Rest Days/Recovery (Read 900 times)

I've been running for about a year now, and I'm wondering what the best way to stay injury free is (since I always seem to have something or other bothering me). I'm still at pretty low mileage (15-20mpw), but I'd love to work up to double that if my legs would only cooperate with me a little more. So my question is: what is the best way to let your body recover and adjust to running? Full days off? Slow, short runs? Maybe low impact cross training? I'm an active person, so it bothers me to take a day or two completely off. Plus I don't get to put anything in the log (and the pace bunny is taunting me)!

I've been running for about a year now, and I'm wondering what the best way to stay injury free is (since I always seem to have something or other bothering me). I'm still at pretty low mileage (15-20mpw), but I'd love to work up to double that if my legs would only cooperate with me a little more. So my question is: what is the best way to let your body recover and adjust to running? Full days off? Slow, short runs? Maybe low impact cross training? I'm an active person, so it bothers me to take a day or two completely off. Plus I don't get to put anything in the log (and the pace bunny is taunting me)!

I think this is one of those areas that are pretty personal and require a lot of experimentation over time. So my answer may or may not apply to you. But for me ... the single greatest improvement to my running - in all aspects - came when I eliminated days off completely. I still take days off, of course, but not on purpose; if I skip days, its because I was lazy or something in real life intruded. But I schedule no days off, especially as marathons are approaching. Instead of feeling weak, I feel much stronger. I'm climbing up through 60 miles per week now, and my legs feel fresher than ever. But there is definitely a specific point of diminishing returns. For me, at the moment, I think its close to 60 mpw. At 70, I'll likely feel a few aches and pains, and if I climb to 80 I'll be flirting with injury. This is actually one of the ways I've seen my condition improve. A year ago, 40-45 miles per week was that optimal amount of running for me - 60 would have hurt. Now it feels wonderful. Now the critical part: all of the above assumes that four days per week (at least) are truly slow, easy runs. Those easy days are as important, I think, as the hard days. Maybe more so. All that easy mileage has made me much better at handling hard days. Your mileage on all the above will definitely vary. Be careful. MTA: By the way, the first time somebody told me I should consider running 7 days a week, I thought it was literally the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. I was sure I'd be crippled. It's sure not the advice you get from Galloway or Higdon. So skepticism and caution are to be expected. But I was wrong ... it worked for me.

Giff, I try to mix things up a bit to reduce repetitive stress. When I was having foot problems when I first started, my feet would swell on easy, flat stuff, so I tended to run 3 days / wk the eventually every other day. I almost always biked to work, so there was seldom a day of nothing. Now (retired) I'm generally 2 on / 1 "off", but the "off" might be xc skiing, mtn biking, trail work, or nada. My body still dislikes flat stuff, so for my easy days, I generally run some rolling hilly trails (if not icy like now). I very seldom go 2 days without running or at least doing something run-like, weight-bearing. The exception may be a major recovery week after a many hour race (38 mi) or after summer season (or winter season), in which case I may back off except for some walking for a couple days, which helps with recovery. My regular schedule (when I can run hills without snow and ice) has enough hills in it, that my body responds better to a "key" workout every 3 days - usually "key", easy, off, repeat - although I may switch things around. If I run the "off" day, I tend not to recover adequately. If I run really short (say 30 min), it's not worth the trouble for me and it does interfere with my recovery. That's not to say it'll be that way forever. Last year I struggled with this frequency. This year I'm doing it on snowshoes and usually can maintain the quality of runs (quality right now = not slogging, even in snow). If our snow were firm, I'd be running longer. It's something you'll have to figure as you go. Listen to your body.

MTA: By the way, the first time somebody told me I should consider running 7 days a week, I thought it was literally the stupidest thing I'd ever heard.

Are you sure you didn't use stronger language than that? I agree with JK, though. After an adjustment period you may find that you feel much better and recover faster doing short, very easy runs on your recovery days versus doing no running at all.

Thanks for some great advice! Just a little more info about me: I'm 27, 5'9 and about 165-170. I do most of my runs at an easy 7:45 - 8:15 pace which is about 1:45-2:00/mile slower than 5k pace. I run a mix of road and treadmill for now, but as soon as the trails thaw that'll be about 60% road, 40% trail which should help my legs a bit. I really like the idea of running 6-7 days a week. I've tried every other day, and usually that works well for a month or two before something starts bothering me. So here goes... I did my first slow 2m run on an off day yesterday. My legs were achy, but after I iced I felt ok. We'll see how today goes (4-5m easy pace) - lucky me, I even have a snowstorm to run through! Jeff, I notice that I'm right around the corner from you in Somerville. If you don't mind me asking, where did you find your coach?

Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been of more benefit than just running every day.

Interesting that you say this. I've looked at a couple of intermediate marathon training plans (and have a couple of other books on their way from Amazon) and they both have 2 rest or cross train days. I'm kind of wondering if I might be further ahead to run at least 6 days/week, spreading the mileage out a bit or maybe even getting an extra 4-5 miles in/week. k

Don't be a mileage whore.

Hey, I've got shoes, gear, and gadgetry...mileage should be next on my list!

Right now I am at ~30mpw. I will soon be training for a 25k in mid-May and plan to get close to 40mpw training for that. I'd like to be up to 50 before the marathon. Right now I'm planning on 5 days of training to get there (shorter easy runs, mid-length run, 20 miler, speed/hills), but I wonder if 6 days/week is going to benefit me more than 5. It wouldn't be difficult at all for me to add an extra day of running, especially as the days get longer.