Proper recovery is the secret to staying strong all season long. Grab a protein shake, kick up your tired toes, and learn how a little rest will keep injuries at bay and make you a stronger, healthier athlete.

Mike Egle is consistent. He holds a 19-year streak of running the 5K in under 15:45.

CARA honored him twice with the Master's Runner of the Year distinction, and in 2006, he ran the Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon in 1:13. With the exception of an occasional sore foot or tweaked hamstring, Egle spent the past 31 years training and racing relatively injury-free.

Last year, his consistent record snapped.

"I did something you shouldn't do when you're 44," says Egle, a member of the Dick Pond racing team and the track, cross country and half-marathon coach at Oakton Community College. Last March, he hammered out three hard workouts in three days, and ran hard on an outdoor track in the cold the next day. "It felt like I was pounding on cement," he says. "My legs were fatigued from the previous days, and my calf muscle just tightened up on me. I could tell I messed it up when I got home. The next couple races I couldn't even finish because my leg kept giving out." He continued to train unsuccessfully for the next few weeks but ended up with a pulled calf muscle.

Many athletes already know the body needs recovery days in order to heal from hard workouts. But balancing your training schedule with the right amounts of rest and recovery, proper nutrition and sleep can prevent injuries and make this year your best season ever, all the way to the end.

Rest easy

Egle runs every single day. He can handle the mileage beacuse he alternates between hard and easy workouts to help his body recover from his 60-mile weeks. Most doctors are quick to suggest that most athletes should take at least one day of rest a week.

"The benefit of exercise comes at a rest interval," says David O'Brian, DPM, a podiatrist who specializes in sports injuries at the Podiatry and Sports Center in Chicago. "Essentially you're stressing your muscles and breaking them down during an exertion. Some of those muscles might tear and accumulate lactic acid. Rest periods allow nutrient-rich blood to help your muscles and body rebuild."

Sacrificing too many rest days can wear your body out, says Paul Marando, D.C., a chiropractor at Physicians Plus in Chicago. Overtraining starts an unhealthy cycle in your body. "Give your muscles a chance to adapt and grow back stronger than before," says Marando. "Sooner or later it will catch up with you."

There is no magic number that says how long you should take off, but some doctors recommend setting aside one day a week. A recent study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology tested muscle fatigue and recovery in the legs of strength athletes after high- intensity weight sessions. Researchers found that all performance variables returned to normal after 33 hours.

This doesn't mean you should skip biking around the neighborhood with your kids on a rest day. In fact, some light exercise after a hard workout can help with recovery, O'Brian says. Getting your blood flowing can help remove lactic acid and keep muscles limber in preparation for your next workout.

Balance may be the most effective training tool when it comes to knowing how much rest you need, says Jaena Stanley-Gonzaga, D.C., an acupuncturist and chiropractor with Chicago Healers. "If you're overtraining, you're not letting your body recover from micro tears in the muscles," she says. "It's important to balance exertion and rest, and let the body and mind bounce back."

Recover and recharge

Including recovery workouts in your training might be the key to staying active over the course of your life. For Egle, 45, his vigilance about incorporating three easy days into his week is what keeps him strong and helps shave seconds off his times. "My recovery pace is about two to three minutes off my race pace," says Egle, who is currently 10 seconds away from breaking the U.S. record in the mile and 3K. "When you're over 40, your body needs a little help. You have to hold back on those easy days. I thought I would retire at 42, but I'm still doing good, so it's kind of silly to stop."

Recovery workouts aren't limited to easy runs. Cross training with activities that use different muscle groups like swimming or cycling are the best ways to maintain your fitness level as you give the muscles you use repetitively a chance to recharge, according to Marando. "Doing the same activities over and over again doesn't challenge your body to adapt. You end up mentally and physically stale."

It may sound counterintuitive, but if you are doing a recovery run, avoid cutting your training pace in order to maintain a certain distance. Here's why: "When you make the effort to run slowly, you take more steps per mile and can alter your form and technique, putting more impact on the rest of your body. You end up getting sloppy if you run too far," O'Brian says. It's safer to maintain your pace and cut down on the mileage.

There are no clear guidelines for what level athletes should exert for a recovery workout, O'Brian says. Listen to your body to see how hard you can work without sacrificing your performance.

Fuel right

Ignore the fads: with nutrition and athletics, it's best to go back to the basics. "First, drink plenty of water," Stanley-Gonzaga says. "When it comes to carbohydrates and proteins, both replace nutrients that help the body work more efficiently." According to a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, a carbohydrate and protein supplement enhances muscle recovery when you take it shortly after a hard workout.

Focus on ingesting easily-absorbed carbohydrates-like energy drinks- right after a hard exercise, Marando advises. The drink is easier for your body to digest, compared to heavier carbohydrates like potatoes or a bowl of rice. You can be a little more lenient with the form of protein you choose as long as you eat it right away. "You have a certain window of time to get that protein in your body to help you repair. After one hour or so, your body won't repair as fast, which means it has to work harder during workouts," says Egle, who is rarely spotted without a protein bar or an Endurox protein shake in his hand.

It's easy to load up on carbohydrates and protein, but don't forget your fruits and vegetables, warns Stanley-Gonzaga. "The body reacts to a diet heavy in carbs and protein by producing more acid to help break down the nutrients." In time, the acidity from the diet and the lactic acid that builds up from exercise floods your body and reduces your ability to perform and recover, she says. Fruits and vegetables help balance the acidity levels in the body.

Sleep for success

A good night's sleep is the one part of the day where your body and muscles are most at rest. "Sleep is one of the most important training tools for me," says Egle, who tries to get at least eight hours a night. "You're going to put yourself at risk if you don't let your body recover at night with enough sleep."

While there is no universal number of hours of sleep athletes should get, many medical reports and doctors refer back to the eight-hour standard. "A lack of sleep affects your body's ability to repair itself," O'Brian says. It also wears down the immune system, which shifts your body's focus from recovering to fighting diseases. "Anything you do to shortcut your body's ability to heal is harmful," he says.

Whether recovery comes in the form of a day off, an easy run, a protein shake or an extra couple hours of sleep, it is the glue that holds an athlete's performance together during training. Train smart this season and you are sure to cut down on overuse injuries, gain power and speed, and begin a consistent and life-long active lifestyle.