Tag Archives: Recovery

Bristol Half Marathon Training: Week 4

by Ben

The end of week three involved some pretty tough sessions (a lactate threshold run on the Friday and a 12 mile progression run on the Sunday), and I came into the week glad of the chance at some recovery.

Book plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 8 miles General Aerobic + strides
Wednesday: 7 miles General Aerobic
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 8 miles General Aerobic
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 9 miles General Aerobic

My plan:
For the second week running, no deviations!

Monday:
Rest day.

Tuesday:
I had an eight mile run scheduled, but life just got in the way, and this became the first run of the training plan that I abandoned completely. If I’m honest, this wasn’t just about other stuff – the amount of running I’ve been doing on this plan far surpasses anything I’ve been doing before, and I’ve been bordering on overtraining. Put that together with work and a toddler that doesn’t want to sleep, and I felt pretty low at the start of this week. I’ve been here before; the first few weeks of a training plan are always hard, and this one even more so. Hopefully, an easier week, and better management of some of the other issues, will help for the rest of the training plan.

child-sleeping

Training this week might have gone better if I’d got out of bed earlier!

Wednesday:
After skipping my run the day before, I then found myself too tired to bring myself to run before work on the Wednesday – not a good place to be! Thankfully, I was able to use my running club to get myself out of the funk. A 7 and a half mile run, sandwiched between half mile runs there and back helped to claw back a little of the lost mileage, and running with other people is always so much easier. I intentionally dropped down a group for the easier pace during my recovery week, and it was good to catch up with some people I hadn’t seen in a while.

Thursday:
Rest day.

Friday:
Again, I didn’t manage to get up and do this run before work, so I had to squeeze it in after. This was a pretty ‘nothing’ run; my pace wandered around a bit, but it was never too hard. I made things a bit more entertaining for myself towards the end, by challenging myself not to cross over my ‘outward’ route. It’s the little things that keep me going sometimes!

Saturday:
Rest day.

Sunday:
For the recovery week, my long run was only 9 miles, dropping from the 12 of the week before. Despite missing some miles earlier in the week, I wasn’t tempted to make any more up on this run: I knew I’d need my energy for the rest of the plan. Lolly and I were marshalling at the Junior parkrun, and the plan had been that I would do my run and meet them there, but continuing the theme of the week, I didn’t get up in time! On this occasion though, it was a rare lie-in for my daughter, so I didn’t regret it much. As it was, we headed out to parkrun, cheered the youngsters around, and then I set off with no route in mind at all. If there is anything worse than doing a ‘long’ run when you’re not feeling up for it, it’s doing a ‘long’ run when you have no route in mind! The whole run was a hodge-podge of other routes that I didn’t really enjoy at all, but I got around it and survived the week. And for once, that was all that mattered.

Summary:
Obviously, this was far from my best week. Mentally and physically, I just felt drained. But… that is part of the reason that these plans have recovery weeks, so I guess it was well timed! To be honest, even at the end of the week, I was still feeling pretty knackered, and I knew that training ramped up in week five to eight, with increased speed work, though both weeks five and six included Wednesday evening races. Onwards and upwards I guess…

A little bit about… recovery weeks

by Ben

[Disclaimer: I am not a qualified coach, and this post is only based on advice I have received, and my own experience. What works well for me might not necessarily work well for you.]

This week, I can’t rave about a successful tempo run, or setting a new elevation record. I won’t be extending my long run, or running a set of intervals. In fact, this week my running is extremely dull. That’s because I’m on my recovery week. A few people have asked me what this is and why I’m doing it, so I thought I’d write a bit more about it here.

Maui, Hawaii

Unfortunately a recovery week is NOT all about relaxing on the beach…

Essentially, a recovery week is exactly what it sounds like: a whole week of recovery! Unfortunately though, this doesn’t mean that I’m sat on the sofa the whole time. (Or at least, I’m not meant to be…) Much as after a particularly tough race you might want to take a few days to recover, probably including a low intensity workout, a recovery week comes after a tough few weeks.

For my own training, I tend to include a recovery week every fourth week. After three tough weeks of training, normally including the full variety of hills, speed and distance, the body is fatigued. To continue to train at the same level increases the risk of injury or illness, so I scale everything back for the following week. Normally, this would be a total distance drop of around 30%, so if I’ve been totalling 25 miles a week, I’ll drop down to around 17 or 18 miles. Within that, each run will be easier. That’s not to say that every workout will be at a “recovery pace”, but I won’t be conciously pushing myself to run fast: just comfortably.

In addition to the lighter workload, I try to include more “mat work” – core exercises, stretching and foam roller sessions. It is also a great time to get a deep tissue massage, as it’s best not to get these shortly before harder workouts.

Recovery is not just important for injury prevention though; it is while the body is not exercising that it strengthens; without effective recovery exercise sessions and training plans will only make the body weaker, not stronger. Personally, I hate recovery weeks: I feel like I’m not achieving anything. But I know that it is helping my body improve from the last three weeks of pushing myself, and will leave me rested and better able to push myself over the next three weeks.

So, how can you incorporate recovery weeks into your own running? Firstly, don’t feel you have to do exactly what I do! That’s just what I’ve found works best for me. In fact, at the moment while I’m still essentially in rehabilitation for my knee injury, I’m dropping about 40%. You might want to cut back more often, but by less (maybe every third week, but only drop about 20%), or less often, and by more (perhaps every sixth week, but cut back 50%).

Sticking to recovery for a whole week isn’t always very easy, particularly if, like me, you enjoy parkrun on a Saturday: sticking to a slightly gentler pace rather than chasing a PB on rested legs can be tough. But, for me at least, it’s worth it over all!