Dont Rest The Day After A Long Run

[Jeff Linger]

An interesting note on structuring your training in connection with long run days and rest. In his book Brain Training For Runners, Matt Fitzgerald suggests that we should insert our recovery runs on days following glycogen deplete days. He recommends that runners do not take a day of rest after a long run, but rather employ a recovery run the day after a long run. He does not suggest that you should not take a day of rest, rather, that it should not come the day after a long run. Here's the science behind it, and it may not be what you think it is. Previously it has been suggested that recovery runs increase blood flow to the legs, clear away lactic acid, so forth. Fitzgerald claims that lactic acid levels return to normal within an hour after even the most brutal workouts. Nor does lactic acid cause muscle fatigue in the first place. Nor is their any evidence that the sort of light activity that a recovery run entails promotes muscle tissue repair, glycogen replenishment, or any other physiological response that actually is relevent to muscle recovery. Perhaps what is going on during these 'recovery runs' isn't even 'recovery'. So what is going on?

1. Large amounts of IL-6 (a cytokine) are released into the bloodstream by the muscles during excercise and travel to organs throughout the body, including the brain. IL-6 in the brain is a major cause of fatigue during excercise. In addition, however, IL-6 is believed to facilitate many of the body's adaptations to excercise training, ranging from increased fat burning to greater resistance to muscle damage to improved cognitive function. So the very molecule that causes fatigue during excercise helps you become fitter after excercise.

2. The primary trigger for IL-6 release during excercise is glycogen depletion. Because glycogen depletion produces high levels of IL-6, and because IL-6 coordinates many fitness adaptations to training, it follows that training in a glycogen-deplete state will tend to produce stronger training adaptations (of certain kinds, anyway) than training in a glycogen-replete state.

3. Recovery runs that occur within 4-24 hours of hard training, when muscle glycogen is not fully replenished and there is still lingering muscle damage (which is another cause of IL-6 release). Instead of promoting recovery from previous excercise, recovery runs actually enhance running fitness by challenging the runner to perform in a glycogen-depleted state. The notion that relatively short, slow runs can increase the fitness of a runner who also does longer and faster workouts is counter-intuitive, but its true, thanks to IL-6.

4.  The release of IL-6 is probably not the only mechanism by which recovery runs enhance fitness. Research has shown that when athletes begin a workout with glycogen-depleted muscle fibers and lingering muscle damage from previous training, the brain alters the muscle recruitment patterns used to produce movement. Essentially, the brain tries to avoid using the worn-out muscle fibers and instead involve fresher muscle fibers that are less worn-out precisely because they are less preferred under normal conditions. When the brain is forced out of its normal muscle recruitment patterns in this manner, it finds neuromuscular 'short-cuts' that enable you to run more efficiently (using less energy at any given speed) in the future.

5.  Another benefit of involving less-used muscle fibers during recovery runs is that these muscle fibers become conditioned to prolonged running. They adapt to the demands placed on them in recovery runs by producing mitochondria (intracellular aerobic 'factories'), capillaries, and aerobic enzymes, so they can become more helpful whenever called upon again.

Obviously some of these fatigued states are caused by runs other than long runs. Recovery runs should be utilized the day after any key workout. Most plans utilize 3 key workouts a week and therefore 3 recovery runs should be utilized as well, but the glycogen depelte state of the Long Run is most suited to the benefits of a 'recovery run'. Take your day of rest 2 days after your long run with the day after the long run being a 'recovery run'.

[JD]

Thanks for the info Jeff. I usually do run the day after a long run, and I've always wondered why I felt so good...

[Rhett]

For those of us who like to do our long runs early Sat. morning, but don't run on Sundays, would we get the same benefit from a recovery run Sat. evening?  The article said 4-24 hours later, so I guess we would.

[Paul Petersen]

For those of us who like to do our long runs early Sat. morning, but don't run on Sundays, would we get the same benefit from a recovery run Sat. evening?  The article said 4-24 hours later, so I guess we would.

