The Role of Rest and Recovery in Maximizing Training Adaptations for Runners

If you have spent any time on my social media platforms you will have seen me go on and on about rest and recovery. So WHY am I so passionate about this? Well, firstly, it is one of the most undervalued and overlooked aspect of training errors that lead to injury for runners. But beyond that, it is also about working smarter, not harder!

Ever found yourself pushing harder and harder but seeing diminished returns? Running yourself into the ground (literally) and getting slower and slower? Then this blog post is for YOU! You've lost the optimal balance of training and rest and recovery to maximize your training adaptations for running!

Let's break this down further...

When we apply a stimulus to our muscles and tissues, we expect a response in return. However, contrary to what most believe, it is not a linear improvement. We don't go from A to B in a straight line. What actually occurs is the following. We first get fatigued from the training along with temporary changes at a cellular level. Only with rest and recovery do these changes improve and we achieve what is widely called "supercompensation". This essentially means that we come back stronger and more efficient than before and have created a new baseline in our capacity or fitness. (see figure A)

Training Adaptations for Runners, A timeline view.

Figure A

Now what happens if we DON'T include rest/recovery?

Then essentially we don't see the supercompensation pattern and can actually grow weaker. We work harder but see less results. If we think about our muscles for example. We do a hard strength session, then for 2 days we can sometimes feel sore. If we continue to work hard in those days without any rest/recovery, we can actually reduce our baseline. If this repeats for long enough, we find it harder and harder to lift the same weights, fail to see results and wonder why our training isn't actually working.

This basic principle goes for most things. All our tissues need the right balance of stimulus and rest/recovery. That might look different for everyone. Chronic training loads, acute loads, injury history, general health and work/life demands all play a role in it too.

So the moral of the story is, don't overlook the importance of sleep, rest and recovery, a balanced lifestyle and good fueling strategies when training hard for your goals. You might just see more results than you ever have before when you strike the right balance and maximize the benefits of training adaptations for runners!

Happy Running!

Your Coach,

Mel