July 8, 2024 • 11 mins
Hi Running Friend!
What if everything you thought you knew about cool-downs was wrong? Join me as we discuss the debate within the coaching and running science community about the necessity and effectiveness of cool-downs.
Resources from the Episode:
NIH Study Review: Do We Need a Cool-Down After Exercise
Bas Van Hooren (one of the researches of the above study): Do We Need to Perform a Cool-Down After Exercise- really great in-depth article about the study
Science of Running Article by Steve Magness: Lactate Threshold...what the heck is it?
Why Difficult Runs May Signal the Need to Run More
Stretching for Runners: Dynamic vs. Static
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
Find my additional outlets over at the YouTube channel and at wrinkledrunner.com. Sign up over on the blog for the once-a-month newsletter! If you would like information on utilizing a running coach, check out what I can do for you here.
If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to sherry@wrinkledrunner.com…I answer every one.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For as long as there have been running workouts,
there have been cool downs.
Recently, in the coaching andrunning science world there has
been a bit of a debate overwhether a cool down is necessary
or not.
We'll go over some of thethought behind a cool down and
what that generally isconsidered, and some of the
studies that have come outregarding doing one or not.
When I first started hearingabout the debate, it was kind of
(00:21):
funny to me that there was one,because as a coach, I routinely
give clients a cool down, evenif it's just half a mile or mile
slow jog.
After runs, I recommendstretching and foam rolling
afterwards as well.
Because of the nature of thecoaching that I do, those kinds
of things are prescribed but notalways followed, depending on
the client.
(00:41):
But if I build a running cooldown into a workout, at least I
know that they're going to dothat.
I'm always open to changing howI do things, however, and to do
that I need to know what theresearch is showing, which is
why I do a lot of reading andcontinuing education.
I'm always looking out fordifferent certifications that I
(01:04):
can get, just so that I'm morewell-rounded and so that I know
what's going on in the coachingand running and I'm also a
personal trainer and the thingsthat are going on with that so
that I can better serve myclients.
My thoughts, though, when Ifirst started hearing about it,
about this controversy over cooldowns was whether one does a
(01:25):
formal cool down or not, yourbody will, in fact, cool down.
So I mean it's not like if youdon't run afterwards or if you
don't do anything afterward,your body is still going to cool
down.
So at first, when I firststarted hearing it, I'm like
well, your body's doing itanyway.
So why is there a debatewhether your body just doesn't
(01:48):
keep running or keep the heartrate up and all that?
So I looked a little bit deeperinto it as time went on.
The reasons coaches have usedcool downs have ranged from
stopping blood pooling in thelegs to bringing the heart rate
down, to facilitating a quickerrecovery by causing the body to
(02:08):
go from a catabolic state, whichis the muscles breaking down,
to an anabolic state, wherethey're building back up.
So part of training adaptationshappen when we run on fatigued
legs as well.
So extending a run by anothermile or more, depending on your
workout, in a cool down it givesyou more mileage, which can
translate to a lot of extra pace, doing it at a much slower pace
(02:33):
than what you're doing yourworkout in.
You're getting this extramileage, but you're not beating
yourself up for it.
One of the studies that I'veseen that has introduced the
(02:55):
debate was done in 2018.
And I'm going to link that toyou in the show notes if you're
interested in seeing the widerstudy and the more scientific
things that went in it, andthere are some tables and things
like that that you can look at.
This study looked at theeffectiveness of cool-downs on
injury prevention, which is ahuge reason why we've always
(03:16):
done them adaptive response andperformance, among other things
and they were working from theknowledge that, or the belief
that, a cool down means morebenefits to a runner than not
doing them, and that's been theprevailing thought and not
questioned actually forbasically always.
I think the conclusions that weare looking at are condensed in
(03:39):
the review that I read, butthen I found an article written
by and I do not know how topronounce.
It's B-A-S, so I would say BasVan Hoeren or Hoeren, but it's
B-A-S-V-A-N-H-O-O-R-E-N and heis actually one of the people
(04:01):
who did the study, and so thatarticle is actually very
interesting and I'll link tothat as well in the show notes
To highlight the conclusions.
It was found that a cool-downwas ineffective for enhancing a
workout done on the same day.
