What's the point of a down week?

not convinced wrote:

I started XC preseason a little late and am a few weeks into a buildup that looks like this: 23, 40, 55, 70, 85, 93, 93, 93, 85 and then school.

What's the benefit of putting in a down week around 60-70? If I'm not worried about injury, am feeling good, and wanting to get as fit as possible before the fall, why do it?

I imagine it helps your body recover and allows you to build more later in a few weeks.

The point is that you will be more prone to injury. you won't feel good, and you won't get as fit as possible because you will be overtraining.

The idea is that after a down week, you will be able to train at higher intensity that if you had just run through the week. It allows your body to recover and run harder later.

Stress + Recovery = Improvement

Of course you should listen to your body and adapt to your personal situation, but a down week now might give you a bit of an edge that first week when the team gets together. You've put in the miles, w/ a strategic bit of rest you can go into team workouts w/ an edge instead of beat up and tired.

Look at the "rest" week as you would a jog between sets of

1000m repeats

3 weeks at 90-110, week at 70 ,3 weeks at 90+

Allows your body to recover/grow, get mentally strong, hit it again for 3 weeks

to lose fitness

not convinced wrote:

Are you saying that's too low or high?

I was forced to take like a month and a half off...

The point is that if you're at a level of fitness where you'll be fine running back-to-back 90+ mile weeks in about a month, there is no reason to be running tiny weeks right now. Either you're not running nearly enough now, or 90+ miles per week is too much for you (or a little bit of both).

^koppenberg: yes

Supercompensation; also your cardiovascular system tends to respond faster to training stimulus than your musculoskeletal system (e.g your tendon strength and bone density) so down weeks potential prevent injuries. Generally, more frequent recovery weeks are recommended for newbies or if you are coming back from time off ( perhaps every third week or so)...

So if I took like 6 weeks off for some health reasons, it would be wise to add in a down week...even if I feel rushed to get back into shape for the fall?

My progression:

25

40

56

74 (where I am now, just finished this week)

86

93

100

100

100

85

First week with the team and first race..

Would it be better to make one of those 100 mile weeks more like 70-75? I just want to be as fit and ready to go as possible.

bummpppp

Because you're not worried about injury. In my experience people who don't think it's possible that they could get injured train too hard and eventually get injured. Myself included.

I agree with what an above poster said. 25 is way to low, or 100 is way too high. So either that 25 and 40 mile weeks were a joke and you were actually ready for a 50+ mile weeks then or you're going to crash and burn when you get to those 3 straight 100's. You can't only be ready to do 25 one week and then 5 weeks later be ready to do 90-100 for 4 straight weeks. So you're the only person who can answer this question because you know how you felt when you started out.

My guess if you feel great in the 70's then those first 2 weeks were just too low. You don't have to start from scratch every time you start to base build. Depends on what your peak mileage ever is too. If you've hit 110 before that's one thing, but if you're highest ever is 85-90 then this is a bad plan.

Actually I'm going to go ahead and say it's a bad plan anyway. You should have a down week in there. Unless you're someone who's regularly been at 110-120 in the past, those 3 straight 100's will take it's toll. Really you probably don't need to worry about listening to anyone here though. Your body will probably start to tell you to take a down week during that 2nd 100 mile week.

not convinced wrote:

What's the benefit of putting in a down week around 60-70? If I'm not worried about injury, am feeling good, and wanting to get as fit as possible before the fall, why do it?

Because when you aren't injured, you never think you will be injured. When you are injured, you never think you will not be injured again.