Rest Before Races
7 Principles of Training:
#7) Rest before Races
Work and rest are mutually beneficial. Understanding and appreciating the importance of periods of rest and recovery in training is the key to peak performance.
It’s so critical, my friends, Steve Magness and Brad Stulburg, wrote an entire book on it.
Master coach Vern Gambetta often says, “It’s not hard to get an athlete tired, simply do work. What’s hard is to get an athlete to improve, that requires intelligent programming of recovery.”
Most runners and coaches are familiar with the concept of tapering before key races. It works. So it’s common practice.
But why does it work?
Part of the reason is after prolonged periods of intense training loads a period of relief from training provides adequate time for healing of tissues damage caused by intense training and time for the body’s energy reserves to be replenished (Wilmore and Costill). Also, restitution affords the body’s adaptive ability (chemical, physo-physiological, structural, etc.) time to rebound and restore.
Workouts damage our bodies. It is in recovery where we adapt and improve from the work we’ve done. Stress + Rest = Growth.
Some are afraid to taper before key races, thinking they’ll lose an edge. Provided the training build up to race day has been sustained (12 - 24 weeks) without interruption due to illness or injury, a 1 - 3 week progressive taper won’t hurt race day perform. If anything it will enhance it.