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Emily
Emily Sendmail

Long Runs/Rest Days

posted 4 months ago | Report

So winter break is over and I need to become more scheduled with my running. I've found that I want Wednesdays to be my rest days and my long run on Saturdays or Sundays. I know many people do their long run with a rest day following and I was wondering if this is the best way to train? Is it more beneficial/less likely to cause injury if I rest the day after a long run? Or does it not matter when my rest day is in relation to my long run? Thanks!

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  • Ryan
    Ryan Sendmail

    Usually the rest day is after a long run because the long run is fairly stressful on the body (in a structural sense, not necessarily cardiovascularly), and the danger of injury running the day after is not worth any potential benefit.

    Also, long runs are done to stress 'systems' that maintain their condition over a fairly long period of time. For example, many marathon training programs only have one long run every two to three weeks, especially when the long runs get into the teens. So, if the benefits of the long run can last that long, then there's really not much point to doing anything but rest the day after a long run (a short, very easy paced recovery run may be the exception, depending on the circumstance).

    Rest days are also common the day after a stressful speed workout day, so it's not just long runs that get the day of rest after.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Lamond V.
    Lamond V. Sendmail

    I agree with Ryan. I don't run the day after a long run. By long run, I mean the really long run I normally schedule every other week. Additionally, the next day I do run I don't push myself too hard. I'd go ahead and take a day off after the long run and Wednesdays too.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Branson S.
    Branson S. Sendmail

    I also depends on your training if you are training for a marathon distance or less, then yes rest the next day. Training for races longer the 26.2, you will most likely be doing back to back long runs on the weekend.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Emily
    Emily Sendmail

    Thanks for all the information! I think I'll switch my rest days to Mondays instead.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Paul
    Paul Sendmail

    If your not taking a rest day then you definately should be taking an easy day. Youll want to have several of those scattered through your week as well... a good training plan will have them built in... so its just as mportant to run the easy runs in a plan easy as it is the hard runs hard.

    posted 4 months ago

  • John R.
    John R. Sendmail

    I always have a rest day after a long run and I also try to stretch a little bit on that rest day as well.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Janice B.
    Janice B. Sendmail

    Love your dog in the picture ... rest the day after your long run with your pooch.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Daniel O.
    Daniel O. Sendmail

    I prefer a shorter, easy pace run the day after a long run. It helps to work out the residual soreness, but I do it slow enough that I won't run any extra injury risk. Based on your 41 mile week, you could follow that with something like this:

    M: 4 easy
    T: 6 with 30 minutes fast (after a warmup)
    W: off
    Th: 8 easy
    F: 6 with 30 minutes fast (after a warmup)
    Sa: 6 easy
    Su: 10 easy

    Any idea what your time is for 5k? If you're running everything at 9:00 now, you might actually get more out of it by running more like 9:30 most days and speeding up a couple times a week for 20-30 minutes to more like 8:00 or 8:20. If you're doing 40 with a 10 already, that's probably not going to be too hard unless you're already going all out every day.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Morey B.
    Morey B. Sendmail

    The 1st two times I trained for a marathon, I needed to take a day (or two) rest days after my long runs. But if you follow the rules and make your long run no more than 30% of your weekly mileage, then they're not that stressful and you can do a recovery run the next day. So- it sorta' boils down to how many miles a week you're training and how long your long runs are.

    When I started- 3 or 4 days a week was all I could do. after a few years... and learning to run easy most of the time, you can run every day.

    But- if you're new at this- I'll assume that the long run is your most stressful run of the week, so take the rest day after, rather than before. Do an easy run the day before.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Daniel O.
    Daniel O. Sendmail
    in reply to what Morey B. said:The 1st two times I trained for a marathon, I needed to take a day (or two) rest days after my long runs. But if you follow the rules and make your long run no more than 30% of your weekly mileage, then they're not that stressful and you can do a... read more

    I guess I should have asked what the goal event is. If it's a first marathon then a rest day after the long run might be necessary. I agree about keeping the long run under 30%. For a long run of two hours or less, a following rest day probably isn't required if pacing and mpw are well planned.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Emily
    Emily Sendmail
    in reply to what said:I prefer a shorter, easy pace run the day after a long run. It helps to work out the residual soreness, but I do it slow enough that I won't run any extra injury risk. Based on your 41 mile week, you could follow that with something like this: ... read more

    Thank you so much for the information--EVERYONE!

    My best time for a 5k was a little over 24 minutes (don't know exactly because no chips and it was before my garmin) but that was in June and I've been really irregular with running since then.

    My current goals are to get a sub 24 minute 5k on March 10th and I want to sign up for a half marathon but not until I feel I can complete it in under 2 hours. I've only run three 5ks and don't really know a ton about running or the best ways to train for reaching these goals. I know I need to start incorporating speed work/hill repeats/tempo runs but I'm trying to build a good base first.

    Any other thoughts/advice from anyone would be great!

    posted 4 months ago

  • Emily
    Emily Sendmail
    in reply to what Janice B. said:Love your dog in the picture ... rest the day after your long run with your pooch.

