Re-evaluating Recovery Strategies

I'm half-way through Week Four and another subtle change has occurred in the training plan.  This week I am running the same mileage as last week, but it is spread out over five days.  Running five days every week, rather than three or four days, will shortly become the norm.  The purpose of this change is to accustom the body to running every single day, or at least several days in a row, with little rest.  So I am trying to focus on good nutrition, on getting a good night's sleep, and on continuing to keep moving during the day.  I am also re-evaluating, at least at this point in the plan, the recovery strategies that I have relied on in the past.

Dean Karnazes, the gifted ultrarunner, said this recently in his blog:

"Having once run 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days, I’ve learned a few things about recovery. Chiefly, I think it’s overrated.  Case in point, I didn’t do much by way of recovery during the 50-marathon endeavor (mainly because there wasn’t much time between running and traveling state to state). You’d think that the body would break down over the course of time, but that wasn’t what I observed. Quite the contrary, in fact. The final marathon—NYC—was the fastest of them all, 3:00:30. Not shabby for having just run 49 marathons in the 49 days prior. Rather than deteriorating, my body adapted to the daily load and grew progressively stronger over time.  Recent studies have cast doubt on the merits of conventional recovery techniques, like ice baths, compression, stretching, and message. We know that popping anti-inflammatory meds can disrupt the body’s natural recovery process and potentially pose a health risk if taken in higher doses. It seems to me that if you want to maximize the adaptive changes the body experiences when put under stress, the best advice is to do nothing for post-workout recovery."

That's interesting advice, but I'm not sure it applies to a 65-year-old.  One thing I know for sure, however:  even after 19 marathons, I still have a lot to learn about running them.