Construction

I am building a body capable of racing the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run - Ironman distance. It takes a lot of training to be able to race that distance. It takes two types of training: destructive and regenerative. A simple equation for you to remember is this:

Destruction + Regeneration = Construction

I define destructive training as those workouts that break your body down. My longest rides, runs, and swim, those which challenge my aerobic system to handle a bigger workload than it has before fit into this category of training. Also, later in my training, when I do anaerobic, lactate, and speed work - workouts which teach my body to metabolize larger volumes of oxygen more efficiently - I will be doing workouts that are desctructive.

I define constructive training as workouts that regenerate your body. This are recovery rides, runs, and swims that flush the metabolic waste from your tissues and open your body up to receive some quality post-workout nutrition. Also, most importantly, constructive training involves soft-tissue work. Trust me when I tell you that soft-tissue work - strecthing, massage, trigger-point massage, and foam rolling - is one of the most important, and most neglected, piece of an athletes training plan. I am just starting to appreciate the important of this training component myself. People smarter than me have written outstanding articles on the importance of self-massage (insert dirty joke here). You can find those articles at the following links:

Soft Tissue Work For Tough Guys

Feel Better for 10 Bucks: Self-myofascial release: no doctor required!

As I said in my intro, Destruction + Regeneration = Construction. Taxing workouts only break your body down, but they are necessary. The only way to build a stronger body is to tax yourself in a way that prompts your tissues to grow back stronger. It's the rest and recovery that makes a body stronger. Easy workouts, soft-tissue work, recovery nutrition... all of these things are just as important of a part of the construction equation.