When you start to go deep with running, you slowly begin to encounter the jargon of the sport. One such term you might skim over is recovery run. Though the terms might seem simple, the concept is important. A recovery run follows a hard workout day of intervals or speed work or a tempo run, and you run slowly at conversational pace. Think of a recovery run as an active recovery to get the blood flowing into your muscles to ease stiffness. Some people refer to these runs as junk miles, especially when a running is working to meet weekly or monthly mileage goals. When training for endurance events, these long slow runs help folks build a solid base of fitness.
Do you take recovery runs? Do you think of them as junk miles?
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Alberta Ferretti
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unless you are logging significant mileage -- 60-80+ miles/ week -- junk miles don't really apply. The more you run, the better of a runner you become.
1I run 52.5 miles a week. I'm going to talk honestly here, and say if I don't go full steam I don't get the runner's high that keeps me emotionally grounded. I also don't feel like I've done my work.
I know I should take days off and run more slowly, so my muscles can grow and I'll get to the next level - but I am just too determined to stop. There's also the fear that I'll lose my determination if I don't go knock it out - working out every single day is a great plan when you don't want excuses to get in the way.
I'd like to know more about this technique. Does anyone have any science to share?
2spacekatgal-- The long an short of it is when you do a long run or speed work (or any other workout that's really taxing on your body) the next day your body is still recovering. You're still fatigued or in a "pre-fatigued" state. Apparently running at less than your normal pace in a pre-fatigued state is where endurance gains are made. The research seems to bear this out...
From active.com:
Evidence of the special benefit of pre-fatigued exercise comes from an interesting study out of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. In this study, subjects exercised one leg once daily and the other leg twice every other day. The total amount of training was equal for both legs, but the leg that was trained twice every other day was forced to train in a pre-fatigued state in the afternoon (recovery) workouts, which occurred just hours after the morning workouts.
After several weeks of training in this split manner, the subjects engaged in an endurance test with both legs. The researchers found that the leg trained twice every other day increased its endurance 90 percent more than the other leg.
Full article here: http://www.active.com/running/Articles/A_fresh_perspective_on_recovery_r...
I find that recovery runs, tempo runs, etc also tend to help you get a feel for pacing... what an 8 mile pace feels like versus a 10.
3I don't take recovery runs and maybe that is why my calves are still sore from a hard run I did over a week ago. Looking for advice here: Should I be logging junk miles? Is this why my legs have not recovered? I'm scared I won't get anything out of them and skip my workout completely.
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