Ryan Hall takes full day off

No one is saying less is more. They are saying it's effective for some people to incorporate a rest day every 7 to 10 days to allow their bodies to recover from and absorb heavy training. Your weekly mileage might be the same over the other 6 (or 9/whatever your cycle is) days as someone else's would be over 7.

Maybe with a few more occassional rest days we wouldn't have the current situation where at any given time half of the top US distance runners are out or not 100% from injuries.

I think what is being lost in this discussion is the quantity and quality over the course of the six days he is training. I know many college runners that have had great success running 6 days a week. However, in most cases these runners would still typically put in significant mileage -- ie. 90-120mpw on 6 days in 10-12 runs.

Hall is likely still getting in 15-20 mi/day during his base phase so I doubt he is suffering from a day off every week or so. Most the opponents to a day off on this thread are citing the 1990s as evidence of what happens but the lack of success for that period was mainly for a different reason. The performances of the majority of top runners in the 1990s suffered because they were doing low mileage coupled with too much intense speed work. Hence, their lack of success was not due to taking a day off each week.

As always this decision needs to be made individually in consideration of how one personally responds to and absorbs training. Personally, I don't think a day off every week or two is detrimental as long as you are getting in mileage that is similar to what you would be doing over 7 days (perhaps occasionally 5-10% less).

Taking a day off from running does not say very much about the larger training picture. Anyone can run everyday if that is the goal. But it is not. The goal is to make long term gains, which you'd be very narrow minded to think that that implies silly rules.

graeme mcdowell wrote:

There is nothing wrong with resting but an elite athlete can rest by running easy for 90 minutes split between two runs. This slippery slope of toal rest has been tried before with pretty horrible results. All of this was around in the 90's when everyone was talking about "junk miles" and a sub 2:22 marathon became elite in the US. Ryan can get away with it for a while because he has a huge base built up, same with the Kenyans. The danger is when high school and college guys running low mileage start reading this and then start taking days off that they don't need. Then performances suffer, standards go down and we end up having one athlete per distance event at worlds and the olympics.

Have you explained this to 90+% of the elite Kenyan runners? And, who says 6 days a week is "low mileage" Is it low mileage to run 110 miles per week off 6 days/10-11 runs?

It might work for him when it wouldn't for others. We are all different, after all.

graeme mcdowell wrote:

In the 2000 Olympics the United States followed a "less is more" decade of training with exactly one runner qualified to run in the marathon. His name was Rod DeHaven and here are his stats for the year:

2000: Won U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:15:30, placed 69th in Olympic marathon (2:30:46)...best of 2:15:3.

If you guys want to go back to that then rest up.

How did the 90s become the less is more decade?

This was Rod's training:

Dude was 6th in Boston in 2001. Also a converted 1500m guy ('88 trials 9th).

The mid to late 90s you had the Colorado machine with Goucher and Culpepper....Colorado was not 'less is more'.

Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams as pros were not 'less is more'.

Name me one athlete in the 5k and above from the 90s who followed this 'less is more' credo?

Alan

There are two elements to getting fit: hard work + rest = training effect. You can't just work work work all the time, you gotta get rest at some point. A deliberate day off once a week/10 days is better than being sidelined with an injury. Personally I find a complete day of rest leaves me raring to go the next day and I have a more effective workout. But I take them when I think I need them: some weeks I run 5 days, others 7. This spring I went 32 days straight without a day off and I don't think it was any better than running the same milesage over 28 days.

Lost in this discussion is how likeable this guy is on top of being insightful and increasingly fierce and focused on race day.

He is focused on winning races. Love that.

haha YO wrote:

Why don't people understand that you can recover without taking the day off?

Why don't people who haven't achieved anything in the sport insist that they know more than people who have?

Didn't Paula Radcliffe take every 8th or 9th day off while training for her 2:15?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again..

If you aren't getting paid to run and you can't stomach the thought of taking just one full day off from running... you've got problems.

Runningart2004 wrote:

How did the 90s become the less is more decade?

