How important is recovery?

I run 12 miles a day six days a week. The other day I do 20 miles. 92 miles per week. All on concrete. The only day I take off is the day before a marathon and the day after a marathon. 22+hours is enough for my body to recover.

Don't know which articles you read, but most coaches will advise you to run every day and have one EASY day rather than a day off. An easy day is in most cases a 30-40 min jog.

A day training is always better than an off-day. Even a 20 min jog at 12 min/mile pace is better than rest.

I think your view of what recovery means is a little skewed. To answer your question in the title, recovery is very important. Recovery does not mean taking a day off, unless you are very new to running.

Recovery, as I see it, is getting adequate sleep, eating after running to retain your glycogen index, getting enough protein for your muscles to repair themselves... stuff like that.

Running every day isnt a problem if you are running easy a lot of the time.

Agree with the above.

When you run easily on your recovery days, you are also teaching your body to recover faster. That's what happened to me.

Remember what Lydiard says: a 7-day-a-week runner will always beat the 6-day-a-week runner. I know it's not always going to be true, but you get the idea...

I bet you've got at least 22 hours per day of recovery on your current regimen, no?

That is way too simplistic. What is better training: 12 workouts a week on 6 days or 12 workouts a week spread over 7 days assuming all the workouts are identical?Recovery runs still stress the system. I always felt occasional longer breaks (48hrs instead of 12/24) helped recovery. 1 rest day a week always seems a bit much to me (but I think Eyestone used to do that and he has run far faster than me) but 1 every 2 or 3 weeks seemed to work out. Your mileage may vary.

the challenger wrote:

Agree with the above.

When you run easily on your recovery days, you are also teaching your body to recover faster. That's what happened to me.

Remember what Lydiard says: a 7-day-a-week runner will always beat the 6-day-a-week runner. I know it's not always going to be true, but you get the idea...

the challenger wrote:

Remember what Lydiard says: a 7-day-a-week runner will always beat the 6-day-a-week runner.

haha that's the case between El G and Lagat

My current schedule is as follows:

Monday - AM: 50 mins PM: 30 mins + strides + circuits

Tuesday - PM: Workout with the team (Usually adds up to about 30 minutes of tempo intervals and 1 hour 20 mins running total.)

Wednesday - AM: 50 mins PM: 30 mins + strides + circuits

Thursday - PM: Team Workout

Friday - AM: 50 mins PM: 30 mins

Saturday - Team Workout

Sunday - 95 min long run on decently hilly course.

This is just to give you guys an idea of what I have been doing. My non-workout day runs are supposed to be at a fairly easy pace but I am around 6:20 - 6:50 per mile. Is it possible I am doing these runs too fast? I know everybody needs a different pace to recover on off days but what do some of you run your recovery days at?

XC Phase wrote:

This is just to give you guys an idea of what I have been doing. My non-workout day runs are supposed to be at a fairly easy pace but I am around 6:20 - 6:50 per mile. Is it possible I am doing these runs too fast? I know everybody needs a different pace to recover on off days but what do some of you run your recovery days at?

i've been doing mine at 7:30-8:30 pace, but I'm also in the middle of cross country season. anyway, for the most part, no one can for sure tell you what pace you should running for your easy days. Just be honest with yourself and know that you shouldnt be pushing your easy days at all. You dont need a watch to tell you that you're pushing or not pushing it. Every day is different. If it's a matter of pride, then consider that HOLDING BACK can be considered hard training too. Not to mention, it's SMART training.

If Geb and the other Africans can do their easy runs at 8:00 pace, then so can you.

Recovery is the most important part of training. Training does nothing and will not produce results without a recovery period. Of course, this is all determinant on the intensity and volume of the training (as well as experience). Everytime someone goes out to run, certain systems of the body are being taxed and "broken down." The cross-linking action of muscles stops working due to the degrading of the actin and myosin filaments that allow for contractions. These fibers must have time to reform, which is a process largly dependent on a person's genome and, of course, his or her proteome.

The bottom line: Recovery allows us to benefit from the effects of our training. If a person ever feels fatigued then his or her recovery has not been sufficient.

Recovery's for pussies!

About 3 weeks ago, I started to do pool running right after my runs. My legs feel better, not as sore. Instead of taking a day off, why not cut back a little for one day and substitute about 30 mins. of pool running which wont beat up your legs. Lydiard advised running 7 days/week. If you are burned out or slightly injured, try to run 20 mins. slowly and hit the pool for 20-30 mins. right after. Something is way better than nothing

Lydiard did indeed say that a 7-day a week runner will always beat a 6-day a week runner. But that is over the long term. If you're doing a lot of hard workouts and having trouble recovering: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. RECOVERY IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT AS WORKOUTS. So freakin' take a day off. Lydiard would tell you to take a day off, any good coach would tell you to take a day off when you need it. It doesn't need to be once a week, it could be tomorrow then not for 10 days, then 4 days after that, then 15 days after that, then no off day for 3 months. Who freakin' knows? Just take a day or two off and recover if your workouts are sluggish.

In the long term, run every day and you'll get better. In the short term, do what's right every day and you'll be at your best. If that makes any sense. And I think it does if I do say so myself. Pat on the back, you know I'm right.