Day 21: The Importance of Recovery
7 miles, 49:33 - 7:05 pace (7:25, 7:03, 6:58, 6:56, 7:03, 7:06, 7:02)
It's important to know the different between a recovery day and a day off and their differing purposes. A day off is one where you don't run or cross train at all and hopefully have a relaxing day in general. For example, going to Disneyland is not the ideal day off considering how much you are on your feet. I recommend at least 1 day off every 3-4 weeks. In my current training, I've committed to one day off every week.
Recovery days should follow your harder workouts. A day or two of recovery runs are essential for your body to build itself back up for the next big run. My Tuesday and Wednesday runs were significantly harder than what I had been doing, and I'm going long and hard tomorrow, so it was necessary to back off today. After a first mile a little faster than I would have liked, I tried to stay consistent at around 7:00 to ensure I didn't overdo it.
On a recovery day, you want to keep your mileage consistent or drop it just slightly. The key to recover is to ease off on the intensity and to stretch thoroughly. Doing this correctly will often enhance your recovery more effectively than taking the day completely off because inactivity often leads to increased tightness and a higher level of soreness the following day.
Week 3 totals: 44 miles in 6 days (7.3 miles per day avg.)
