Day off advice

I always have to recover more from a heavy ST day and wouldn't use it as a "day off" per se.

My one day off a week (Sunday usually) has no structured training. It's the one day I sleep in, don't think about training and just do some flexibility/core/mobility work with my roller and call it good!

I'd try to sneak in some ST on one of your less intense days so you have some energy to maintain good form.


There are so many philosophies out there regarding endurance training and ST, but I found that whenever I could fit it in mattered most. If you are training for a race, the endurance training SBR takes priority, especially if you are time crunched. Maybe right after a run, do a quick set of push ups, planks, burpees, squats/lunches,pull-ups etc depending on what you have access too. You are already warmed up, and can do them anywhere. If I can't fit in a gym weight session, I'll do some circuits at the park near my house where I cool down and can get some quality sets in pretty quickly.

Mondays and Wednesdays were the days where I have more time, so I try to sneak in 30-45 min between my run (early morning) and late morning spin class. But you can definitely get away with a 20 min body weight circuit if that's all the time you have.

Remember that recovery is just as much a priority as your scheduled training sessions.

You can never go wrong with making one day of the week completely off or super super easy.

I personally don't take scheduled days off. About 1-2 times a month personal schedule or other forces outside of my control will cause me to take a day off, so it's a floater.I've went 8-10 weeks without a day off.

My default baseline training week is 5 days of running, 3 swims, and 3 bikes. All runs are easy, with 4 being 4/5 milers and one 10-12 mile long run. Bikes are two interval sessions (trainer or outdoor) with one long ride of 50-60 miles and the swims are all 2,500-3.000m a piece.

I find that taking days completely off cause my muscles to be tight and I get all kinds of aches and pains. Monday's are an easy 4/5 mile run which is my "off" day. If my legs are feeling rough I'll do a swim only day to give them a break.

Off days work for most people, but not everyone. Not saying this is right, as it probably isn't for most, but it is what works for me so I figured I'd offer another perspective.

I would typically take a day of recovery after my leg squats day. Last year when I started this adventure I couldn't imagine not taking a day off if not 2 because my legs were so tight and sore. I haven't officially started training now but I miss exercise on my day off and found stretching more helps a lot. I might even start pulling some 7 days once I begin unless I start peeing foam with third degree sunburns and the like.

A day off would be just that, a day completely off... and that's a VERY good idea. Most amateurs overtrain and do not take sufficient amount of time to recover, hence taking advantage of the training put it. Pro's (full time pro's at least), can schedule recovery time in a very different way (no pesky job to get in the way...).

I would recommend that the day you have scheduled to have off, do exactly that and spend it with the family, friends, running errands, etc.

Now that I am in my late 40's I really can not go all week without taking a day off(or a very easy day).

10 years ago I could have with no problem, except raising 3 kids on my own I did not have enough time to workout as much as I wanted, now that the kids are older drive them selves everywhere, and the oldest is moving out. I have lots of time, but need more recovery time.