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Perianne Jones - The Making of a Champion: Ready, Set, Recover
By:  Perianne Jones   (2006/11/05)

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Perrianne Jones is a member of the National Ski Team. Peri is from Almonte and grew up skiing with the various local ski clubs. She is now living in Canmore (AB) where she shares a house with Olympic Gold medalist Chandra Crawford. They should be a deadly duo at Vancouver in 2010.

In this series of articles she shares some insight into her life for the Ottawa ski community on the Fresh Air Experience website, and reprinted here with permission.

When you think of what an athlete does on a day to day basis what probably first comes to mind is training. Of course this is true, but what most people don't know is that the recovery side of training is just as important as the training itself. One can't train properly if they aren't recovered so I'm going to share with you a few things we do to speed up our recovery.

• Right after training we put back some recovery drink, and/or eat a small meal to help our body replenish whatever it just burned.

• Hydrotherapy is a technique we use to help tired muscles recover from a hard session in the weight room or intensity. It involves sitting in an ice cold body of water - weather it be a river, lake, stream or bathtub filled with cold water and a few ice cubes for a few minutes, getting out regaining some blood flow in the legs, and repeating.

• Sleeping is an obvious one, a formula that works for some people is 9 hours of sleep + however many hours you trained that day.

• Mental recovery is just as important, don't forget to take some time with people (perhaps outside of skiing) who can help you recharge, like your family and friends.

• Stretching, massage and yoga! Take care of your muscles, they work hard too. This past year our team has started doing yoga twice a week and everyone has seen some huge improvements in their flexibility.

Just a few suggestions, even if you just try a few you might notice that you have a little extra for your next workout. Happy Recovering!

Previous articles in this series...

 
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