So sometimes you might haveheard like of two-a-days or
(04:21):
other kinds of workouts whereyou're running twice in one day
and a cool-down that you did inthe first run it wasn't shown to
be effective in helpinganything for the second one, but
there was some benefit for anext-day performance.
Interestingly, a cool-down didnot seem to prevent injuries and
(04:43):
a lot of what we do as coachesis build in different things
into workouts and training.
That is like injury prevention,so that we, our clients are, or
our athletes are healthy andthey can, you know, keep running
and keep training and doing allthe things that we're asking of
them to do and the goals thatthey set and things like that.
(05:05):
And so, because injuries can bepretty prevalent in runners,
the things that we incorporateinto some of our training is for
injury prevention, and cooldowns is one of the things that
we've just done so that we couldprevent those injuries, but
(05:25):
it's showing that it doesn'tactually help injury prevention.
In relation to that, thereseems to be studies being done
more and more that are actuallyshowing that the things that we
are saying to do for injuryprevention are not actually
preventing injuries or stavingthem off.
(05:48):
So, for example, staticstretching before a run that has
been shown to not preventinjuries.
Now, the fact that a runnerwill get to a faster recovery of
the cardio and respiratorysystem, which we've also always
believed, that is still showingto be true.
And as far as DOMS, or delayedonset muscle soreness, a warmup
(06:10):
has been shown to have apositive effect so that you know
later on in the day yourmuscles aren't as sore if you
perform a warmup before a run.
But a cool down has not beenshown to do that.
Which is very interesting to methat after a run, when you're
doing your foam rolling or thestatic stretches that I
(06:33):
recommend doing after a run, ithas not been shown to prevent
that delayed onset musclesoreness.
So All that to say, keep doingthose warm-ups, because that has
been shown to do that.
The study also nods at anotherstudy that showed that an active
cool-down so a cool-down thatis intentional and done soon
(06:54):
after a workout has shown tolift lactate threshold after
four weeks.
Now there's a whole sciencebehind lactate threshold and
what's going on.
But the theory here is that theextra training volume is what's
translating to the higherlactate threshold and what's
going on.
But the theory here is that theextra training volume is what's
translating to the higherlactate threshold, not the cool
down itself.
So if you're interested inlactate threshold, I will put
(07:16):
some resources in the show notesfor you so that you can dive a
little bit deeper into what thatis.
We want our lactate thresholdto be higher, but yeah, that's a
whole other topic.
So back to the cool down.
After the very few studies thathave been done on this, some
runners and even coaches havedecided that the research is
(07:37):
saying there is no benefit atall to a cool down and we only
do them because we always have.
Now, personally, I think havingwhatever mileage accumulates
due to a cool down is a goodthing.
Last week I went over whysometimes we think that we need
a rest day when actually we needa run day, and so, you know,
(08:00):
this kind of feeds into mysometimes we actually do need a
little bit more miles to getbetter at running.
I think for my clients andmyself, having a cool down built
into the workout, you know doeshave the benefit of that
lactate threshold lift.
I also feel that, especiallyafter a hard workout, having a
mile or two of slow, easyrunning has a psychological
(08:22):
benefit as well.
You know the workout is done,yet you still get a few more
miles, and that it feels easyand kind of is a finisher For an
easy run.
Okay, not building in a cooldown is fine.
If you're going out for sixeasy miles, you know to then
drop back for another whateverhalf mile mile, two miles,
whatever at the end of thatprobably isn't going to do
(08:46):
anything except for extend therun and give you that myelin.
So cool downs consist in myworld of running at a slower
pace, recovery pace, one whereyou're able to talk and hold a
conversation.
You can also incorporate, afterthat foam rolling, static
stretches.
(09:06):
You can walk for your cool downand for more information on
static versus dynamic stretches,again, check out the show notes
.
And you also should get somehydration and fuel into your
body and consider that part ofyour cool down, or at least have
that on your post-run checklistso that it's more likely that
you will do that.
(09:26):
I know sometimes.
You know sometimes you get homefrom the run you're going to go
take a shower and then you'vegot other things that you have
to do.
