The best recovery is to do the same thing lighter

As you mention, doing the same thing lighter is always good, as is cycling casually home from the gym. Percy Cerutty, Australia’s most famous athletic coach, said that doing the same thing lighter is a good recovery technique.

I run daily, and I always fit in a brisk 5km walk as recovery later in the day or evening. It makes a big difference and combined with warming up before and stretching afterwards helps keep me injury-free.

Related: After Starting Trail Running At 70 I Finally Ran My First 10km