Les Croupiers Running Club Forum

Marcus, every 4th/5th week I have 3 days total rest. Think long term, you will lose nothing by having these rest periods but gain loads, your body needs time to adjust to your training regime, if you don't give it that needed rest it will do what your body is now doing, ie breaking down.
That's my take on it any way

Edited by user 14 January 2015 18:09:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

It will also help to keep you mentally fresh.

Stating the obvious but two separated days off per week is not nearly as good for rest/recovery as 2-3 consecutive days.

From the current state of my training, I can confirm that 2 months is too long.

Great point to raise, Marcus. Listen to your body and take a break if necessary. Sounds like you need a break - a week off is fine, but if you can do something like swimming to keep you active, it is better than doing 'nothing'. Sometimes injury forces time off and after an extended injury, I have found my times and motivation are far greater after a spell of injury, so maybe there is a lesson there (preferably rest rather than enforced rest!). You have had a superb year in 2014, so you should defnitely consider a week off before making even more progress in 2015!

Rest is important, listen to your body. It is important to have at least one rest day a week particularly if you are trainning for a marathorn or have just done a hard race. Try some cross trainning like cricuit trainning. Swimming and cycling are execellent forms of cross training as you are not putting any stress on your body.

Your Heart needs a rest too. Before it enforces you to rest, permenantly

There are some fascinating takes on this. And that's why it was such a great question to begin with. But as often happens, good questions pose further questions. OK so we have periods where we train hard, or not so hard. But what does recovery actually mean? I often hear of top athletes actually taking 2 or more weeks off after a big competition. But what about the psychological aspect? Even after a marathon I have always run the next day. In other words "active recovery". Because there is lot of damage in the fibres after a competition, I found that was the best way of slowly adapting back to normality. Within 48 hours, I was able to run normally, or even run tempo with friends. I couldn't do that now, but that's what I taught my body to do. In the same way, with gradual progression, I taught my body to be able to train twice daily for 35 years. If I needed to recover, I simply ran easy. To not run was simply unthinkable. (didn't do Ron Hill any harm, either).Yes, there are dangers in that philosophy, but there are also benefits. I still train 6 days a week 9 with 90 minutes yoga on the seventh, and over holidays when I have more time available will still run everyday. It depends how much you want it / need it / and what your body tells you as a result of doing it (which is why I've also kept records of all race results since I started competing in 1966, age 11). Information is power.

I was considering writing a post on this myself so I hope I can help.

I trained very consistently for most of last year. My training was typically 30-40 miles a week. Towards the end of the year I picked up a couple of medals and all was great.

I then found I had a niggle that wouldn't go away in my right leg.This carried on for some weeks. By Christmas time I developed a virus that wiped me out for nearly a fortnight!

After the virus training became a huge effort even after I had recovered from it. I continued to try and train but it was a chore I just didn't enjoy it. I found I couldn't sleep night after night. My sleep is still poor now.

Totally dispondent I figured I had to stop running. I was actually developing a disliking for it. I had stopped completely for 5 days and today did an easy 4 mile run. I was buzzing afterwards but I am still unsure if I'm out of the woods.

I think the reason I got into this position was due to my consistency coupled with taking on a stressful job. It is textbook.

I did it before, training 50 miles a week at a high intensity for 6 weeks but this took a whole lot longer to come on.

I neglected to have an easy week every 4 and trained week in week out regardless.

Rob was saying he had an easy month every year. I have been forced into an easy month because my body and mind has turned against me.

I have the utmost respect for Mick but you must consider the issue of genetics. Could either of us in our wildest dreams run a 2.17 Marathon? And why is that? One of the reasons Mick and runners like him are so sucessful is they have great genes. Im sure they have also worked out how to listen to their bodies as well as run pace perfect.

Taking advice off of the sucessful older runners in the club on overtraining is like asking your ex for dating tips, It just doesn't pan out.

My answer to your question is a big fat yes! Make sure you have an easy week for every 4. Your body will thank you for it! You will have less illness and reduce your risk of overtraining considerably.

A bodybuilding friend of mine reccomended ZMA which has mixed reviews but many positive.It is only magnesium, zinc and B6 which helps you into a deeper sleep and boosts testosterone. It is suposed to be another good way of aiding recovery and preventing overtraining. Body builders overtrain a lot!

When resting the worst of the damage to fitness is in the first 12 days, after that it levels off considerably. If you just occasionally take a couple of days off it wont impact too much.

Naturally the fitter you are the easier it should be to recover fitness too. Having a month off isn't a heck of a lot worse than having 2 weeks off. In fact it could be better if you needed the rest.

If in doubt rest up a bit.

Edited by user 21 January 2015 01:53:46(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Cheers for all the useful and wise information chaps. I think I am settled in my mind about what I need to be doing for myself.

After the few days that I felt pretty damned knackered and low I have found myself picked up again and back into my rhythm. I think it was mainly not giving myself enough down time from the colds that I had suffered from over Christmas and the first few days of January to go completely that wiped me out. Lesson learned.

From now on I intend to take a rest whenever I feel knackered or give myself time to recover properly from illness. I will have an easier week every 5 weeks and ensure that I sleep properly. I have ditched the "tablet" at night as all I have read about recently is "blue light" and it's sleep depriving nature.

I have already started rationing my races as well to focus mainly on the off road champs whilst almost totally ignoring the long and short course champs for the upcoming year. I will however be doing a spring and autumn marathon so less racing and more proper preparation for them.

I will not be taking any supplements or remedies as I believe my diet is good enough to take care of itself. Hopefully this will keep me injury free and full of beans!