    Before I saw your comment I was on your page trying to find a way to comment on the picture of YOUR dog! She seems great and is so buff looking, haha. I'm away at school and unfortunately my dog/training partner is at home so my runs are alone but thanks for the info!

    posted 4 months ago

  • Laurie S.
    Laurie S. Sendmail

    My rest days are usually the day after a long run, and sometimes the day before too to make sure my legs are fresh. But that's only because I NEED a rest day after my long runs. And by long runs, I'm talking 15+ miles. If it's anything less than that, I would just gauge it based on how you feel. Your body will tell you what it needs, just be sure to listen!

    posted 4 months ago

  • Daniel O.
    Daniel O. Sendmail
    in reply to what Emily said:Thank you so much for the information--EVERYONE! My best time for a 5k was a little over 24 minutes (don't know exactly because no chips and it was before my garmin) but that was in June and I've been really irregular with running since then. ... read more

    If you are still able to run around 24 minutes for 5k, then only thing you need for a sub 2:00 half is miles / aerobic base. Keep up with the mileage you're doing and you can run a half at that pace any time more than maybe a month or two from now. I ran my second half off of less mileage than you're doing and with a similar 5k time and was in the 1:50's.

    My guess was pretty close for paces. You could do 20-30 minute tempo runs at about 8:10 and would still benefit from easy runs as slow as 10:00 pace. If that tempo pace is no harder than moderate and you keep up the miles, I'd bet you will be well under 24 in a month. Good luck!

    posted 4 months ago

  • Gil R.
    Gil R. Sendmail

    Some people are gifted and can bang out double digit runs 7 days a week. For me, anything over 6m is best followed by a rest day. You can never go wrong with taking a rest day. When in doubt, rest..or at least cross-train!

    posted 4 months ago

  • Mike D.
    Mike D. Sendmail

    It's great that you take a rest day, it is always good to take one day off a week. After a long run you should either rest or do an easy recovery run. For me a long run is 7 miles and I would run an easy 4 miles the next day if running.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Jay A.
    Jay A. Sendmail

    I find that holding too tightly to a schedule is recipe for training disaster. A week that ideally looks like this: m: short, t: medium, w: long, th:short, f:off, s:medium, su:long, is invariably disturbed by life's other requirements. When that happens I get grumpy and am not a terribly pleasant person to be around. It's better to schedule running around life.

    I have planned workout and weekly mileage goals going out all the way to August, but only what I want to do, not when. I only really start scheduling actual daily goals at the tail end of a successful week of training. Life may present you with a challenge where you can't actually log your long run on the weekend, but offer you the opportunity to knock it out over lunch. Your day off may not be best on Wednesday one week, but Sunday instead.

    I find that as long as I incorporate adequate rest and easy workouts along with my more challenging ones, the actual timing of the rest days and long runs isn't really all that critical. Listen to your body and don't let running become an additional stress...

    posted 4 months ago

  • Ryan
    Ryan Sendmail
    in reply to what Jay A. said:I find that holding too tightly to a schedule is recipe for training disaster. A week that ideally looks like this: m: short, t: medium, w: long, th:short, f:off, s:medium, su:long, is invariably disturbed by life's other requirements. When that h... read more

    ^ Everything Jay said. After a while, you learn to know what the signals are that your body is telling you - whether it be that you can run on a particular day, or whether you should rest instead. Some days have a long run scheduled but for whatever reason, it just isn't in the cards. Other days have a short run scheduled, but you feel like doing something else.

    Plans are great as a way to provide structure, but everyone is different - what works for one person may not work for another. The best plan is to maintain some sort of consistency over time (so you can improve) and avoid injury.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Daniel O.
    Daniel O. Sendmail
    in reply to what Ryan said:^ Everything Jay said. After a while, you learn to know what the signals are that your body is telling you - whether it be that you can run on a particular day, or whether you should rest instead. Some days have a long run scheduled but for what... read more

    I am the opposite. I find that, barring injury, holding to my schedule even when am tired, busy, unmotivated, etc., trains me to work through all of those things. If I wasn't rigid about it, I wouldn't do it. I am average now but want to be a really good runner, and for me that means putting running first and sticking to the plan. Everyone is different though, and this would just make a lot of people burn out on running.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Emily
    Emily Sendmail
    in reply to what said:If you are still able to run around 24 minutes for 5k, then only thing you need for a sub 2:00 half is miles / aerobic base. Keep up with the mileage you're doing and you can run a half at that pace any time more than maybe a month or two from no... read more

    THANK YOU!!! Really helpful information and I'm feeling more inclined to sign up for a half now.

    posted 4 months ago

  • Steph N.
    Steph N. Sendmail
    in reply to what Jay A. said:I find that holding too tightly to a schedule is recipe for training disaster. A week that ideally looks like this: m: short, t: medium, w: long, th:short, f:off, s:medium, su:long, is invariably disturbed by life's other requirements. When that h... read more

    I'm really glad to hear someone suggest this. I've read mostly advice suggesting that sticking to a [fairly] rigid schedule is important to training well, and I've found that just isn't really practical for my lifestyle. I've essentially been setting mileage goals for myself, and have been somewhat lax in terms of when exactly I run them. This seems to work well for me, but as a running novice, I felt a bit guilty as this approach seems to go against everything I've read. Thanks for sharing this. :)

    posted 3 months ago

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