Be still my beating heart

Gavlor wrote: »

6 days a week is fine but a rest day is crucial.

tergat wrote: »

amadeus,

I think cross training is beneficial both for strengthening muscles and also for the heart/lungs. However remember the principle of "Specificity" which states that all training for a particular sport should be specific to that sport. So if you are a runner you need to run for specific adaptions to take place in the muscles. You will recruit different muscle fibres on a bike than you will do running.....On the other hand if you a very injury prone and can only manage a certain amount of running, then cross training is an excellent tool to add more stimu.

However I think if you can go out and do an easy jog instead of cross training then do it. KEEP EASY RUNS EASY THOUGH. I think the pace you run on easy days is very personal. A lot depends upon your capacity to recover. Some people can run faster than others on easy days but no faster on race days. I think the important thing is this: do what works for you. And, to be more specific, pay attention to how well you can run key workouts and races. If you feel tired during the early part of key workouts or races it's a sure sign that your easy days are too fast.

Each person must use principles of training. Principles like consistency, variety of stimulus, individualisation, gradual-progression, and moderation are the bedrock of success. How they are applied to each person is not much different; it's the speeds that matter, and the amounts, and the frequencies.


Re rest days it really depends on the individual (age, running experience, injury history, work/family commitments etc). If a runner has no issues with injuries and chronic pain, then running daily or twice daily (even better) is the path to success. There is no two ways about it. The more you run while staying within your personal limits at the moment, the better you get...especially in terms of aerobic efficiency. As a general rule, if you have injuries, rest completely and do therapies that get rid of the problem. Don't run through injuries unless you are close to a planned big race that you have put a lot of energy into preparing for.

Taking days off should be merely for planned recovery periods, not as a scapegoat and not as a mythical "it helps me" philosophy, based on lack of commitment. Many, many runners believe they "need" days off, only to find when they committed to training they improved more than they ever have. Every day you don't run you lose efficiency at a rate of 3 to 1. One day off is like going backward 3 days in your training program. I read once that Dr. Edward Coyle (American?), exercise physiologist of renown, has studied detraining effects and concluded just that!

I was in contact with a coach who measured runners in two specific ways. He had them run at 80% of VO2 max on a treadmill - 10 minutes - the day before and after a day off from running. Predictably, their heart rate and their blood lactates were higher after a day off. And, in most cases, their perceived exertion worsened, too. That is, 80% felt harder than it did two days earlier (before the day off from running). He estimated that 80% of runners do NOT benefit from a day off and only 20% do. And the 20% that do need it because they typically lacked self-control in their training prior to the day off. That is, they were over-reaching for a few days prior to the day off (working too hard for their current ability) and the day off was a corrective measure for lack of self-control or lack of self-knowledge.

IF you are the 1 in 5 (20%), then a day off or two each week is probably going to correct your over-reaching tendencies. Then, take the day off or two. That's ok. Just don't start taking days off out of habit. That's not smart. That's lazy! If your not a serious runner, not in it to improve optimally, then take days off and ignore the information stated above. It doesn't matter, then.

There are ways to take a day off here and there and be succesful. One must follow strict rules to avoid injuries and setbacks due to days off. For example, never run a hard day or race after a rest day. The days that follow that hard day or race often tend to be compromised, first of all, but second of all injury rates goes up quite a bit. So, if you take a day off, be sure to run easily the day after. That will save you the grief of injury and sore legs for 2-3 days.

When you take days off, you may end up getting more injured - just after you return. The problem with taking days off is three-fold. First, you lose blood volume, which effect VO2 max and efficiency. The problem is, you gain a bit of musculuar power and you are fooled into thinking that the day off "did some good." The truth is, people push too hard, relative to their cardio-vascular capacity, when they return because their legs are more powerful (due to glycogen top up). The second problem with taking a day off is you simply lose touch with effort, coordination is reduced, even though power or feeling of power is present. If you lose sensory awareness, you don't realize you are pushing too hard. The third problem with taking days off is mental - you think you can push harder when you come back after resting. Pushing harder is often NOT a good idea.

Now, I'll throw another thing out there: run more often. Yep, run more often! Cut the length of your runs and run more often at an easy pace. Instead of doing an 8 miler at your normal pace run two 4 milers on some of your days. Your body will start to feel better when you do this on your easy days. Once again frequency of running is directly linked to efficiency. If you run more often, you improve your efficiency. You run along using less energy.

Have you ever noticed that many of the elites do a lot of double days? Often, elite runners won't run more than about an about an hour in any single run. Why do you think that is? Is it because they are too lazy to run further? Not a chance! It's because they know that they can do more volume per day and per week if they keep individual runs under a certain limit. There's a lot of trauma to connective tissue and cell membranes that happens beyond a certain amount of distance work.

But the truth is the same principle can be used for lower mileage runners. Focus on doing your key workouts twice per week well (very well) and just put in easy distance in whatever way makes your body feel good the remainder of the days. Doubling takes organisation and sacrifice but it does pay big dividends - even as short as 3-5 weeks for some runners.

Tergat