Sometimes it's because we'regoing off to work or whatever,
and it can be who knows how longbefore you actually take a
drink of water or you refuelyour body after expending the
(09:46):
calories for your workout.
So if you consider somehydration and some fueling
afterwards as part of your cooldown, then that can be helpful
in establishing that habit.
So, even though the studies areshowing that some of the things
that we have originally thoughtabout cool downs aren't true,
(10:08):
there's enough benefit in mymind that, if you're my client,
you are going to be doing a cooldown.
For as long as there have been running workouts,
there have been cool downs.
Recently, in the coaching andrunning science world there has
been a bit of a debate overwhether a cool down is necessary
or not.
We'll go over some of thethought behind a cool down and
what that generally isconsidered, and some of the
studies that have come outregarding doing one or not.
When I first started hearingabout the debate, it was kind of
(00:21):
funny to me that there was one,because as a coach, I routinely
give clients a cool down, evenif it's just half a mile or mile
slow jog.
After runs, I recommendstretching and foam rolling
afterwards as well.
Because of the nature of thecoaching that I do, those kinds
of things are prescribed but notalways followed, depending on
the client.
(00:41):
But if I build a running cooldown into a workout, at least I
know that they're going to dothat.
I'm always open to changing howI do things, however, and to do
that I need to know what theresearch is showing, which is
why I do a lot of reading andcontinuing education.
I'm always looking out fordifferent certifications that I
(01:04):
can get, just so that I'm morewell-rounded and so that I know
what's going on in the coachingand running and I'm also a
personal trainer and the thingsthat are going on with that so
that I can better serve myclients.
My thoughts, though, when Ifirst started hearing about it,
about this controversy over cooldowns was whether one does a
(01:25):
formal cool down or not, yourbody will, in fact, cool down.
So I mean it's not like if youdon't run afterwards or if you
don't do anything afterward,your body is still going to cool
down.
So at first, when I firststarted hearing it, I'm like
well, your body's doing itanyway.
So why is there a debatewhether your body just doesn't
(01:48):
keep running or keep the heartrate up and all that?
So I looked a little bit deeperinto it as time went on.
The reasons coaches have usedcool downs have ranged from
stopping blood pooling in thelegs to bringing the heart rate
down, to facilitating a quickerrecovery by causing the body to
(02:08):
go from a catabolic state, whichis the muscles breaking down,
to an anabolic state, wherethey're building back up.
So part of training adaptationshappen when we run on fatigued
legs as well.
So extending a run by anothermile or more, depending on your
workout, in a cool down it givesyou more mileage, which can
translate to a lot of extra pace, doing it at a much slower pace
(02:33):
than what you're doing yourworkout in.
You're getting this extramileage, but you're not beating
yourself up for it.
One of the studies that I'veseen that has introduced the
(02:55):
debate was done in 2018.
And I'm going to link that toyou in the show notes if you're
interested in seeing the widerstudy and the more scientific
things that went in it, andthere are some tables and things
like that that you can look at.
This study looked at theeffectiveness of cool-downs on
injury prevention, which is ahuge reason why we've always
(03:16):
done them adaptive response andperformance, among other things
and they were working from theknowledge that, or the belief
that, a cool down means morebenefits to a runner than not
doing them, and that's been theprevailing thought and not
questioned actually forbasically always.
I think the conclusions that weare looking at are condensed in
(03:39):
the review that I read, butthen I found an article written
by and I do not know how topronounce.
It's B-A-S, so I would say BasVan Hoeren or Hoeren, but it's
B-A-S-V-A-N-H-O-O-R-E-N and heis actually one of the people
(04:01):
who did the study, and so thatarticle is actually very
interesting and I'll link tothat as well in the show notes
To highlight the conclusions.
It was found that a cool-downwas ineffective for enhancing a
workout done on the same day.
So sometimes you might haveheard like of two-a-days or
(04:21):
other kinds of workouts whereyou're running twice in one day
and a cool-down that you did inthe first run it wasn't shown to
be effective in helpinganything for the second one, but
there was some benefit for anext-day performance.
Interestingly, a cool-down didnot seem to prevent injuries and
(04:43):
a lot of what we do as coachesis build in different things
into workouts and training.
