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Post by saintralph on Feb 25, 2007 14:34:17 GMT -5
No, the new guy on the boards isn't going to go post crazy and annoy the daylights out of the experienced runners, but I do have an EASY rookie question. This may sound a liitle weird, but I seriously struggle with taking days off (would anyone expect that out of a teenage kid  . I'm just curious as to how often I should take days off and what I should do with them. Should I cross-train some, or just give my body some time to heal? Thanks alot for listening! |
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Post by 44Hawk on Feb 25, 2007 20:04:32 GMT -5
shoot I have that problem at 43 years old. I take one day off per week, and have a hard time doing that. But at some point you have to rest your body, cross training is good I do it every week. But there's some questions that need to be answered before advise can be given. Like what is your goal, another words are you running just to run or are you training for a race of some kind. Hopefully someone like frojo, wvrunner, flyinghighrunner, baldisbetter, someone like these experienced runners can help you a lot more then I can. I think it's great that you have the pashion to run.
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Post by brucedenton on Feb 25, 2007 20:47:45 GMT -5
I've tried em all...gone months without a day off, one day off a week, alternating hard days with off days, not running at all for months at a time (not recommended). There are a lot of philosophies on this and I'm sure you will get lots of different opinions. I think at your age, one day off per week, or at least every other week, is wise to avoid burnout and injury. Cross-training is definitely a good idea...weights, yoga, swimming, biking and does not necessarily need to be done on the off day, it can also be combined with an easy running day. Personally, I have found that Strengthening (and stretching) my legs and hips has been much better at preventing and recovering from injury than stretching alone. Good luck!
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Post by frojoe23 on Feb 26, 2007 7:51:03 GMT -5
I would advise most high-school age kids to take one day off a week. I think that it would be important to cross-train, especially weight-lifting (but you have to do it two other days during the week). Just one day a week of lifting won't make a whole lot of difference. I would only have kids who have a "mature" body running 7 days a week (usually when they are a senior in high school) and only if they plan on running in college.
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Post by Justin on Feb 26, 2007 16:17:47 GMT -5
This question made me go back and look at my old running logs. From them I found these patterns:
During High School:
Summer: I pretty much took a day off every week, almost every day off was Sunday.
XC: Overall less days off, it is harder to schedule a day off with a XC race schedule. Races Saturday, and long run Sunday. Weeks without Saturday races I'd do the long run Saturday and take Sunday off. A couple times I had races on Monday and would run both Saturday and Sunday before these.
Winter: Back to the Summer schedule, except I would take a weekday off instead of Sunday. It seemed better with it getting dark earlier, most days off are Monday or Friday.
Track: The schedule was different with meets on Tuesday and Friday nights. Long run Saturday mornings and off Sundays.
So overall for the younger runner a day off a week I feel is about right. If you would want to stretch it to a day off every other week, I wouldn't see anything wrong with it. Probably a better way to increase mileage would be instead of skipping days off, would be to stay with a day off each week and add a day or 2 of double workouts. Before school a day or 2 a week run 2-4 miles real easy and then your normal workout in the afternoon.
I'd also add on your off days don't cross train, at least in the normal sense. Take the day off and take it easy. If you want to ride your bike for fun, then go ahead, but I wouldn't do any kind of structured exercise during the off day. I think weights can be good, but for a younger runner I would tend to lean towards other strength training, sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, dips. Stuff like that. One thing I always liked to do that really worked me was jumping rope. Overall I would say that any cross training which takes away from your running training isn't good. Replacing running time/miles with other exercise is a bad idea.
I hope this helps.
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Post by saintralph on Feb 27, 2007 20:53:32 GMT -5
Thanks ALOT for the advice! Right now, I am giving the one day off per week a shot, but I tend to go through a running withdrawl about half-way through the day:) Actually, I am in the midst of training for the Shamrock 8k in VA coming up in a few weeks (as well ALL this year's Strider's races!), but other than that I am mostly because I flat out love it. If anyone has ever seen my wimpy self, you probably get the impression weight lifting hasn't really picked up yet:) I have started lifting pewny little dumb bells throughout the week but a little more serious of a workout is probably some good advice! Just one other quick rookie question here: I actually managed this past week to recover what was starting to look like some tendonitis of the knee. Any way I can know when I've done enough that day and need to rest some to avoid injury?
Once again I say thanks for listening, and thank you so much for the advice!!!!
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. I'm just curious as to how often I should take days off and what I should do with them. Should I cross-train some, or just give my body some time to heal?