Recovery after training is what happens between an ordinary session and the next one: the food, the drink, the sleep, and whether the following day is easy or hard again. There is no single time that fits every session. If you are coming off a race rather than a normal week of training, the path is different: recovery after a competition.
What to do in the hours after
When you finish, you have to put fuel back, repair muscle and restore fluid balance. The joint position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine puts it this way: fast recovery between two demanding sessions needs fluid, electrolytes, energy and carbohydrate (Thomas, Erdman and Burke, 2016).
Carbohydrate is not eaten the same way if the next hard session is in a few hours or the next day.
- If that session is less than 8 hours away. The table in that position, on the speedy-refuelling row, indicates about 1.0–1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour for the first 4 hours. After that, you go back to what you need for the rest of the day. That hourly rate is not everyday eating.
- If the next hard session is the following day or later. You do not need to time a 30-minute window. Burke, van Loon and Hawley (2017) split muscle glycogen into two phases: in the first 4 hours, a provision of about 1 g of carbohydrate per kilogram supports resynthesis; from hour 4 to hour 24, the day’s total matters more than the minute you eat. If carbohydrate falls short, adding protein can help glycogen storage.
Across the day, the same position places carbohydrate between 3 and 10 g per kilogram (and up to 12 g per kilogram in extreme, very long efforts), according to what you trained, the goal of the session and your context. It is a range to individualise, not a fixed number.
Protein, in that paper, is spread in modest servings of about 0.3 g per kilogram after training and through the day, not in a single shake. The daily range they cite runs from 1.2 to 2.0 g per kilogram. Food can cover it.
Fluid: after the effort, replace a volume close to 125–150% of the deficit that remains, about 1.25–1.5 litres for every kilogram lost (Thomas et al., 2016). If you sweated a lot, sodium counts too. How to look at it is in the guide to sodium and sweat; we do not repeat it here.
These figures come from a guide for athletes, not from a clinical prescription. If a dietitian has given you a plan, or a condition changes what you should eat, follow that plan.
Sleep as the base
Eating well does not make up for sleeping badly. Sleep is the base of recovery between sessions. Timing, screens, dinner and what to do if you train late are in the night routine and rest guide. We do not repeat them here.
How long it takes, by session
There is no clock that fits every session. An easy session uses less fuel and usually leaves less muscle damage than intervals, a long threshold effort or a long run with a lot of downhill. Thomas et al. (2016) write that, when there is no severe muscle damage, glycogen stores can be normalised with 24 hours of easier training and enough fuel. That figure is about glycogen. It does not promise that your legs will feel new.
When the damage is large, that 24-hour reference does not apply: the sentence is conditional on there being no severe damage. A very long run, a lot of eccentric work (downhills) or a session you are not used to falls more easily into that group.
Muscle soreness, in the review by Cheung, Hume and Maxwell (2003), is common when you return to training after a break and when you try a new activity, at any point in the season. Eccentric work causes more micro-injury than other types of muscle action, and intensity and duration matter too. Soreness can reduce range of motion and peak torque, and it can change how the muscle is recruited. Going back to intensity too early can load tendons and ligaments through that change in pattern.
The same review, for someone who has to train almost every day, recommends lowering intensity and duration for 1 or 2 days after a session that left intense soreness, or working less affected areas so the ones that need it can recover. Bringing in eccentric work or a new activity gradually, over 1 or 2 weeks, reduces the disruption.
An easy day after a hard session fits those 24 hours of reduced training. Stacking two sessions that burn a lot of fuel with less than 8 hours between them is the speedy-refuel case, not the “it will pass” case.
Easy days in the week
An easy day is not a reward and it is not a trick to clear lactate. It is how you let the next quality session happen on the legs it needs. Walking, an easy spin or a very easy swim can be that day. It does not replace food or sleep.
Cheung et al. (2003) note that moving is what eases soreness pain the most, but the pain relief is temporary: an easy spell does not undo the session before. In that review, cryotherapy, stretching, homeopathy, ultrasound and electrical currents showed no effect on the pain or on the other symptoms of soreness. We do not put them at the base of recovery between sessions.
A whole unloading week, as a microcycle, is in types of microcycles. We do not lay out a sample week here.
Signs you have not recovered
There is no single marker. Buchheit (2014) reviews heart rate and heart-rate variability (HRV) for tracking training status, and he is clear that they are not a gold standard: some studies find them sensitive to fatigue, overload or detraining, and others do not. Resting heart rate depends on several things at once (the heart itself, plasma volume, the autonomic nervous system, age, posture). That is why you compare it with yourself, in similar conditions — in the morning, at rest — not with someone else’s number.
