I’ve heard from various sources that it takes a week to 10 days to fully realize the benefit of a workout, but I’ve never seen any real evidence for this claim. It seems like this could be tested in a fairly straightforward manner with muscle biopsy but my quick scan of Medline hasn’t turned up anything. Do any of the physiologists out there know if there are studies? Thanks.
I’ve heard from various sources that it takes a week to 10 days to fully realize the benefit of a workout
If this is true, a 7-10 day taper for all “A” events would make sense, right?
I think it would depend on distance, but I’ve used that time frame for short-course tri’s. By that rationale, there’s no point in doing anything too hard 10 days or less before an “A” race since you won’t fully realize the benefits. But lately I’ve been less convinced - and it only takes a day or 2 to recover from a short but hard workout… wht not continue with quality workouts until about 3 days out?
I wonder if anyone has conducted a test and done muscle biopsies every day or 2 after a workout and measured things like enzyme content (I’d guess that adaptations like fiber and capillary density occur over a longer period of time)
I think it would depend on distance, but I’ve used that time frame for short-course tri’s. By that rationale, there’s no point in doing anything too hard 10 days or less before an “A” race since you won’t fully realize the benefits. But lately I’ve been less convinced - and it only takes a day or 2 to recover from a short but hard workout… wht not continue with quality workouts until about 3 days out?
I wonder if anyone has conducted a test and done muscle biopsies every day or 2 after a workout and measured things like enzyme content (I’d guess that adaptations like fiber and capillary density occur over a longer period of time)
Let’s say it’s true that the “half life” of many adaptations to overload is in the 10-day range (a figure I have no reason to doubt, and some smart people like Coggan mention it all the time).
It would not necessarily follow that one should “stop” quality workouts 10 days out. Detraining starts to take effect right away, and we need to hold onto the fitness we have. In practice, many athletes cut volume for a taper, and keep intensity up.
“Taper” is in the eye of the beholder. I have learned that I need just enough taper to be rested up. Maybe cut volume a bit a week out, but otherwise keep things rolling until 2-3 days before a race. I have gotten very stale by trying too hard to manage a taper.
Good points - I know you’re supposed to maintain intensity during the taper period. I guess I wouldn’t do the quality workouts as hard during a taper (to ensure optimal recovery) if I felt I wasn’t going to get that much from them.
Your point about detraining is interesting too. That’s another area I’d like to see some real data from - if one were to stop working out (or cut volume/intensity substantially) how fast would training benefits fade?
I’ve seen muscle biopsies from calf muscles just after, 24h after and 48h after a marathon. right after you couldn’t make out a any of the structures in the muscle, 24h still higly damaged and 48h still had damage.