Running Recovery - How Much Recovery a Runner Needs?

Recovery is a vital key in any training program. In fact, it's the secret behind constant never ending improvement. As a runner, making recovery a part of your training program will have the most impact on your performance and overall wellbeing.

Recovery: the key to progress

Recovery weeks or days are vital for progress as a runner - they allow your body to adapt itself to the constant workload. With each successive week of training, you provide additional stimulus for progress, but also you grow to be gradually more fatigued, so that often after a few weeks your body requests a recovery week to continue to adapt completely.

When we run a little farther and harder than we have gone in the past month or so, this mild strain breaks down the muscle cells, tendons...Our bodies are programmed to restore themselves stronger than before - taking enough rest afterwards, will allow that rebuilding to take place. Without sufficient recovery, the rebuilding will not carry on as intended, or as well as it could be - leading to chronic fatigue, lack of drive, pain, and even injury.

How much recovery do you need?

The answer depends on the intensity of your training; you may just need one or two days to recover or you may need a full week. I usually take one day off each week and decrease my training intensity by 60% or more on the fourth week after 3 hard weeks. This works for me, but you should find what works best for you too.

The optimal pattern for most runners seems to be 3 high effort weeks followed by one recovery week. On a recovery week, you should do 60% or less of your previous week mileage, replace one or more with cross-training, and remove hard sessions such as intervals. The day after a run, it's usually fine to perform some gentle movement such as walking or yoga. I do prefer yoga.

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from David Dack - Running Author and Enthusiast