Understanding your Recovery Pyramid with Shona Halson
Shona Halson is an Associate Professor in the School of Behavioural & Health Sciences at ACU. She is world renowned in the field of recovery and has worked with countless elite athletes. Today, we talk about Shona’s ‘recovery pyramid’, and highlight where you should be focusing your recovery strategy before moving onto other less effective methods.
We start off with Shona explaining the benefits of sleep & ‘downtime’, before moving onto the center focus of the interview which revolves around water immersion therapy, compression, active recovery, stretching and massage.
I ask how important cold water therapy is, what the evidence points to, and what would be the appropriate practical implications for a recreational runner. We get specific with the different temperature, duration in the water, whether you should be moving or keep still, and if there is benefit shifting from cold to warm water.
We then shift our attention towards compression for recovery, including leggings, medical grade compression and expensive leg compression devices. Lastly, Shona Halson will answer your questions! Including the best active recovery post long run, and whether it’s best to completely rest or actively recover following a hard session.
Congratulations on listening to this podcast and starting your run smarter journey. The run smarter podcast is designed to help you build on your knowledge, so you can tackle all your running goals. Hosted by Brodie Sharpe with the mission to ‘bring clarity & control to every injured runner’. Firstly, gain the universal principles every runner needs to know by listening to the first podcast seasons. Secondly, find podcast topics tailored to your specific situation with either Brodie’s solo episodes, or special guest episodes. Lastly, execute on what you learn and transform into a stronger, healthier, SMARTER runner.
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Other podcast episodes:
- Heart rate variability for measuring recovery with Simon Wegerif
- Principle #7 to Overcome your Running Injury: Stress Less
- Bringing you up to speed on recovery
