After-Run Cool Down

I thought it was just a lot of panting and getting a drink of water but I guess there is more.  From Running Times online…

Cool Down Correctly

There's more to a proper cool-down than a token jog

By Julia Lucas

As featured in the October 2010 issue of Running Times Magazine

Searing lungs and burning legs, hands on your knees, head full of fog. You've earned this sweat. Allow yourself this moment to revel in the completion of a long hard day, but remember your workout isn't over. Though a trackside nap may seem inviting, you take a swig of your drink, put on your sweats and trot off on a 20-minute cool-down.

My hat's off to you. You're doing a heck of a job. And yet, if that jog is all you do after a race or hard workout, you're not cooling down sufficiently.

"A jog certainly satisfies the general flushing of the body," says Justin Whittaker, D.C., therapist of choice to Shalane Flanagan, Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher and others. "But after certain workouts you'll end up with residuals that a jog can't necessarily clear out. And they will spill into the next day and the next day, until you have layers and layers of adhesions and muscles that can't recover, and that's when you get an injury cycle."

Your old routine isn't a bad one. It just needs tweaking.

Read on here.