The key to improving as a runner is getting the recovery right. Let’s look at why that is important.
Recovery After a 10km Race
Imagine you have just finished a 10km race. During the event you have been using energy and breaking your body down so that by the end you won’t be able to go out do the same performance again. Your performance will have decreased. You will be fatigued and your legs may ache.
Allowing your body to rest and recover over the following few days gives it a chance to heal itself so that it can return to the level of fitness it had before the race. If you are patient and continue to recover a bit of magic happens. Your fitness level will increase further so that you become fitter than you were before the 10k race. This is called ‘super-compensation’. Getting the amount of recovery right so ‘super-compensation’ can happen is the key to improving as a runner.
There is a general rule of thumb for an experienced runner. It takes one day to recover for every mile raced. If you have been running for less than two years it may well take you a little more than one day per mile.
Recovery After Increasing the Time of Your Long Run
Increasing your long run by ten to fifteen minutes will leave you feeling tired. If you are patient and allow proper recovery to happen your body will be able to store more fuel for the next time you run for this long. Your body will be able to use fat as a fuel so that next time you will be able to run longer before you get tired. Your legs will also get stronger especially if you include a few hills in the run.
You can do a long run , whatever that is for you, add 15 minutes and you’ll feel weary. Let yourself recover and when you repeat the run a week later you will feel stronger and the run will feel easier because your body has ‘super-compensated’. Once this happens you can increase the duration of your long run again.
‘Super-compensation’ is improved performance. It’s where your body gives you back more in the form of extra performance.
What Happens When you don’t Get the Recovery Right
If you don’t allow your body to recover and you try to push on ‘super-compensation’ won’t happen. You will be more tired when you go for a run and your performance will lower. You find you have to put more effort in to go the same pace or you find your heart rate is higher running at your normal pace. All this means your’e not getting fitter. You haven’t cashed in the ‘super-compensation’.
Make Running Fun
Getting the recovery right makes running more enjoyable because you aren’t running tired all the time.
Keep Healthy
Increasing your training or racing again before you have recovered can lead to injury and illness. Getting it right will keep you fit and healthy.
Improve as a Runner
Getting the recovery right will stair step your improvement as a runner. You can see improved performance in as little as three weeks. It’s simply all about balancing training and recovery.