Five important recovery tips

Every single athlete that takes care of himself/herself understands the importance of recovery. Recovery has various aspects and it does not stop with that cool down after a workout.

16 weeks down the #ADP road

It has been a crazy journey the last 16 weeks. We're 4 months down the (new) road and it feels great! Over those 4 months, Scott Simmons – lead coach of the American Distance Project - did a fantastic job. He tu(r)ned my thinking back into the positive attitude a competitive runner needs. That's probably mainly due to the small successes that occur more than once every week.

Progression all the way

This short blog is completely aligned with the previous one. After staying 11 consecutive days at sea level, training week #8 was completed on Sunday. That week concludes my third training block where both the mileage (65 --> 70+ --> 78/79) as the intensity gradually progress.

Weeks 13-19 - Californian challenges

Last couple of weeks, I did not made any updates to this blog. Mainly due to a shift of priorities. My project in the Bay area resulted in two 5+ hour flights per week. Adding a 3 hour time zone difference and an interesting but challenging project content and scope resulted in 11+ hour working days on average. Hopefully, my regular Twitter messages did give you an idea what I was doing from a workout perspective.

Week 11 - squeezing in some relative rest

Before we start the real prepping phase of the upcoming outdoor track season, a week of relative recovery was put in the training plan.

Week 10 - End of my winter`s workout schedule

First things first: my sincere congratulations for my Belgian friends and colleagues within our awesome Track and Field sport. Belgium had a mini delegation at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul (Turkey). With only 3 athletes, Belgium was able to claim 3 times a 5th place. 

Week 09 - Picking up the mileage

After my though days in week 08, my body recovered slowly over the weekend. However, the first days of my last week in Detroit the feeling was still not 100%. At these kind of moments, you should not panic as a runner. Trying to catch up on the ‘lost’ training days is one of the most stupid things to do.

Week 07 - Don`t you think it`s time for a change?

After Tuesday`s workout, the next rest cycle of my summer preparation started. With 4 anaerobic capacity trainings in 9 days, the previous training cycle ended quite intense. The body is reacting pretty good on this type of workout. 

Week 02 - Recovery during travel

, a photo by woutvandegaer on Flickr.

Proper recovery is important for every athlete. Due to the fact that I run more than 100K per week on average, recovery is an important factor in my weekly planning.


In order to get the maximum recovery, I wear the PRO socks of Herzog Medical (a High Performance Running Team sponsor) during my travel days. The flights between Charlotte and Detroit take about 2 hours.


You wouldn`t even notice them underneath my tailor made business suit :-) The new design and updated form are definitely an improvement. I like them a lot!