Is taking a day off once a week okay?

No you can't take days off. If you do you will suck and get thrown in jail.

Nick Willis runs 6 days a week... but then again he is Nick Willis.

Probably not. I am assuming you are in your late teens, early 20s. At that age, you should be able to run 7 days a week with few issues, however I understand about the leg weights. You might want to tone down the leg weights if you need a recovery day after them. Assuming you are a distance runners you should be on a program that allows you to do weight training that should not interphere with your running. Do leg weights after your run and run easy the next day. However some folks need the recovery day. If your current program works for you keep it up. If this is the first time you are trying this, I would advise easing up on the weights (but keep doing them) but running 7 days a week for optimal performance (assuming you are not overdoing it). Take a day off if your body tells you to (lingering fatigue, soreness, injury, etc.) Good luck.

I have taken one day off per week for the past 10 years. I live for my day off, it is my day to do what I want with my time after school/work. I have run 8:16 for 3m indoors and 30:45 for 10k xc Would I have run faster with 7 days per week of running? Probably not.

StepAhead wrote:

I mean I know it won't kill me, but will I be at a disadvantage come regular track practice if I don't run 7 days a week over the off season? I ask this because I lift weights during the off season, and when I do legs on one day, I feel like I need the day after off because I'm so sore. Once the reg season starts I'll drop the weights and run every day of the week.

You might be a 7:45i, 28:33 10K xc guy if you put in some effort, but you'll never know.

I am 16 and just got done with my junior year of cross country. I run relatively standard high school mileage I guess, around 50ish miles per week. I will also build up to a 90 minute long run that I will do every other week until the end of track.

The reason why I'm hitting the weight room is because my track distance coach, who doesn't coach xc, noticed that I have some muscle inbalances that he thinks I can correct through weight lifting. My coach is a doctor, and he has a hard time coming to practice everyday, but I do trust him as he got me down from a 4:42 mile to a 4:27. He also suggested I only run 6 days a week, actually prefering I do as such, and I'm not trying to disrespect him but I want a second opinion. It seems like taking the day off after running and lower body lifting would be the best option.

There are many world class distance runners who regularly schedule a day off.

StepAhead wrote:

I mean I know it won't kill me, but will I be at a disadvantage come regular track practice if I don't run 7 days a week over the off season? I ask this because I lift weights during the off season, and when I do legs on one day, I feel like I need the day after off because I'm so sore. Once the reg season starts I'll drop the weights and run every day of the week.

Easy answer. What's more important to you? Lifting heavy weights during the offseason or getting in that extra run?

If you're running twice a day most days and really like lifting weights, you'd be ok I'm sure. 6 runs a week isn't that many however.

Ask current BYU coach and former Olympian Ed Eyestone. As I remember it, he never ran on Sundays and managed 27:41 and 2:10+. The day off probably did a lot more good than harm.

toro wrote:

There are many world class distance runners who regularly schedule a day off.

how often is regularly?

also, what's so bad about just going for a jog on your easy days? if you're jogging it's like a day off

What's wrong with taking a day off if you can hit your weekly mileage requirement in six days instead of seven?

6 days of 50mpw is better than 7 days of 50 mpw. And I take off once per week. But now that I leave the 60s and go to the 70 mpw range Ill probably start to work in a sunday run, but only like 3-5 milse long.

Well this is what it boils down to I guess. Would it be better for me to correct these muscle imbalances through lifting weights or should I just not worry about it and continue to run seven days a week. I am not saying that I must take a day off after lifting, but that was the first time I had ever done lower body lifting and I was extremely sore. I could barely walk down the steps at school the next day. I'm guessing after a couple sessions, I will adapt to the training and be able to run seven days a week, which I would like to do. But at the moment I don't know if it is worth the day off to fix this problem or if I should just go with what has worked up to this point.

