Anyone Ever Try a Schedule with More Rest????

I don't really see this working, to be honest. I think that it is important to allow your body to recover, however, taking such long breaks with regularity seems counterproductive. My thought is that, unless you are injured, you should never take more than a day off.

I think that the most important thing in running is consistency, so taking multiple days off would make it difficult for your body to perform optimally.

That being said, different things work for different people. If you like this idea, go ahead and try it out to see if it actually works. I'd be interested to see the results, or to hear from other people who have tried it.

I don't really see this working, to be honest. I think that it is important to allow your body to recover, however, taking such long breaks with regularity seems counterproductive. My thought is that, unless you are injured, you should never take more than a day off.

I think that the most important thing in running is consistency, so taking multiple days off would make it difficult for your body to perform optimally.

That being said, different things work for different people. If you like this idea, go ahead and try it out to see if it actually works. I'd be interested to see the results, or to hear from other people who have tried it.

Last week's training.

Mon - am: 7 easy

pm: 10 easy

Tue - am: 5 easy

pm: 8 x 800 (300 jog rec)

Wed - 18 miles

thu - am: 9 easy

pm: 20 x 400, 200m jog rec

Fri - Mountain bike around 2 hours followed by a 3 mile tempo.

Sat - 10 miles easy

Sun - 22 miles

Absolutely could work. I think it's important to do some active stretching every day, even on your rest days. That way you stay loose and feeling good. Honestly you shouldn't feel "bad" about 3-4 days off every month. I think it's good.

You say you feel better after the week off...do you mean fresh and mentally rejuvenated or FASTER. Huge difference.

That's a good point, MGM. Just because you feel better does not mean you will run faster.

mgm wrote:

You say you feel better after the week off...do you mean fresh and mentally rejuvenated or FASTER. Huge difference.

This is a good point. What I have noticed is that some of the best I have felt on tempos/threshold workouts was about 2 weeks after a week break. So for example, at the end of XC season I will do threshold mile repeats w/ 1 minute rest at 5:00-5:05. After a week off, then another 2 or 3 weeks back, I feel just as good, if not a bit better and that pace was 4:55-5:00. A specific example was my tempo pace before the break was around 5:25 for ~7/8 miles, and after the break 5:25s felt easier.

This may have been a case of just end of season fatigue and getting some needed rest, but I'm still curious if a short 3 day off break every 4 weeks would provide the same rejuvenated feeling.

I think rest matters more at different times in a cycle - for example, when I am not in great shape but I am starting to build mileage, rest seems more important. Later, when I am in great shape rest seems less important.

It seems a little counter-intuitive, but I think the key is fitness level - when I am in great shape I neither need nor want much rest.

Do not take any days off intentionally EVER. One day off makes it easier to take a second.

I had to travel last weekend for a family thing and had to take 3 days off after 7 weeks of spectacular training. I have been back 4 days and I have only run once. I should have squeezed in 1/2 hour runs even on the road.

If you need to rejuvenate just run 3 or 4 days for a half hour at a time.

I had a guy tell me once that he ran better by taking weeks off at a time. That doing specific training would actually make him feel worse.

I wanted to call BS, but this is a guy who regularly puts down 15:30 on the roads. If I take time off (no running at all), I start to lose fitness after a few days.

This might be an individual thing, try it out and see what happens. I read somewhere that you don't start to lose fitness until about 3-10 days (somewhere in that range) so it's not like you're mortgaging the future by giving it a shot.

Many elites take weeks or even a full month off. Many elites also take a full day off every week. I think letsrun.com tends to attract a lot of the grinders who tried to make up for a lack of talent with hard work. But I don't think this helps.

Don't cut back on your miles per week, but do try to figure out how much of a taper will let you hit your peak. And when you are in the offseason, don't feel guilty about two or three full weeks off.

Justin91 wrote:

Many elites take weeks or even a full month off. Many elites also take a full day off every week. I think letsrun.com tends to attract a lot of the grinders who tried to make up for a lack of talent with hard work. But I don't think this helps.

well, if it helps is the question, eh?

I've often wondered if one reason elites are elite is that they CAN take a few weeks off and still whip themselves into shape. That way they get rest and can still reach their maximum fitness.

As a decidedly non elite, when I get even a moderate 3 week injury...I am done for...it can take me 6 months to get back to where I was pre injury.

On the other hand, I am running 50 mpw not 100 mpw - maybe if I ran more I would get back into shape faster.

So, no, sorry, no answers here. moving on.

I think you are on the right track, listening to your body and what training you best absorb and when you need to rest to come back stronger. Don't be afraid to experiment.What works for you , works for you alone. Haikkola used to train Viren one day hard to two or three days easy if he needed it. The Kenyans are also known to take down time.

I think his point was that trying to grind with more miles to compensate for less talent doesn't work.