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July 2006
Previous issues
Rest: The
Overlooked Training Component
With summer underway,
great weather to run in and many races available every weekend, it’s
easy to want to run faster and farther and to ignore rest. Yet rest
is a key ingredient in allowing our legs and lungs to recover.
Easy Day for Each Mile Raced
When I first began competing over
30 years ago, the rule of thumb was to take an easy day for every
mile you raced. While you still may run some on the days following
a race, slow your pace to 1-2 minutes per mile slower than race
pace and cut your miles for at least as many days as miles you
race. It’s a great rule of thumb and has kept me free of
over-training injuries. It also means that if you are racing a 10km
or longer, that you don’t need to do speedwork that week. That
might surprise a lot of you but the race itself is speedwork enough
and if you try to add speedwork on top of long races, it usually
leads to injuries or slower times.
The older you are,
particularly over 40, the more days you may need for rest. I
usually add an extra 1-2 recovery days now that I am 49. Other
masters runners have found that taking more easy days can actually
improve their times.
Examples of Less Being More
I don’t know if you
remember the late George Sheehan, but he provided us not only with
great philosophical insights but at age 62 race his fastest marathon
ever? How did he do it? He quit running everyday and went to 10
miles, four days a week. He found the added rest days were better
than running 5-8 miles every day. Jack Foster, the famous distance
runner who ran a 2:20 marathon at age 50, also found the same thing,
he would run a 20 miler and 2 15 milers and then take the other days
off. If you are finding you are training hard and getting slower or
not showing any improvement, chances are you need to back off and
give yourself more recovery time.
Easy Weeks
In addition to giving
yourself some easy days following races or hard speed work, adding
easy weeks can also rejuvenate your body from hard training and long
runs. Some runners like to cut their mileage on weeks 2 and 4 of
every month, some like to go three weeks and then take the 4th
as an easy week, it is really up to you and your body. The
important thing is to keep a log and note any signs of chronic
fatigue or over training such as soreness that does not go away when
you warm up, lack of desire to train, slower times, fatigue, colds
and irritability and difficulty sleeping. One of the first signs is
a 10% increase or more of your resting heart rate. Head these signs
and give yourself easy days or days off or even cross train such as
head for the bikepath on your bike or swim.
Taking it easy can
actually lead you to some pretty great times, so don’t forget this
important component while racing, doing speed and your long runs.
Good luck and see you on the
roads, faster than ever.
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