More =/= better

Jack Daniels coached a woman who ran 25-30mpw and was a multiple DIII AllAm. She was always ready to race.

da Costa used to take days off - at least 1-2/month. and he ran 2:06:05

I wish I had skipped some days. So does Salazar. If you put yourself on a 10 day training cycle, a day off works.

This is LR apostasy, though, so tread cautiously.

BroMan wrote:

Nick Willis runs 6 days a week... but then again he is Nick Willis.

He didn't win the gold medal because he only ran 6 days a week.

StepAhead wrote:

Well this is what it boils down to I guess. Would it be better for me to correct these muscle imbalances through lifting weights or should I just not worry about it and continue to run seven days a week.

1. If this is the same coach who got you from 4:42 to 4:27, and he *now* thinks that he sees a way that you can improve even more: I'd say it's worth giving his suggestion an honest try, for at least one full lifting cycle (usually defined as a minimum of six weeks). [By the way, are you doing the leg exercises more than once a week?] He knows far more about the *totality* of your training, and the rest of your life, than any of us can or will; and the fact that he's willing to look beyond "what has worked up to this point" is a positive, not negative, change.

2. As others have suggested, you can probably get all the running mileage that you need in six days. If you feel you need to increase mileage, check with your coach about adding miles on your six running days, not on the seventh.

[I've known of people who averaged ~100mi/wk and took *two* days off from running in most weeks.]

3. If you're in a position to correct imbalance problems, do so NOW before they lead to bigger problems. (Sadly, experience speaks.) You're lucky to have a coach who can spot such things.

4. One of the biggest mistakes that (most) runners can make is to believe that their ideal training would be all running. If a weekly no-running day could help you break the all-running *mental* habit, you will almost certainly benefit from improved performances and less injury downtime.

[Even when you've adapted enough to the leg exercises, it wouldn't hurt (and would probably help) to do the next day's aerobic work in a fashion other than running: swimming, aqua jog, elliptical, bike, etc. In consultation with your coach, of course!]

Talk with your coach. Good luck. Please keep us informed of your progress.

Going from the low 4:40 range to 4:27 in a year is a huge jump. Results speak for themselves. I am a high school coach and my kids seem to be doing just fine with 6 days a week. They run two-a-days twice during the week for the older kids, but all of them take a day off. You need this to stay physically and mentally well. Listen and trust him.[quote]lease wrote:

My coach told me I "gallop" to a certain degree. I actually had a bad accident as a preteen and my leg was lacerated pretty badly, taking away some muscle with it (sorry for the mental picture). Now I don't know if that is the reason for it, but if fixing it means running x amount of time faster, than it's worth a shot to me. That's why I love my coach. We are on great speaking terms and I do whatever he says as far as speed work and such, and I always run my best races at the end of the season.

By the way in xc I ran a 15:25 which was a huge jump from my 16:30 last year. I might be looking at running the 2 mile more this year because I think I can get below 9:30.

Try 7 days and see how you manage. If you run 7 days a week for a while and start to notice you are lacking pop, getting ill, have injury tweaks... maybe 6 days is the amount you can run while staying consistent and healthy. MUCH better to have years of solid training like that, than to run 7 days a week and have setbacks every 4-5 months that bring you to a halt or require REAL time off (2 weeks +).

You may miss 52 days a year of training, but you are still progressing with each week, and more than likely the day you are currently taking off would be replaced by an easy run designed for recovery anyway, not a quality one. If 7 days on 365 a year is what you shoot for, but you end up with a stress fracture or other injury/illness, you lose not only an equal or greater amount of time training, but ALSO bring your quality workouts and long runs to a complete halt, stopping the future training progression and also losing some of the fitness you worked so damn hard to achieve prior to the injury/illness/setback... fitness you have to earn back once you're healthy.

Then again, if you try 7 days and you adapt well, go for it, I've done it both ways and 7 days is great as long as you can handle it. Just don't do it for the love of mileage...recovery and performance is more important than achieving high numbers in your running logs.