What do you do the week after a race

average_runner

I raced sat week in the 10k at K club. So went back to normal training that monday with 9.5 mile easy run, 5 mile run tuesday which consisted of 5x800 with 2 min break and the rest of the distance at easy pace. Did 6 miles on thursday and 4 miles at tempo. Then on sat i wanted to do a 13 mile run and when i started off i knew legs were tired but kept going(big mistake) Blew up anyhow and manage a slow tough ten miles.

So this seem to be all too much after a race the weekend before, so was wondering what other people do the week before the race and the week after. Have the 5 mile in RTE this sat so planning easy session tonight and easy 6 miles tomorrow and thats it till sat.

Thanks

Gringo78

If that was your normal weeks training then I wouldn't see anything wrong with it. However, for how long was that normal? What I mean is if you go back to february, would that have been a normal week, would it have been as much mileage & intensity? I think in springtime people fall into a trap of ramping up their training fast in feb and then wondering how come they're a bit whacked after a 'normal' 50 mile week - the reality is they had been doing 20-30 miles a week all winter and then ramped it up fast to 50mpw, did 4 of those in a row and think thats now a normal week - its not, you'll have built up fatigue and need a step back week.

It might not have been the 10k race that had you tired, may have just been the 4-5 weeks of training before it. A step back week every now and then is a good idea and is a great idea the week after a race. Just cut out one session - i.e if you normally have intervals tues / tempo thurs, do an easy run instead of one of them.

the week before the race I find difficult - cut back too much and you feel stale on race day. I generally like to leave the sessions in but cut back on the intensity. So if I have a race saturday and normally do a 4 mile straight tempo thursday, I might do 2 x 1.5 miles at tempo pace instead with 3min jog recovery between. I still get the benefit of tempo pace but its less fatiguing than 4 miles.

BeepBeep67

I race quite a bit in the summer and generally I follow the following:

• 1 day recovery for every 3k raced (Recovery = easy running)
• I view the race as a session, so that replaces a tempo style run and the schedule is moved around to accomodate the primary session.
• If there is only 3-4 days between races it's just easy running with some strides to stay fresh.

Specifically for you I would have waited until Weds for the session, or eased back on the session. Before a 5 mile race on Sat I would run:

• Tues normal Q1 session
• Weds 8-10k easy
• Thurs 6-8k with 6 x 1min strides
• Friday rest or 20-30mins easy

McTigs

drink as much beer as i feel like and not give it a second thought

average_runner

I say i been doing it for at least 5 weeks, but the step back is something i think i should of done.

Thanks for the replies.

Nwm2

I get killed by DOMS after an all out 10k road race, especially if I miss my 1-2hr sweet spot for a hot bath afterwards. This could be because I am mainly a treadmill runner by virtue of schedule and previous knee issues, and the switch to concrete/tarmac has such drastic increase in impact forces. I do plenty race-pace (and faster) intervals, so it's not simply running faster than normal. 10k PB is 39:50, so I'm average by Boards standards.

So I might do some really slow recovery jogs and some cycling/swimming in the 2-3 days after a race, but it might be 4 days before I'm really running again.