I religiously take Saturdays off. It's my day for family stuff, errands, and projects. Actually, I spend most of the day lying down on the couch because my legs are so fried from the past week. By the end of the day I'm usually recovered enough to start hitting it hard again on Sunday.

I don't take *planned* rest days. Rest days for me just happen occasionally. Either life gets in the way or on rare occasion my body gets fried and I take one because I need one. If I feel I'm getting run down, maybe instead of that 6 mile run with 4 miles of tempo or some sort of intervals I'll do an easy 4 miler. Or an easy swim is more likely the case. I don't usually take complete days off unless I'm sick. Trust me, I'm no tough guy either, I've just worked hard to get my schedule to max out sleep time and after injuries last year, to listen to my body. I've got a career, a house, a child so it's a chore sometimes, but I manage to hold it together.

I'm with Jay on this. I end up taking the occasional day off due to work stuff or life but really don't schedule a day off. When in doubt I'll go for a easy 3 miler or spin easy on the CT at 100watts for 30 min. Ironically this was the topic on conversation on the morning run. The runners take 1 or 2 days off a month even with running 2x on some days. Off to meet them for the friday after work 5k around the 'hood

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I'm weighing in that rest days are a good idea for most of us. This doesn't automatically mean "no activity" day, however.
I follow a build 3 weeks, 1 week recovery with one day per week as a rest day. I usually do weights and stretching that day. I'm also a big believer in the easy day-hard day concept. When I'm feeling tired from the day before it is extremely hard for me to get a good quality workout in and I tend to be just racking up miles on these days. Too much "junk" and not enough quality leads to lackluster performance.
Waiting until you "feel like" you need it can lead to overtraining.
All of this being said, if you are trying to bet ready for a longer race distance it is inevitable that you will feel tired sometimes and will need to push through these periods occasionally. All the talk about overtraining can lead to a lot of fear. Doing a 80+ mile ride one day and a 2hour run the next will make anyone feel tired for a day or two. It's natural.

I take a minumum of 1 day off a week. Most weeks I take 2. As I ramp up for IM I will take 1 off, and on 1 day only do recovery type rides or runs. Your body needs to heal. I only swim once a week, however, and most of my workouts are some sort of bricks.

---

---------------

"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC

I always take monday off because I'm spent after a hard weekend training. Friday is an optional day off or easy swim. So I'm relatively rested for my hard and long weekends of training.

I attempt to take off as many days as possible!

I figure that if I do only what is necessary I can call it quality.

I assume that's why I haven't taken down any PR's lately but I'm having a good time!

spode - live life!

I take no planned rest day. But I have occasionally. Normally if I feel very tired/exhausted and/rr the weather is very bad. Sometimes I take a day of for a mimi taper for a B race. I didn't train for example last Friday before a 10 mile race on Saturday.
I do a recovery week every 4 weeks. Normally this is also a taper week for a race.

Felix

---

http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

I read a bit of advice once regarding time off: the more you think you just can't afford to miss training, the more you need to.