This was Rod's training:

http://www.allsportcentral.com/rodscorner/

Dude was 6th in Boston in 2001. Also a converted 1500m guy ('88 trials 9th).

The mid to late 90s you had the Colorado machine with Goucher and Culpepper....Colorado was not 'less is more'.

Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams as pros were not 'less is more'.

Name me one athlete in the 5k and above from the 90s who followed this 'less is more' credo?

Alan

Sorry Alan I do not have links for this info, but

Goucher and Culpepper >>>> 30-40 mpw in high school (according to High School Harrier) >>>> 13:10s-13:20s for 5k as pros.

Ritzenhein, Solinksy >>>> 80-110 mpw in high school >>> 12:50s for 5k as pros.

"less is more" as I have always understood it refers to the training of aspiring runners, and they run more upon achieving professional status, but they key is that they do not have the accumulated effects of years of mileage that creates the aerobic capacity to compete with East Africans.

What? "Fundamental religious zealot?" Are you kidding me? Has the guy tried to convert you? Is he anything other than nice to anyone? You hate him b/c he believes in God? That makes you the bigot. Don't project your hate and intolerance on him.

WTF do you know? Why do you think you know anything about his day to day training, how he feels, what is best for his legs. Why in God's name should he share any information with you? Homeboy graduated from Stanford with high honors. I bet he can take you in any intellectual debate you think you bring to the table.

Yeah, I kind of agree with you on this, but whatever.

Mzuuungu wrote:

Why don't people who haven't achieved anything in the sport insist that they know more than people who have?

There are plenty of very knowledgeable people that train seven days per week and have no trouble recovering. Don't act like you're the only informed one. By the way, I know plenty of African runners that train seven days a week. Different approaches work for different people.

Also, count me in among the people that do not find Ryan Hall likeable or insightful. A great athlete, sure, but he has never demonstrated some sort of superior intellect. Read this interview and tell me that he is intellectual. Even if you're religious, this is still total nonsense. He's so wrapped up in his faith that he has lost all perspective on what's real and what is the mythology that he has created for himself and God:

I was refering more to the marathon and American runner's. The overall depth in the US was terrible in the 90's which lead to results like having exactly one athlete qualified for the 2000 Olympic marathon.

Rod Dehaven

2000: Won U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:15:30, placed 69th in Olympic marathon (2:30:46)...best of 2:15:30.

Deena Kastor - "After a marathon, I take one month of no running, exercise or schedule....As far as rest days within training phases, I also believe that it is those days that build us. On hard effort days you are actually breaking down muscles and depleting yourself; the rest day is when you are given a chance to super compensate and grow as an athlete."

Paula Radcliffe - eight-day cycle with one day of complete rest.

Rosa Mota - no rest days

I have always ran 6 days a week for the entire 6 years I have been running and so does everyone else in my running club.

I'm actually kind of shocked people are so disturbed by an athlete doing this. It gives you time to recover from the shock of training and come back the next week refreshed and ready to train. You can run 12 times+ in a week and still have a day off.

It doesn't effect your training in any negative way.

Stop being so anal about your routine. You will still get the same training stimulus of doing high mileage even if you have a day off and it's not like taking a day off will prevent you from doing all your key workouts. I'd almost advocate taking a day off, because I feel a lot worse off when I don't have one.

You wouldn't find his race in Boston "fierce." Garmin or not, you can't see intensity in that performance? Read the article in Running Times, he's talking about the importance of either going with the winning moves off the front or creating those moves. Either way, he's consciously training to try to win races at the top level and focusing on his current shortcomings. Guys who make, or hang with, those moves are pretty intense.

I'd say he was focused on the competition, unless his race plan was to run 2:04. It may have been, but I don't think so.

Insightful, yeah. He's trying to understand himself and changing his training to address his weaknesses (e.g. surging off race pace and recovering). You may admire his previous coaches but what he just did in Boston can't be denied.

Likeable, yeah. I wasn't talking about his beliefs, but rather his respect for others. I'm a fan of kindness.

Who is the "we" that you refer to? I see a variety of opinions on this website.