In terms of the recovery or bringing your foot back up, just let it relax. When you're doing any endurance or aerobic activity, your body needs to cool itself and it does that through sweat production. Sweat evaporates off your skin and keeps you cool. It's your own air conditioning system. But you have to replace the fluids that you lose.
Hydration is a critical way to do that.
Once you start to get dehydrated and begin to get thirsty, your body's performance will start to fall. A good rule of thumb is one water bottle at least every hour. You just need to reach down there and take a drink every five to 10 minutes. That allows people to not have to think and reach down and drink the water. It tends to keep people more hydrated.