Without reading this whole thread I have always believed recovery is the most important component of training. If you don't recover from your workouts you don't make gains.

I'm actually excited about this!!!



It's like Spinal Tap x History Channel's Food That Built America

"They can never get stale because they were never fresh to begin with" - Jerry Seinfeld

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

That trailer was frigging hilarious!!! Thanks, I had not heard of this movie before. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

The problem with the approach I highlighted above is that on those days where life pressures force a day off, those same pressures prevent it from being a stress-free day. IME, those sorts of days are not recuperative, and in fact are often more stressful than a training day might be.

I personally don't plan a lot of rest days, but I take at least one rest day per week. I let my recovery determine when it's time to take a break. Depending on the nature of my training, I might find that recovery seems good but I'll take a rest day if I know I'm planning a higher intensity workout in a couple of days, especially if I've gone 5-6 days since the last rest day. It seems counterproductive to even attempt a workout at threshold or above on the tail end of 6 days of workouts. Can you do it? Sure. Will it lead to the desired adaptation? Probably not.

That’s pretty much the title of this thread, and something I think many people don’t fully understand. You wouldn’t race fatigued, so why do a key workout that way? Getting to only 90% of prescribed intensity for a key workout won’t lead to optimal gains.

I identify as Runner, so it's easier to find training time

When I need to squeeze in a run during the workday, I generally bank 10 minutes per mile , to include my run+cool-down; so if my calendar gives me half an hour, I can set my status as "Away", get a 5K in, and be back online at work before anyone notices 😎

That's if I overslept, of course, being a DawnPatrol person 🌞

I would run all day/every day if I could, because I just love it!!! Even on the Mean Streets of the Jersey Pinelands (why is there no "Gravel Racing" for Runners? Or do I not know of it?)

I'm not looking to improve dramatically, but I will say that I haven't slowed significantly over the past decade; the opposite, in fact

I solely credit the 100/100s

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

The flip side is tapering to 0% fatigue for every key workout isn't optimal either. It's a balance

Pro tip: almost anything you read in a magazine is bad advice.

I take a day off every week. When I am tied take an extra day or two off.

Yes, balancing Running, Biking, Swimming is a challenge. I used to have the luxury of doing two-a-days and could hit 4 workouts for every discipline in a week. Now I only can do one work out a day and it looks like 2 runs, 2 bikes, 2 swims.

I am limited on time during the week so my only long day is Saturday and I have been doing 90-120 minutes of bike/run bricks then going to my 90-120' masters swim class. I feel that the long day on Saturday is really important since I am limited to 45-90 minute workouts during the week and I am training for 2-3 hours races (Marathons & Olympic Tris). I like my long workouts to be as long as my races for the type of stuff I am going.

When I was young and impressionable one of my grade school teachers told me of a lady who was a marathoner that ran 7 days a week. She was also told that her training was dumb and holding her back. She was prescribed to take one day a week off which she resisted but ultimately gave it a shot and with no other changes in her training took 12 minutes off her next Marathon.

When I was a pure runner I ran 6 days a week but that training was still limiting me. When I crossed over to Triathlon and went to just 3 days of running a week (with cross training to cycling/swimming on the other three days) I too say improvement similar to the 12 minutes that the lady marathoner saw. So...recovery doesn't have to always be a full day off. I think that the people who are successful on 7 day plans make it work because they have a lot of passive recovery in their schedule. Through trial and error I have gone through the passive recovery and the active recovery and the passive recovery always gets me better race day results than the active recovery. So, for me, passive recovery it is.

I think burn out comes from training year round with no breaks not from training 7-days a week. If you are taking 2-3 months off every year that is a really long off season. One months off a year is the rule of thumb I usually hear recommended.

Six years isn't very long. I feel that it takes you at least 3 years in endurance sports to peak. If you are going to burn out early I feel that would be at around 6-8 years. It is not hard to find people in endurance sports who have been doing it for 40+ years.

Do what you want. I am a believer in taking a day off every week. If you haven't tried anything new in the past 2 years change something up and see what the results are. There is no reason to do things the way you always have without every testing out other training. You learn new things as you try new things. If 6 days a week makes you slower (it won't) and you don't like it (to each their own) you can go back to 7-days a week and know that is what is best for you. If you don't try new things how will you know you respond best to?