Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

Reminiscence Effect described in chapter 8).

Three Recovery Periods
     
    Recovery is not linear, but instead exponential (see figure 10.1). For example, recovery from an exhaustive crux sequence, climb, workout, or day of climbing will initially be rapid, with about 70 percent of complete recovery taking place in the first one-third of the recovery period (Bompa 1983). Recovery improves to 90 percent after two-thirds of the time needed for complete recovery.
    Knowing that recovery is an exponential process is powerful information that can be applied to the three crucial recovery periods that I’ve defined as recharge, refuel, and rebuild.
RECHARGE (SHORT-TERM RECOVERY)
     
    This first recovery period takes place from ten seconds to thirty minutes following the completion of muscular action. The recharge period includes the ten-second shakeout you take in the midst of a crux sequence as well as the midclimb rest you milk for five, ten, or even twenty minutes, if possible.
    The two metabolic processes at work during this recovery period are resynthesis of ATP and the removal of lactic acid from the working muscles. As stated earlier, ATP resynthesis takes less than five minutes, and complete lactic acid removal occurs in less than thirty minutes. As depicted in figure 10.1, however, recovery to 90 percent of baseline levels occurs in about two-thirds of the time needed for complete recovery. Therefore, you can assume that the majority of ATP resynthesis has occurred in just over three minutes and about 90 percent of the lactic acid has been removed in about twenty minutes. Strategies to further hasten recovery during the recharge period will be detailed later in this chapter.
    It should be noted that nothing you consume during this initial recovery period has any impact on exercise resumed immediately after this brief rest. Water takes at least fifteen minutes to empty from the stomach, and sports drinks or foodstuffs take even longer. If you have concluded your climbing or training for the day, however, this initial thirty-minute period is vital for enhancing long-term recovery (more on this in a bit).
REFUEL (MEDIUM-TERM RECOVERY)
     
    The refuel recovery period occurs from thirty minutes to twenty-four hours following cessation of exercise. Therefore, this phase of recovery takes place during the two-hour break between climbs that you might take during the hottest part of the day and, of course, during the overnight period following a training or climbing day.
    With ATP resynthesis and lactic acid removal completed in the first thirty minutes, the refuel stage is defined by the replenishment of blood glucose and glycogen stores (in muscles and the liver), and some minor repair of tissue microtraumas. Since refueling is the hallmark of this period, consuming a large amount of the right type of carbohydrates is necessary to facilitate the process.
    Numerous strategies for enhancing this replenishment process will be described later in the chapter, but—as mentioned earlier—you can assume that about 90 percent of this refueling has taken place in about sixteen hours (two-thirds of the total recovery period). Thus, the typical twelve-hour break between consecutive days of climbing will result only in approximately 80 percent replenishment of glycogen stores (assuming you begin refueling immediately upon finishing up the first day on the rocks).
REBUILD (LONG-TERM RECOVERY)
     
    Muscle growth and neuromuscular adaptation typically take place from one to four days following strenuous exercise. The degree of delayed-onset muscle soreness experienced is proportionate to the amount of microscopic damage inflicted on muscle fibers during exercise. Minor DOMS may subside in forty-eight hours, while severe soreness signals a greater degree of damage that may take four or more days to rebuild.
    You can now see that a single rest day is enough to allow the muscles to recharge and refuel, yet complete supercompensation—that is, rebuilding the muscle to a stronger level than before the exercise stimulus—requires additional rest for the neuromuscular system to recuperate. Therefore, while you may be able to perform at a reasonably high level after just one day of rest, truncating the rebuilding process negates the supercompensation period (per chapter 5) and will inhibit gains in strength. In the long term, chronic under-resting can result in decreased performance, injury, and even risk of illness.
    Whether you are training