Together, these signs are a reason to postpone the hard session:
- Resting heart rate higher than usual for you, for several days in a row. One odd day does not decide.
- HRV lower than yours. How to read it is in the HRV guide.
- Heavy legs, or an easy session that feels worse than normal.
- Sleep that is worse than your usual.
If that drags on and performance drops, the topic is no longer recovery from one session: it is overtraining. We do not repeat that guide here.
What high-performance athletes do
These sources do not describe a secret elite protocol. The consensus of Kellmann and colleagues (2018) says that sustained high performance needs a balance between stress — the load of training and racing, and the rest of life — and recovery. The response changes from one person to another and, in the same person, from one week to the next. Watching that recovery is there so you can perform, and so you can avoid falling short of recovery, an overload that stops being useful, overtraining syndrome, injury or illness.
The food and fluid in that balance are those of the Thomas et al. (2016) position, signed among others from the Australian Institute of Sport. Sleep is the base, and the detail is in the night-routine guide. Cryotherapy does not come out as a useful tool against soreness in the Cheung et al. (2003) review. We do not recommend it as a step between one session and the next.
What the coach sees
In TrainingForever the coach sees what each athlete did in the week against what was planned. The load of that week is read with the platform’s own metrics: Total Load (CT) summarises the session, Acute Fatigue (FA) responds sooner than Chronic Adaptation (AC), and Load Differential (DC) separates those two readings. What each one means is in the metrics guide and, for recent load, in acute fatigue (FA). They do not replace how you felt. Strava, if you already use it, can sit alongside: it is not required to log effort or a comment on the session.
What a coach says
“After a normal training session, what gets you closest to the next one is eating, sleeping and not stacking two hard days. If your legs are still heavy and your resting heart rate stays high, that quality session can wait.” — Marc Bañuls, online running and trail coach, more than 15 years of experience
Frequently asked questions
How long should you rest between training sessions?
There is no single time. Without severe muscle damage, glycogen can be normalised with about 24 hours of easier training and enough carbohydrate (Thomas et al., 2016). If the next session that burns a lot of fuel is less than 8 hours away, the same guide indicates about 1.0–1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram per hour for the first 4 hours. An easy session needs less margin than intervals, a long threshold or a long run with a lot of downhill.
What should you eat after training?
Carbohydrate and a protein serving of about 0.3 g per kilogram, inside a day that may sit between 1.2 and 2.0 g of protein per kilogram (Thomas et al., 2016). If there is no other demanding session within 8 hours, the day’s carbohydrate total matters more than the exact minute: in the first 4 hours, about 1 g per kilogram supports glycogen (Burke et al., 2017). If the gap is under 8 hours, about 1.0–1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram per hour for the first 4 hours. Fluid is replaced with about 1.25–1.5 litres for every kilogram lost; if you sweated a lot, sodium counts too.
Is it good to train with sore muscles?
Mild soreness after a new or harder session does not mean you must stop altogether. Cheung, Hume and Maxwell (2003) recommend lowering intensity and duration for 1 or 2 days after a session that left intense soreness, or working less affected areas. Easy movement eases the pain only for a while. If the pain is sharp, localised or it changes the way you run, that is not this kind of soreness: stop.
How do I know if I have recovered?
There is no single marker. Resting heart rate and HRV are not a gold standard (Buchheit, 2014): compare them with what is usual for you, in the morning and at rest. If resting heart rate stays higher, HRV lower, your legs feel heavy or you sleep worse for several days in a row, postpone the hard session. One isolated day does not decide.
Is recovery after training the same as recovery after a race?
No. This page is the day-to-day between sessions in the week. The days after a competition are a separate topic. If you are coming off a race, start with that guide, not with the routine of a normal training session.
Sources
- Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2016;48(3):543-568. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000000852
- Burke LM, van Loon LJC, Hawley JA. Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2017;122(5):1055-1067. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00860.2016
- Cheung K, Hume P, Maxwell L. Delayed onset muscle soreness. Sports Medicine. 2003;33(2):145-164. doi:10.2165/00007256-200333020-00005
- Buchheit M. Monitoring training status with HR measures: do all roads lead to Rome? Frontiers in Physiology. 2014;5:73. doi:10.3389/fphys.2014.00073
- Kellmann M, Bertollo M, Bosquet L, et al. Recovery and Performance in Sport: Consensus Statement. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 2018;13(2):240-245. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2017-0759
Food, fluid and the 24-hour glycogen figure are in the PDF of the Thomas position (uploaded by D. Travis Thomas) and in the DOI resolved at doi.org on 10 November 2026. Burke, in the Crossref abstract. Cheung and Kellmann, in the Europe PMC abstract. Buchheit, in the open Frontiers text. Checked on 10 November 2026.
