximize effects. Additionally, exercise-induced fatigue has distinct characteristics depending on the sport, and the mechanisms of occurrence vary across different sports and stages.

Generally speaking, exercise-induced fatigue is a physiological fatigue, a subclinical state, not a pathological condition. The dysfunction or decline that occurs, such as insufficient essence and blood, is temporary and reversible. With rest and recuperation, it can quickly recover. Therefore, the use of medication for exercise-induced fatigue should be mild, and through appropriate supplementation, the body's anti-fatigue system function can be improved, allowing the body to recover quickly.

Psychological suggestion

Psychological methods are also an important way to accelerate the elimination of post-run fatigue. Common psychological methods include relaxation training, breathing adjustment, hypnosis suggestion, psychological regulation, and qigong. These methods mainly use suggestive language and self-suggestion to relax muscles, quickly improve and restore the functions of the nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems, thereby quickly eliminating fatigue.

What to eat for running fatigue?

Nutritional depletion, dehydration, and mineral loss are all reasons why the body feels fatigued after running.

Replenish with liquid food after exercise

Porridge, soup, and water-rich fruits and vegetables (such as tomatoes, grapes, watermelon, etc.). These liquid foods contain a lot of water and vitamins, which quickly help the body replenish.

Eat more high-protein foods The body feels fatigued when it consumes too much energy, so it is important to eat more protein-rich foods such as tofu, lean meat, fish, and eggs. However, protein supplementation should not be blind; it is not just about eating a lot of fish and meat. For example, fish is an acidic food, and eating fish after exercise can acidify the blood, combined with the large amount of lactic acid produced in the body, which can increase the degree of fatigue.

Hydration Anyone who has exercised knows the feeling of thirst during exercise. Drinking a lot of water at this time can cause adverse stomach stimulation. However, enduring thirst is also not right; feeling very thirsty indicates that your body is already dehydrated. In fact, you can also hydrate appropriately during exercise to prevent dehydration.

Supplement alkaline foods

After exercise, focus on supplementing alkaline foods. High-intensity exercise produces a substance called lactic acid, leading to acidification of body fluids. To correct acidification and maintain the acid-base balance of body fluids, it is necessary to eat more alkaline foods after exercise.

Tofu, dried tofu, and various soy products, as well as fresh fruits, melons, and various vegetables, sesame, soybeans, ginger, and seaweed are all good alkaline foods. After digestion and absorption by the body, these foods can quickly reduce blood acidity, neutralize and balance to a weak alkaline state, thereby eliminating fatigue.