Training: How often do I need recovery in my workout schedules?

One of our regular readers, David, asked me today about recovery weeks. The essence of his question was this: many programs include weeks with lower mileage for recovery. Are these recovery periods suggested?

The short answer is yes.

When you’re working out – whether it be for running or triathlon – you’ll be in a constant battle between improvement and the need for recovery. Every time you push yourself harder, your body responds by growing and changing. But the body absorbs only so much of your training, before it needs a break to really incorporate the training and let you take off to the next level. Major workouts can take time to settle in. Taking breaks every so often, gives the body time to catch up, process all that is being thrown at it, and then get ready for more.

If you train constantly at the same rates, you’ll also likely find that you’ll plateau and stop advancing in your progress. This is one of the side effects of a lack of recovery periods in your training.

Recovery periods come in three forms: 1) short recovery periods (aka “recovery weeks”) peppered throughout your training plans; 2) pre-race recovery periods (aka “taper”) and 3) post-season recovery (aka “off-season training”).

Short recovery periods should be incorporated into your training every 4-6 weeks, depending on the intensity and volume of your training. In those weeks, you’ll want to reduce the total mileage or time volume by about 20-25%. This can come either through taking extra days off rest in those weeks, or by shortening and easing up on the intensity during that week.

Taper periods come directly before your most important races. These periods should last between one and four weeks, depending on the length and importance of the race, and should drop the mileage about 20% per week in each week leading up to the race.

Off-season training is an extended recovery period that allows the body to take some time off and then get ready for the next training season. The off-season is tough on most athletes, because they fear “losing” everything that they’ve built in a season and starting over from scratch. You can put that fear aside. Each training season is cumulative and a short break of 3-4 months in which you cross-training and reduce the intensity of your training, will only help you in the next season – not hurt you.

So make sure that you’re including recovery periods into your workout plans. You’ll feel much better, help yourself avoid over-training, and keep yourself moving forward.

Coach Joe

Running Wild with Coach Joe – a blog focused on marathon, triathlon and ultra-endurance racing, training and motivation. Bookmark us at https://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com or use your favorite RSS feed reader to get the latest news and articles. Running Wild is also available on Yahoo! 360 and My Space.