When training for a marathon or other target race, you may assume--as Ryan Hall once did--that it's best to reach peak mileage and hold it steady for many weeks. Doing so will ensure that you maximize your fitness and prepare optimally for your goal race, right? Perhaps not.
During a marathon buildup Hall used to train all the way through without taking a day off or significantly reducing his mileage. Recently Hall began incorporating weeks of planned lower volume and intensity into his training, and has found these "down weeks" leave him restored and able to tackle tougher training in the weeks preceding and following.
"Since I began my training this fall I have seen big improvements," Hall says. "While my 62:20 [at January's Houston Half Marathon] was nowhere near my personal best, it actually was a huge improvement from my half marathon in Philadelphia last fall." After that race, Hall decided to skip the Chicago Marathon and coach himself. "I believe that incorporating rest and down weeks into my training will get me to the shape I hope to be in," he says.
WHY CUT BACK?
Pete Rea, coach at ZAP Fitness in Blowing Rock, N.C., believes that regularly incorporating down weeks allows an athlete to complete successfully a full four-to five-month training cycle, avoid injury and ultimately make fitness leaps and achieve a higher level of performance. He cites as an example David Jankowski (right), a ZAP athlete initially resistant to the idea of down weeks, who has seen improvement and reaped benefits since implementing them into his training. Jankowski used to experience staleness and sometimes struggled to race his best at the ideal time. Last year, however, after dialing back his mileage every third week, Jankowski finished fifth in the 10,000m at outdoor nationals and set personal bests at 1500m, 3,000m and 5,000m.
Rea finds that his athletes' workouts reach a higher level post-down-week, and he believes the planned rest helps his runners avoid unforeseen longer breaks due to injury, fatigue or overtraining. Robert Chapman, coach of Team Indiana Elite, agrees and uses down weeks for athletes who are slightly more injury-prone or who might get run down and overly fatigued with more weeks at high volume and/or intensity.
"Training is a progression," he says, "essentially a stair-step pattern where after each block they are more fit and performing at a higher level. So the down week is a very important part of the overall training plan. It allows them to absorb the training they did during each block and prepare for even better training in the next block."
WHAT EXACTLY IS A DOWN WEEK?
A down week is a planned rest week, with mileage reduced to a certain percentage of your peak mileage. The majority of runners find it most beneficial to drop mileage to somewhere between 50 and 90 percent of highest mileage, typically varying depending upon the frequency with which down weeks are taken. Rea's athletes work in three-week cycles and run 15 to 20 percent fewer miles during their down week. For example, if they'd been running 100-mile weeks, they would run 80 miles during a down week. Chapman's runners also cut back by 15 to 20 percent. Hall reduces mileage even further and runs approximately half the total volume of his highest week.
The frequency of down weeks varies among athletes but most reduce mileage once every three to eight weeks. Rea's athletes take a down week every third week; he uses them as a means to increase mileage gently without overburdening the runner. Specifically, Rea's runners' mileage progresses slowly through repeating three-week cycles. The second week of their cycle is approximately 10 to 20 percent higher than the first week and the third week (the down week) is 15 to 20 percent lower than the first week. When the cycle begins anew a runner's mileage in week one is about 10 percent higher than the previous week one. Chapman has the Team Indiana Elite athletes who use down weeks take them every fourth or fifth week.
Hall uses down weeks less frequently but has a steeper drop in mileage when he does take a down week. Every seventh week is a down week for Hall, an idea he adapted from the Bible. Hall explains, "In the Old Testament God commanded that every seventh year was to be a year of rest for the field where no crop was to be harvested. There is a reason why a field can produce more fruit when it has a year to just chill out, and I believe the principle is not only good for the field trying to produce optimum crop but also for the runner trying to produce optimal results."
Expect to feel bad sometimes during a down week says Pete Rea, head coach of ZAP Fitness. "Athletes often feel sluggish and have lower energy during this week," he says. "Nonetheless I find the level of workouts is elevated thereafter, that workouts are more effective and staleness prevented."
On the flip side, what happens if you find yourself feeling so refreshed at the end of the down week that you begin picking up the pace? While inadvisable to hammer easy runs and make them so taxing that they defeat the purpose of a down week, don't be overly concerned if you find yourself running a bit faster than normal by the end of a down week. Hall finds that this often happens to him. "Our athletes typically do easy days on feel," says Robert Chapman, coach of Team Indiana Elite. "So they might end up running a little faster on the easy day by the end of the down week. I am less concerned about that than dropping mileage 20 percent. Usually, even if the easy runs are a little quicker, they will still end up with fresh legs for the next week."
Hall says, "How one feels during a down week is going to differ from athlete to athlete and also within each athlete. Each time you do a down week you are probably going to feel a little different than previous down weeks. Stick to your plan and see how you feel coming out of it. In the middle of one down week I was so wired with extra energy that I had to call a buddy of mine to have him reinforce to me the importance of resting even if my body feels good. He reminded me of all the hard training to come and how I just needed to bottle all my energy."
WHERE TO CUT BACK?
During down weeks, cut out or shorten maintenance runs. Maintain quality, albeit at a reduced volume. This strategy helps to lessen the sluggish feeling that's common during down weeks.
For example, during a typical week Rea's athletes run a long run and two speed workouts. In contrast, when taking a down week they shorten the long run significantly and do only one workout. In addition, they remove a second run from one of their double days to achieve the total desired reduction. In the same manner, Hall cuts out all afternoon runs during this week and also reduces the volume of his workouts. Yet his workouts, while shorter, are sometimes at a slightly faster pace. For example, instead of the 12-mile tempo run he might typically do, he may run two 4-mile segments at a faster clip.
Chapman's down week looks slightly different than most, as both workouts are removed. Quality is maintained in some form, though, as his athletes continue to do 100m strides once or twice a week for a neuromuscular stimulus. Mileage is reduced equally over all days with a bit more taken from the long run, in a fashion similar to prototypical down weeks.
YOU NEED A REST
Sometimes the most difficult part of taking a down week is having the discipline to back off when you feel yourself getting stronger and fitter. It seems counterintuitive to cut back when things are going well and progressing in the right direction. Hall suggests reminding yourself of all the hard training to come and that the rest week will enable you to get the most out of those important workouts that lie ahead.
"Resting takes confidence, courage and above all trust in your coach," Hall says. (The last part is especially important if "your coach" means "you.") Chapman adds, "I always remind the athlete that the primary goal of the down week is to have 'fresh legs' at the end. The volume and workouts we do often leave the legs heavy after two to three weeks of solid work. At the end of the down week, I want their legs fresh, so they can go right into another threeweek solid block."
Finally, Hall cautions that "just because a down week is on the schedule for the following week, it does not give you permission to totally smash yourself in training in the week prior. If you go into a down week super-tired it is going to take the first three days just to get back to normal, and then you will only have the second half of the week to allow your body to absorb all the weeks-on-end training you have been doing. Find the balance of training hard but smart."
