Training downtime period is often perceived as an ignored word amongst runners. Many athletes are affraid that they will lose their hard-acquired fitness in an instant!
However, most wise runners and coaches think with concern that the downtime periods are almost as important as the up periods.
When we look at the greatest athletes, they take between 4 and 12 weeks of rest between seasons:
– Usain Bolt 4 to 8 weeks
– Mo Farah 4 weeks
– David Rudisha 6 to 12 weeks
They have beat the world records and these periods of rest were beneficial in their career and performance. Brother Colm, Rudisha’s coach (“the Godfather of Kenyan running”) is saying:
This time David had a three-month rest after his last race on 29 August, in Zurich. Three months without any kind of training. He needed this long break for charging his batteries – physically and mentally. When he resumed training, we had to be very careful. You could easily catch an injury. Basic conditioning, easy runs, about 60km a week, some gym work, exercises. Slowly but surely we increased the quality, the weekly mileage remained the same. In March, we started adding the track workouts.
Brother Colm
Taking a break from running can take a long or a short time, but both are crucial. The main thing is that it is a part of the training that requires a break from running and is really helpful for runners. While the best runners in the world do arduous work, they take their recovery super seriously as well. For example, many professional athletes are having a nap in the afternoo to optimise their sleep and their recovery between training sessions.
Training downtime period
If you are a totally dedicated runner who is very concentrated solely on increasing the race times, it is still a significant cycle in your long-term development to take downtime in order to reinvigorate and work on your weaknesses. You know well to build your body shape, never a short term process rather it needs a long term process and suitable periodic guidelines.
You need to add up rest and recovery into your training—not only for the offseason but all over your training plan, however, it is daily, weekly, or monthly. Every day should have some breaks; every week should have downtime periods and probably a full-day rest. Thus, across a year, you should set apart a number of downtime periods or lighter days for you to build up your body as well as grow up your mind.
Take a look here to know more about how a break in your running helps you gradually to optimize your overall running career.
A Break helps your Body to Recover
While running at a high pace, be it heavy lifting or hard intervals, your muscles instantly require energy. The muscle splits down its creatine phosphate stores to generate creatine and phosphate, which deliver energy. And this is the great reason, you need to take a short breather or daybreak in your running, the body will rebuild in a short period of time its creatine phosphate stocks.
When you’re not allowing the body to recover, you’re unknowingly giving yourself more harm than good. After all, exercising doesn’t only involve your muscles — it involves your digestion, hormone regulation, kidney function, and many more.
It Reduces Your Injury Risk
Training allows the muscles of your body to be micro-damaged and the body starts to break down lacking enough regeneration between training sessions. You can lessen the risk of suffering from overuse injuries like stress fractures and tendonitis by scheduling regular rest or lighter days into your training schedule. In addition, a recent study indicates that those who are very forceful in their training without any break or rest have two times more chances of instant injury. Including two training downtime period each year, will allow the body to recover between periods of training and racing.
You Can Recharge Mentally
Research has shown us a variety of processes that can be enhanced by rest, such as adherence to daily habits, efficiency, imagination, performance, motivation, judgment, concentration, and sharp thinking. Supplementing a short break into your training will help you to mentally and physically recharge your battery. To prevent psychological burnout and annoyance and get instant entertainment, it’s necessary to turn off your training session and engage in other interests.
It Helps to Train More Consistently
Respecting the significance of downtime will depreciate your risk of injury as well as succumbing to fatigue from overtraining, which in turn will allow you to train more consistently. Training consistency is apparently the only most essential way when you are embracing to develop your running. It’s not the one-off magical sessions that get you in shape, rather fitness comes from consistent and hard work for weeks, months, or even years.
You Can Learn to Periodise Your Training
When you take a break, you find a moment to think about a sensible point. By that way, you could make a periodical training plan. As you build a shape, not a short-term process, you should periodize your training to generate peak performance. This includes dividing a year or several months into smaller blocks of time, with a different emphasis on each block. Downtime periods and rest will be a vital part of each periodical training block, that will allow you to utilize all the training and optimize those important improvements in fitness.
My Suggestion
For a marathon runner, who will race once in Spring and once in Autumn, I suggest 2 breaks.
For the first two weeks, no exercise at all. Not even using the bicycle for touring. After so many weeks of stress the body needs a full recovery.
For the following two weeks, runners should start back with 2 and 3 easy jogs. They should be between 30 minutes and 50 minutes. Nothing longer than that.
Then after these 4 weeks, you will have lost some fitness and can start with some speed, but run slower than usually, and reduce the session by 2. 50% of the session at a reduce speed for the first week.
Increase slightly the speed and reduce the session by 25%. After these 6 weeks you should plan the next microcycle.
Detailed Training Downtime Period
In the following table, I share the exact plan:
| WEEK | DAY | SESSION |
| MONDAY | 30 min WALK (it helps muscle recovery) | |
| TUESDAY | REST | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST | |
| WEEK 1 | THURSDAY | REST |
| FRIDAY | REST | |
| SATURDAY | REST | |
 | SUNDAY | REST (Enjoy a slow walk max 30 minutes) |
| MONDAY | REST | |
| TUESDAY | REST | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST | |
| WEEK 2 | THURSDAY | REST |
| FRIDAY | REST | |
| SATURDAY | REST | |
| SUNDAY | REST |
| MONDAY | REST | |
| TUESDAY | 30 minutes Easy jog | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST + Strength and Conditioning | |
| WEEK 3 | THURSDAY | REST |
| FRIDAY | REST | |
| SATURDAY | 45 minutes Easy jog ( or 90 minutes slow cycle ) | |
| SUNDAY | REST |
| MONDAY | REST | |
| TUESDAY | 30 minutes Easy jog + 5 strides | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST + Strength and Conditioning | |
| WEEK 4 | THURSDAY | REST |
| FRIDAY | 45 minutes Easy jog | |
| SATURDAY | REST | |
| SUNDAY | 60 minutes Easy jog |
| MONDAY | REST | |
| TUESDAY | if usually you run 10 x 400m in 1’30”, then you should run (50%) : SPEED : 5 x 400m in 1’35” | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST + Strength and Conditioning | |
| WEEK 5 | THURSDAY | if usually you run 20minute @ Threshold pace, @ 4’30″/km, then you should run (50%) : THRESHOLD : 10′ @ 4’45″/km |
| FRIDAY | REST | |
| SATURDAY | 50 minutes Easy jog | |
| SUNDAY | if usually you run 10 miles, then you should run (80%) : LONG RUN : 8 miles Easy jog |
| MONDAY | ||
| TUESDAY | if usually you run 12 x 400m in 1’30”, then you should run (75%) : SPEED : 9 x 400m in 1’32” | |
| WEDNESDAY | REST + Strength and Conditioning | |
| WEEK 6 | THURSDAY | if usually you run 20minute @ Threshold pace, @ 4’30″/km, then you should run (75%) : THRESHOLD : 15′ @ 4’35″/km |
| FRIDAY | 40 minutes Easy jog | |
| SATURDAY | 60 minutes Easy jog | |
| SUNDAY | if usually you run 10 miles, then you should run (90%) : LONG RUN : 9 miles Easy jog |
Conclusion
In short, if you want to build your body shape, you should make a periodic training plan. These downtime periods will be an essential part of each split plan.
Follow your coach recommendations and have one or two training downtime period each season.
Remember, fitness will come from a combination of rest and training, not just for rigorous dedication to training. So, you need to take breaks more times on your running.