That is like injury prevention,so that we, our clients are, or
our athletes are healthy andthey can, you know, keep running
and keep training and doing allthe things that we're asking of
them to do and the goals thatthey set and things like that.
(05:05):
And so, because injuries can bepretty prevalent in runners,
the things that we incorporateinto some of our training is for
injury prevention, and cooldowns is one of the things that
we've just done so that we couldprevent those injuries, but
(05:25):
it's showing that it doesn'tactually help injury prevention.
In relation to that, thereseems to be studies being done
more and more that are actuallyshowing that the things that we
are saying to do for injuryprevention are not actually
preventing injuries or stavingthem off.
(05:48):
So, for example, staticstretching before a run that has
been shown to not preventinjuries.
Now, the fact that a runnerwill get to a faster recovery of
the cardio and respiratorysystem, which we've also always
believed, that is still showingto be true.
And as far as DOMS, or delayedonset muscle soreness, a warmup
(06:10):
has been shown to have apositive effect so that you know
later on in the day yourmuscles aren't as sore if you
perform a warmup before a run.
But a cool down has not beenshown to do that.
Which is very interesting to methat after a run, when you're
doing your foam rolling or thestatic stretches that I
(06:33):
recommend doing after a run, ithas not been shown to prevent
that delayed onset musclesoreness.
So All that to say, keep doingthose warm-ups, because that has
been shown to do that.
The study also nods at anotherstudy that showed that an active
cool-down so a cool-down thatis intentional and done soon
(06:54):
after a workout has shown tolift lactate threshold after
four weeks.
Now there's a whole sciencebehind lactate threshold and
what's going on.
But the theory here is that theextra training volume is what's
translating to the higherlactate threshold and what's
going on.
But the theory here is that theextra training volume is what's
translating to the higherlactate threshold, not the cool
down itself.
So if you're interested inlactate threshold, I will put
(07:16):
some resources in the show notesfor you so that you can dive a
little bit deeper into what thatis.
We want our lactate thresholdto be higher, but yeah, that's a
whole other topic.
So back to the cool down.
After the very few studies thathave been done on this, some
runners and even coaches havedecided that the research is
(07:37):
saying there is no benefit atall to a cool down and we only
do them because we always have.
Now, personally, I think havingwhatever mileage accumulates
due to a cool down is a goodthing.
Last week I went over whysometimes we think that we need
a rest day when actually we needa run day, and so, you know,
(08:00):
this kind of feeds into mysometimes we actually do need a
little bit more miles to getbetter at running.
I think for my clients andmyself, having a cool down built
into the workout, you know doeshave the benefit of that
lactate threshold lift.
I also feel that, especiallyafter a hard workout, having a
mile or two of slow, easyrunning has a psychological
(08:22):
benefit as well.
You know the workout is done,yet you still get a few more
miles, and that it feels easyand kind of is a finisher For an
easy run.
Okay, not building in a cooldown is fine.
If you're going out for sixeasy miles, you know to then
drop back for another whateverhalf mile mile, two miles,
whatever at the end of thatprobably isn't going to do
(08:46):
anything except for extend therun and give you that myelin.
So cool downs consist in myworld of running at a slower
pace, recovery pace, one whereyou're able to talk and hold a
conversation.
You can also incorporate, afterthat foam rolling, static
stretches.
(09:06):
You can walk for your cool downand for more information on
static versus dynamic stretches,again, check out the show notes
.
And you also should get somehydration and fuel into your
body and consider that part ofyour cool down, or at least have
that on your post-run checklistso that it's more likely that
you will do that.
(09:26):
I know sometimes.
You know sometimes you get homefrom the run you're going to go
take a shower and then you'vegot other things that you have
to do.
Sometimes it's because we'regoing off to work or whatever,
and it can be who knows how longbefore you actually take a
drink of water or you refuelyour body after expending the
(09:46):
calories for your workout.
So if you consider somehydration and some fueling
afterwards as part of your cooldown, then that can be helpful
in establishing that habit.
So, even though the studies areshowing that some of the things
that we have originally thoughtabout cool downs aren't true,
(10:08):
there's enough benefit in mymind that, if you're my client,
you are going to be doing a cooldown.
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