Thursday, July 24, 2008
Down Weeks
Along the lines of what Greg and Jragz were talking about, I'd like to write about down weeks and pose some questions. This week, I've decided to take a down week and recover a bit, as I have not taken one yet this summer. I'm dropping about 20 miles this week (from 75 to 55 miles) with a day off. Instead of feeling fresh and ready to go, I have been feeling "flat" and sluggish. Is this why some people don't advocate a large taper before big races- to avoid that "flat" feeling? Hopefully the rest will kick in next week and I'll be ready to go...
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I wouldn't expect you to feel instantly fresh after a couple of down days. You've been doing huge miles, bigger than anything before, so I would expect that once your body has time to realize it's tired, it will. Last year I inadvertently took a down week leading up to Alumni Run, feeling crappy at the beginning but amazing towards the end, so hopefully you start feeling better at the end of the week.
ReplyDeleteSome people probably don't need down weeks, as well. I've heard mutterings about Justin Chung in the past, who apparently was fine with consistent 80 mile weeks. I try to take down weeks only when I need them. Problems arise, of course, when that week turn out to be the week leading up to regionals. But it's better to these sort of things out now, while there's still eons until the real races go off.
You might also try a smaller drop in mileage if you feel like crap. As in, 65 instead of 55. Just enough to give you that mental and physical edge back but not enough of a change to throw your body out of whack.
one of the keys to a successful peak at the end of the season is making sure the intensity stays the same or even increases, meaning only the volume decreases (or so i believe). On my down week, i still did a long run sunday, a short tempo wednesday, and lots of strides, drills and stretching after all my runs. the result was a 5k PR on july 4th.
ReplyDeletespeaking of strides and drills, expect another "thoughts at work" post about that at some point. i do have actual work to do for about the next week though. tragic, i know.