Planning recovery into your running training

Be efficient also in terms of weekly running training.
If you run long on a Sunday, think seriously about not running on a Monday, you may recover faster (and therefore perform better in your goal event) especially if you do not have a lot of running mileage behind you or are over 45.

If you do feel like doing some training on the day after a big run, think about cross-training - cycling, swimming or kayaking would all be good aerobic alternatives.

Your weekly structure can impact on the quality of certain sessions. Please see the following suggested weekly structures. If you do a long run on a Sunday it would be advisable to have at least a day between this session and any speed session i.e. Sunday long run, Wednesday speed session.

It is a good idea to ensure that your weekly training includes a day off. Many club runners run a long run on a Sunday, the day after a club run or club race. Obviously most people have more time to do longer sessions on the weekend, but from a recovery perspective this is far from ideal and also increases the risk of injury in the Sunday session (tired legs, poor running form, stressed bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles).

Good recovery structure:

• Speed session and long run separated
• Two easy days before quality speed session
• Day off after long session
• Does not work for runners attending club runs on Saturdays
• Monday Off-road or cross-training
• Tuesday Short run
• Wednesday Speed
• Thursday Short run or rest
• Friday Med length run (hills)
• Saturday Short easy run
• Sunday Long run

Suggested weekly structure for club runners:

• Still make use of available time at the weekend 
• relatively fresh for speed session
• Long session during the week may not be possible for all
• Long session dropped during weeks leading to key events (placing last long run 10 days before event)
• Monday Short easy
• Tuesday Speed training
• Wednesday Short easy or rest
• Thursday Long run
• Friday Rest
• Saturday Club run
• Sunday Medium run (hills)

Improve your nutrition to aid your running
Nutrition also impacts heavily on training and recovery. If you want to ensure you recover and have the energy for your training we suggest that you look to have a snack 40 minutes prior to running. So, if you are going to run at 5:30 that means 4:50 eating something like a banana or an energy bar and an orange juice. In the big scheme of training for an event that could be all the difference between a PB and an average run.

Eat or drink on the long runs. If you are running for more then 60 minutes you will recover faster if you drink in training, if you are running over two hours then we would also be eating during a run; bananas are easiest and there are now a good selection of drink systems.

After training, get off your feet and get the food in ASAP. Your body is especially good at replacing muscle energy store after exercise and this decreases rapidly on completion of your run.

Getting the energy balance equation right can ensure optimal (healthy) body composition. A chat with a dietician could be beneficial if you are unable to drop your weight despite a good history of consistent training.