Le professeur de trail
What is a better measure of long run enduance (i.e. being in better shape) - feeling good at the end (maybe the last 1/3 of the run) of a Long Run or having a fast recovery (feeling good the next day)? I ask because this because I don't usually have both. I can feel poor at the end of my LRs but then recovery well. Or I have felt great towards the end of the LRs but seem to take a bit longer to recover. I don't know if it has to do with my pace - maybe if I am not "feeling it" then I slow down and the opposite is true when I feel good at the end of the LRs. Not sure...
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
running under the BigSky
Can't answer the question, but just my experience-I rarely feel "good" (often OK though ) at the end of a long run, but I do gauge my endurance/fitness on how quickly (or slowly) my recovery is
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Irish Luck
This is tough because if I feel well at the end of a run, I start to doubt the effort I put into said run ("Could I have gone faster? Longer?").
As for next day recovery, I think that is not just about fitness, but the type of terrain you were on. It's going to be more for me if I did tons of hills or rocky terrain versus more miles on a rail-trail.
I balked at giving you an answer. I'm of no help.
BT survivor since 2003. Trail runner since 2009.
I think brain surgery stimulated my running nerve and made me into a trail runner. I'm grateful for both.
This is tough because if I feel well at the end of a run, I start to doubt the effort I put into said run ("Could I have gone faster? Longer?"). As for next day recovery, I think that is not just about fitness, but the type of terrain you were on. It's going to be more for me if I did tons of hills or rocky terrain versus more miles on a rail-trail. I balked at giving you an answer. I'm of no help.
No - thanks for answering. Terrain absolutely has to do with the recovery. Thanks!
flashlight and sidewalk
For me...recovery time is my best gauge for level of fitness. I do factor in overall recovery from the previous weeks worth of efforts when looking at this.
I would consider how well I feel on the run to be an indication of how well I had recovered from previous efforts.
If I felt good the last 1/3 of a 20 mile run, but recovery was longer than expected, I would attribute this to having a strong endurance motor, but my legs are not keeping up and I would work on "time on feet" and maybe hill/speed work.
**Ask me about streaking**