Why Recover?

There is a very basic rule of training: Stress + Rest/Recovery = Adaptation. (From Healthy Intelligent Training by Keith Livingstone).
This is the guiding principle of the Lydiard Training Method. Stress without rest/recovery leads to illness, injury and ultimately impacting the runners goal performance.

How Recovery Builds Your Aerobic Engine

Here’s a good example. On Lydiard Saturday’s are normally a higher intensity workout such as a Out & Back or a Progress Calibration Run. These are also known sometimes as Sub-Threshold or Threshold run. Depending on where the runner is in their training cycle, the pace for these and duration may be approaching goal race pace. In other words, a hard intensity effort with sustained heart rates over 170. This is a difficult and challenging workout.

It’s critical an effort like this is followed by a long aerobic run within 24 hours. During this run you are burning fat, building capillaries and servicing recovery of your muscle fibers at a which is very low intensity.

Recovery vs. Overtraining

Take a look at these two charts below. The first shows that physiologically your fitness gain actually occurs during the SLOW RECOVERY RUN. The second shows what happens if a runner simply continues to stress their body without the proper aerobic runs to facilitate recovery. It’s a downward spiral to illness and injury and may cause you to take a break in your training.

Implementing Recovery in Your Training

Its important to be sensitive to other activities you are doing. Once your have done your hard Saturday Out & Back or PCR, you have torn down your muscle fibers. You have to allow repair time before doing something else hard, no matter what it is. Normally at least 48 hours is required. You are in a weakened state, injury happens easily.
Remember stress and then recover with a long slow aerobic run. Its science based.

Please stop in the store to learn more about the Lydiard Method. We are trained Lydiard coaches and can help you sign up. While your personalized plan costs $100, and goes to a non-profit, we provide the day to day coaching at no additional charge.

Want to build a recovery strategy that works? Running Niche coaches use the Lydiard Method to help runners balance training stress and recovery. Stop by the store or join our Run Club to connect with our coaching team.