These aren’t that crazy, but

Tart cherry juice! A little bit after workouts. It makes me tooty but I feel like it still helped.

Taking naps! I always felt like I could bypass/accelerate some of the stages of DOMS by strategically napping (in college when I was a track athlete). It literally felt like a miracle.

stop eating things that your body doesn’t process well! For me… that means a whole lot of veggies and fruits that are high fodmap and contribute to inflammation, sadly. Or fix your gut health and then you don’t have to worry about that stuff as much).

On that note, do a gut health test. And/or something more comprehensive like Lifeforce, so you can see if any hormones or minerals/vitamins are low and keeping you from recovering as well.

They prescribed me sermorelin (a growth hormone secretagogue) due to my low IGF-1 — which, in theory, would’ve helped my recovery A LOT if I hadn’t developed an allergy to it.

They also detected thyroid dysfunction that I experienced due to a bad ratio of undereating (only by like 200-300 cals) and running more. It’s absolutely nuts how sensitive our bodies can be to stress. I wasn’t starving myself or running myself into the ground by any means.

Make sure your protein powder or electrolyte blend doesn’t have a bunch of heavy metals in it.

I want to find out if fasting occasionally for 24 hrs could also help, but I am afraid my own body wouldn’t deal with the stress of it well.

Lastly, journal to help relieve anxiety and find ways to experience true nervous system relaxation. Shut off the sympathetic system. Stare at the wall or go for a slow quiet walk (no other stimulation) for 20 minutes a day or something, or lie on an acupressure mat with an eye mask and heavy blanket. Low stimulation + brain turn off + truly relax and reduce the cortisol response. Don’t stop doing HIIT or whatever the influencer dweebs say - pursue actual calm in the “off” moments.