SubscribeI had the fortune of having a set of RecoveryPump legs to aide in my post Ironman recovery.
For those of you who haven’t seen or heard of the RecoveryPump system, it’s a set of 2 leg-sleeves each with 4 air compartments and a timed compressor pump. The pump compresses air at 80psi sequentially into the air compartments starting at your feet and moving up your legs, holds for a few seconds and releases. The idea is that the squeezing pushes the metabolic waste up out of your legs and then with the release fresh blood is allowed back into your legs thus speeding and enhancing recovery. This is along the same idea as compression socks/tights, but with significantly more force. Also the forces applied are sequenced and controlled (rather than just constant with compression wear) and so further aide the flushing of waste.
Shortly after I finished my Ironman race in Mont Tremblant, I headed back to my hotel, did my normal post exercise stretch routine and then put the legs on for about 2 hours while laying in bed. The compressions release cycle is very soothing and relaxing and while I didn’t sleep with them on, I probably could have. 🙂 After 2 hrs, I took off the leggings and my legs (which didn’t really feel terrible after the race) felt pretty good. Tight and fatigued but certainly far from crippled.
In the morning when I woke, I lay in bed dozing and surfing the net and put the legs back on for another 1.5 hrs. When I got up, my legs felt “almost normal”. Stairs weren’t a problem, walking wasn’t a problem. Sure, I wasn’t about to go out dancing, but my legs have definitely felt worse after just a long training ride then they did post Ironman and RecoveryPump treatments!
Walking around in the Ironman/Mont Tremblant resort village on Monday I saw many people who looked like their legs had been run over by trucks. They were walking with a great deal of pain and stiffness. I almost felt guilty that my legs felt so good.
Almost. 🙂
So BIG THUMBS UP for RecoveryPump! Definitely need to get me a set of these and build them into my training/recovery program. If they can do this for me post Iron-distance race, the differences in day-to-day training will also be awesome!
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