I met my running buddy for coffee this morning. Just yesterday we raced the same 10k. He was incredulous that I had just finished a training run while he was on the first of six consecutive rest days. We decided to do some research because six rest days won’t help later in the season when we have a racing block of events on six consecutive weekends.
How to know when you need a recovery day? The most basic and effective way for your body to tell you to take a recovery day is your resting heart rate. Measure your heart rate on rising every morning. If one morning your resting heart rate spikes by 15% or more, that will be your recovery day.
Recovery days are vital as a way to avoid becoming overtrained, burned out, or sick. It is during recovery that your body adapts to the training you have been doing and gets stronger. However, where most non-athletes falter is in the notion that a recovery day is only truly effective if you have something to recover from.
More than just DOMS
Often when runners chat we eventually get to the topic of rest and recovery. The common question is how long should you rest after a long or hard run. The answer often is “until my legs stop hurting”. But, to be honest, we are runners and will often go for a run even if our legs are sore.
For me, muscle soreness has never been an indicator that I need a rest day. Most of the time I can run off the muscle soreness within the first few miles of my run.
My biggest indicator that I need a rest day is when my morning
Sudden weight loss
Here is another reason to weigh yourself on rising each morning. This isn’t some sort of psychological weight loss trick. You simply do not have drastic overnight weight loss from metabolizing a notable amount of body fat while you sleep.
There is only one reason for a drastic overnight weight loss and that is dehydration. Use the knowledge to get on top of your hydration from early morning or pay the price later on.
Disrupted sleep
Disrupted sleep patterns are a clear indicator that you are overtrained. Unless you allow the recovery that your body needs you will simply feed into a spiral of worsening sleep patterns.
Disrupted sleep elevates cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol causes disrupted sleep.
Resting heart rate fluctuation
This is the measurement that I use to determine when I need a recovery day. If I have a sudden spike in my resting heart rate, it indicates that my body is over fatigued.
Every single time I failed to heed the warning of a spiked resting heart rate I have been ill, in bed within days. When I heed the warning that my morning rest heart rate gives me I stay healthy.
Feeling Cranky
Feeling cranky can be one possible symptom of being overtrained. However, there can be a multitude of different reasons for feeling cranky when you get up in the morning.
Most of the time when I wake up feeling cranky it has nothing at all to do with being overtrained. On all of those days, I am just one workout away from being in a good mood.
Morning pee is dark yellow
If your morning pee is dark yellow, it does not necessarily mean the need for an immediate rest day. However, it does indicate that you are seriously dehydrated.
Your main priority should be to get on top of your hydration even at the expense of super long or intense training sessions.
If you don’t the dehydration will compound existing fatigue levels to the point where start feeling run down and get sick.
You are sick
I remember a quote from my cycling coach many years ago.
If you have a fever you should rest. If there is no fever and the infection is below the collar bone you should rest. Above the collar bone is fine, you can train but with a bit less intensity.
The basic bottom line is please see a doctor if you are seriously ill. And most importantly, if your doctor has put you on antibiotics do not train with any kind of intensity at all.
You have an injury
Runners who insist on running with a serious injury remind me of the Black Knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail… “It’s just a scratch” nothing to worry about.
The truth is that fighting on when the proverbial scratch is something more can easily end in a similar way to the movie scene. Your future running career lying around you in pieces.
You feel run down
For me, feeling run down and lethargic goes with a lack of sleep like peas and carrots to quote Forest Gump.
Feeling run down can also be linked to something being a bit off with your nutrition or hydration.
None of these specifically mean that you are overtrained. However, it is a useful early warning alarm that something is not quite in balance.
So take a bit of time for self-assessment and you should be able to ward off something that may derail your progress.
Your workout went badly
We all have a workout that goes badly. If we all took a week off for recovery every time we suffered in a workout the London or New York marathon would have around ten athletes each.
If you are overtrained more and more of you workouts will go badly making it near impossible to hit even your low workout numbers.
So if your workout data shows that your numbers are completely off, and you have some of the other symptoms listed here it could well mean that serious rest and recovery are needed.
A Sudden drop in blood oxygen levels
This is more in the realm of the professional athlete as they are the ones that have regular hematocrit level testing and well as blood lactate testing.
For many professionals, a drop in blood oxygen is an inconvenience that needs to be managed. In most cases, a carefully managed micro-dose of EPO will boost things again.
The rest of us can boost our blood oxygen by incorporating beetroot and beetroot juice in our nutrition strategy.
Related questions
Do runners need rest days? Generally speaking, runners do need rest days. All generic training programs for runners include rest days.
Why Are rest days important for runners? Rest days are important for runners because they allow the athlete’s body to ‘absorb’ the training workload and hyper-adapt for the training still to come.