Or you could do your long run on Friday...

[adam]

For those of us who like to do our long runs early Sat. morning, but don't run on Sundays, would we get the same benefit from a recovery run Sat. evening?  The article said 4-24 hours later, so I guess we would.

Just another reason to do doubles.

[allie]

i have always liked doing my long runs on fridays...now there is an explanation. thanks, that was very informative.

[Scott Hughes]

Being fairly new to running as I am how long should a recovery run be? Most of my long runs will be in the 13-18 mile range. Thanks!

[adam]

everyone will give you a different opinion on this, but thats what it is, a matter of personal opinion. you can run a recovery day at half the mileage of your long run, 3/4 the mileage, 1/4 the mileage, whatever...it just depends on your training level and expierence. i don't believe there is a optimal mileage or length of time...just that you run easy and relax on an easy course, maybe throw some strides in there at the end.

[Jeff Linger]

Being fairly new to running as I am how long should a recovery run be? Most of my long runs will be in the 13-18 mile range. Thanks!

It would probably also depend on how many miles you're running the rest of the week. If you're doing 3 days at 5 miles, plus 1 long run, that's totally different than if you're running 6 days a week and 60 mpw. I would say generally around 4-6 miles, but again, it depends on how many miles you're running weekly. I usually log between 55 and 65 mpw and my day after the long-run (I won't call these recovery runs anymore) would be between 5 and 8 probably.

[Fredrick Teichert]

What if you did your long run early in the week? Would it throw everything off for the rest of your week. I'm only building base and I'm not doing much speed work. Just wondering.

[Jeff Linger]

Generally speaking, I usually try to do a "recovery run" (for lack of a more appropriate word) the day after a long run and follow the "recovery run day" up with my day off. Schedules don't always allow me to keep to this, but I try when possible. I wouldn't say doing a long run on the first day of the week instead of the weekend would throw anything off. Just alter your plan. Long run on Monday, recovery on Tuesday, rest on Wednesday, and then have the rest of your week be medium distance base building miles. Sounds like a quality plan to me.

[Fredrick Teichert]

Great idea, Jeff, except Sundays have to be my day off and I'm committed to running 10 miles with friends on Saturday. When I boost my mileage, I could use my Sat run as a recovery day (I have slow friends), but I want to stay at 60+ MPW for at least another month. Maybe the friends are just gonna hafta go. Or maybe I won't worry about it for now, since I'm so new at this. Thanks for your input.

[Sasha Pachev]

I take Sundays off for a religious reason. But I have found physiological benefits to it as well. Run yourself into the ground on Saturday to simulate a marathon, then take a day of rest, let the body rebuild. Then run easy Monday to wake up, and hard on Tuesday. Physical and spiritual working together in harmony.

[allie]

observations from my training this week:

i did my long run on thursday this week instead of saturday, basically "running myself into the ground". then i ran 10 miles friday and 12+ miles saturday. i felt stiff the first few miles of my run on friday. but after 5 i loosened up and finished the run at a good pace and felt great. saturday i felt fully recovered and super-fresh. lots of spring in the legs and no lingering soreness.

so...normally i would do my long run on saturday then rest on sunday. from past experience, any lingering soreness/stiffness usually sticks around on sunday. imo, the full-on resting after a long run seems to perpetuate soreness, whereas an "active recovery" run seemed to help me a ton. yes, the first few miles were a bit sluggish, but once all the kinks are worked out i think the run was exactly what i needed to quickly bounce back from a long workout.

 i think it was better for my legs that i took them out on some runs after trashing them. now i am heading into my rest day feeling good, which hopefully means i will feel that much better come monday morning...

[Fredrick Teichert]

Allie, do you think you'll stay with this schedule? (I'm sure it all "depends.") I like the idea of being able to run long earlier in the week.