The Physical Performance Show: Christie Aschwanden, Author of the New York Times bestseller, GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery

In episode 187 of The Physical Performance Show Brad Beer shares a conversation with Christie Aschwanden, Author of the New York Times bestseller, GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery in this expert edition.

Christie Aschwanden is the Lead Writer for Science at 538 and a Health Columnist for the Washington Post. Christie is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, a contributing Editor for Runner’s World and a contributing writer for Bicycling. Christie’s work appears in dozens of publications including Discover, Slate, Proto, Consumer Reports, New Scientist, More, Men’s Journal and NPR.ORG and the Oprah Magazine. What gives Christie’s work and in particular this New York Times Best Selling Book “Good to Go” such credibility is that Christie has been a lifetime athlete herself.

Christie has raced in Europe and North America on the Team Rosendall Nordick Ski Racing Squad. She is also a lifetime runner and has been an avid cyclist as well. Her book ‘Good to Go’, is really exploring how to aid sleep, rest like a champion. Christie approaches the current explosion which as she terms recovery industrial complex of products and services that sprung up across the last 5 or so years. We’ve all seen the explosion of recovery strategies, recovery centres, compression boots, hot cold baths, cryotherapy chambers, infrared soreness, you name it we’ve all seen and been exposed.

In Good to Go, Christie explores what’s known about recovery for athletes across an evidence continuum, from gimmicky right through the tried, tested and proven benefits of sleep for the athlete.

During this episode, we discuss the importance of monitoring your mood day to day, why prioritising sleep is just so crucial, the reason why we often cling to unproven debunked recovery modalities, the underlying drivers for this boom in recovery products and services, the perils of getting recovery wrong as an athlete in developing over training syndrome. Christie outlines some of the pitfalls of modern sports science research and Christie debunks just a few of the myths and mistaken beliefs that athletes for generations have held onto around things such as hydrating throughout endurance, refuelling post exercise, the use of ice for sports injuries and recovery. The evidence base for and against common recovery rituals such as stretching and foam rolling and so much more.

To listen to Episode 187:

Click the icon to listen to the interview on iTunes or listen using the soundcloud player below

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Listen in as we delve into the following:

• Christie’s history in Running
• Why Christie wrote her book
• Approaches of Mike Fanelli and Camille Herron in running
• Recovery
• Importance of monitoring our moods
• Paying attention to recovering
• Ryan Hall’s training story
• Insight on Unexplained Under Performance Syndrome (UUPS)
• Common Myths in Recovery
• Hydration
• How scientific research works
• How powerful sleep is for recovery

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Quotes:

“Mood is the absolute best want.”
“Ask yourself how you are feeling.”
“Athletes are trusting the data before they are trusting their own body and that is really dangerous.”
“So much that we do in sport is just tradition.”
“In the heat, make sure you have access to fluids.”
“Drink to thirst.”
“Take some time out and relax.”

To follow Christie Aschwanden

Twitter:  @cragcrest
Blog: LastWordonNOthing.com
Website: Christie Aschwanden
Book: Good to Go
Podcast: Emerging Form

Timeline

0:00 Start
1:29 Introduction to Christie Aschwanden
5:30 Christie’s history in Running
8:37 Why Christie wrote her book
12:10 Approaches of Mike Fanelli and Camille Herron in running
14:50 Recovery
21:10 Importance of monitoring our moods
28:23 Paying attention to recovering
34:01 Insight on Unexplained Under Performance Syndrome (UUPS)
38:05 Common Myths in Recovery
45:37 Hydration
52:40 How scientific research works
56:31 How powerful sleep is for recovery
1:02:20 Physical Challenge for the Week
1:07:06 Finish

People Mentioned

Mike Fanelli – Runner
Camille Herron– American Long Distance Runner
Ryan Hall – American long distance runner – Episode 160 of The Physical Performance Show
Alex Hutchinson – Author New York Times Bestseller ENDURE Episode 123 of The Physical Performance Show

For questions and comments about this Episode

Send to the show host @Brad_Beer (Twitter) or @brad_beer (Instagram)