Is running for 20 minutes every other day enough to maintain overall fitness? Is it enough to maintain my endurance base?
I think it would probably depend on what your fitness level was to start with. And how long you intend to do these 20 minute runs in hopes of sustaining your fitness. I’m certainly not an expert but I would think that this would work for maybe up to 2-3 weeks or so…after that I think there could be a decline in fitness. This is just my best guess!
I’m no coach but…
I Speed and stamina are always the first to go and always the hardest to get back. Endurance not so much. Endurance is also quick to come back as well. If you are sucessful in maintaining some of this speed and stamina, then endurace will be easier to recliam when you have the opportunity.
If you only have 20 min every other day, the best way to maintain overall fitness would be to make these very intense runs.
Do runs where you warm up for 5 min and then for 15 all out. Do lots of fartlek runs, track repeats, hill repeats, stairs and stuf f like that. If you only have 20 minutes, don’t waste your time doing LSD at all.
Running 20 minutes every other day - is certainly condusive to a healthy lifestyle, and to maintain some level of fitness, but what is your base??? If that’s all you were doing, after a period of time (e.g., 4 or 5 weeks). I think you’d struggle to run 60 minutes striaght (or if you did, would be a lot slower than your normal pace for a 60 minute run). Need more info. on what’s your trying to accomplish.
Sorry. I realize I was a little vague in my post, I actually have work to do today and have little time for Slowtwitch! Its awful!
Anyway, I ask the question because I am racing/participating in IMCDA next week. This is my first time at this distance and the training has been a new experience for my body. I still feel like my body is very tired and far from rested. I ask the question in the original post because I want to rest as much as I can and still maintain this fitness I have worked so hard for.
It sounds like yopu’re tapering then. Completely disregard my previous post.
Tapering is a black art I know little about.